December 30, 2017

Winter War: U.S. Military Buys Thousands of Skis

U.S. MILITARY PREPARES FOR WINTER WAR WITH NORTH KOREA, RUSSIA BY BUYING THOUSANDS OF SKIS

BY JOHN HALTIWANGER ON 12/29/17 AT 4:50 PM

The U.S. military is buying thousands of skis for the U.S. Marine Corps to enhance its preparedness for cold weather operations as tensions grow with Russia and North Korea—countries known for having brutal winters.

The Marine Corps is spending $7 million on the winter equipment—a total of 2,648 sets of new skis, boots and binding for scout snipers, reconnaissance Marines and infantry Marines, Military Times reported Friday. This move is reportedly due to the fact the old skis were breaking. Marines stationed with the rotational force in Norway, deployed to the country back in January, will be the first to receive the new skis.

https://twitter.com/DeptofDefense/status/935855880909635587

There are currently roughly 300 Marines in the Scandinavian country—a fact that has provoked ire from Russia, which shares a border with Norway. When plans to send the Marines to Norway were announced last year in October, Russia swiftly decried the decision. At the time, the Russian embassy in Oslo told Reuters, “Taking into account multiple statements of Norwegian officials about the absence of threat from Russia to Norway we would like to understand for what purposes is Norway so...willing to increase its military potential, in particular through stationing of American forces in Vaernes?”

Related: U.S. military needs more troops in Europe in case of war with Russia, U.S. army chief warns

As Russia has become increasingly aggressive across Europe, engaging in conflicts from Georgia to Ukraine (and annexing Crimea), the U.S. military has sought to modernize its forces in the region. The U.S. has also butted heads with Russia over their competing roles in the conflict in Syria.

more
http://www.newsweek.com/us-military-prepares-winter-war-north-korea-russia-and-buys-thousands-skis-765471

December 30, 2017

Lawmaker: Pence to play key role in 2018 elections

BY JOSH DELK - 12/30/17 09:53 AM EST

A Georgia lawmaker believes Vice President Pence could play an influential role in the 2018 midterm elections, where Republicans aim to hold onto their majorities in both the House and Senate despite President Trump's unpopularity.

Pence “will be extremely involved in the ‘18 election season, and he’ll be an extremely effective participant," Sen. Steven Perdue (R-Ga.) told the Wall Street Journal.

Republican strategists told the journal that Pence could help the GOP campaign in states where GOP candidates face difficult primary challengers. Such candidates could use the aid of a top White House official who could hold effective campaign events for candidates who may prefer Pence to the more polarizing Trump.

Pence, who has begun raising campaign money for 2018 GOP candidates through his Great America political action committee, is a more experienced politician than the president. He served as Indiana governor before joining Trump's ticket.

more
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/366865-lawmaker-pence-to-play-key-role-in-2018-elections

December 30, 2017

Pence, Trump Jr. Could Be Next In Mueller's Probe

WILL MUELLER CHARGE MIKE PENCE OR DONALD TRUMP JR. IN RUSSIA INVESTIGATION IN 2018?

BY GREG PRICE ON 12/30/17 AT 6:40 AM

Amid Republican cries for his job, the main question surrounding Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s election as the country turns to 2018 is: Who or what’s next?

Based on reports, it’s possible the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and Vice President Mike Pence could be engulfed in Mueller’s investigation in the New Year.

To date, four former members of President Donald Trump’s campaign have already been claimed by Mueller's probe. Former campaign manager Paul Manafort and campaign official Rick Gates were handed a 12-count indictment and a potential trial looms next year, while ex-campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn each pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contact with Russians. Flynn is now cooperating with Mueller’s team. That means what Trump administration officials, including Pence, knew about his lies and misdeeds could be the special counsel’s next step.

The former Indiana governor recently gave a far different statement about whether he knew Flynn had lied to him about meetings with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. "What I can tell you is I knew that he lied to me," Pence told CBS News during a trip to Afghanistan earlier this month, "and I know the president made the right decision with regard to him."

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http://www.newsweek.com/pence-trump-jr-mueller-charge-2018-765287

December 30, 2017

Workplace bullying remains in the shadows

By Beth Teitell GLOBE STAFF DECEMBER 30, 2017

As workplaces of every imaginable kind are rocked in the national reckoning over abuses of sex and power, some say another, related issue waits in the shadows.

Experts say it can be more common and as damaging to its victims as sexual harassment, but with no clear definition in the law or widespread social recognition, it remains largely out of the public eye.

It’s called workplace bullying, although victims say the term doesn’t fully capture its power.

“It’s emotional torture,” said a state employee who alleges that her immediate supervisor and a colleague have told her she walks like a “damn elephant,” left trash on her desk, and called her “stupid and incompetent” in meetings — hostility that she says was triggered by resentment of her corporate background and professional approach. The employee, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

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http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/12/29/workplace-bullying-remains-shadows/mqBtlzInC0fj1ky6AmTLMN/story.html

December 30, 2017

The Latest: Iran condemns Trump tweet on economic protests

Source: Associated Press




1 hour ago

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The Latest on protests in Iran (all times local):

4:25 p.m.

Iran has strongly condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s tweet supporting a wave of economic protests sweeping major cities in Iran.

A state television report on Saturday quoted Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Ghasemi, as saying that “Iranian people give no credit to the deceitful and opportunist remarks of U.S. officials or Mr. Trump.”

The economic protests began Wednesday in Mashhad. Officials say some 50 protesters have been arrested so far. U.S. President Donald Trump has tweeted out support for those protesting early Saturday.



Read more: https://apnews.com/da182195cbe44003bca67d4008f4eb4d/The-Latest:-Iran-condemns-Trump-tweet-on-economic-protests

December 30, 2017

Fox News whines about BuzzFeed article on white folk: They should be thanking us

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/12/fox-news-whines-about-buzzfeed-article-on-white-folk-they-should-be-thanking-us/

December 30, 2017

Sheriff Clarke denies he's still under FBI investigation for plane incident

Source: The Hill



BY JOHN BOWDEN - 12/30/17 08:47 AM EST

Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke Jr. on Friday night denied reports that he was under FBI investigation after several news outlets reported a March search warrant had been filed targeting Clarke's personal email address.

Clarke was accused in January of ordering his deputies to question a man who Clarke believed showed him disrespect on an airplane. In a tweet on Saturday, Clarke accused the "lib media" of reporting a story from earlier in the year as current news, and provided a PDF of a letter from U.S. attorney Gregory Haanstad announcing that no criminal charges would be filed in the case.

https://twitter.com/SheriffClarke/status/946976495347650560

Multiple news outlets reported on the unsealing of an affidavit Friday in the case that detailed the complaint from the victim, Dan Black, against Clarke, including Black's accusation that Clarke ordered him illegally detained for hours.

"They found no wrongdoing, that case is closed," Clarke told Fox News on Friday. "Here we are in December and they are trying to re-dig this story, re-hash it, with lies interwoven in between it to make it seem like this is something new."

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/366859-sheriff-clarke-denies-hes-still-under-fbi-investigation-for

December 30, 2017

VP Mike Pence gets message from Aspen neighbors: Make America Gay Again

Jason Auslander
December 29, 2017

For Vice President Mike Pence, the message was unmistakable and the banner that carried it unmissable. "Make America Gay Again," the rainbow banner reads.

Neighbors of the home near Aspen where Pence and his wife, Karen Sue, are staying posted the message Wednesday or Thursday on a stone pillar that sits at the end of driveways to both homes, Pitkin County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Buglione said Friday.

"You couldn't miss it," he said of the sign off Owl Creek Road, adding that the man and woman who live in the home brought chili and corn muffins to deputies and Secret Service agents posted at the foot of the driveway.

The Secret Service agents were not at all perturbed about the banner, Buglione said.

https://twitter.com/TheAspenTimes/status/946882138246299648

more
https://www.aspentimes.com/news/vp-mike-pence-gets-message-from-aspen-neighbors-make-america-gay-again/

December 30, 2017

Donald Trump Is a Consequential President. Just Not in the Ways You Think.

What mattered and what didn’t in Trump’s first year.

By MICHAEL GRUNWALD December 30, 2017

On January 20, 2017, as President Donald Trump began his inaugural address, a cold rain began to fall.

A few hours later, Trump claimed the rain had not begun to fall. “The crowd was unbelievable today,” Trump crowed to revelers at the Liberty Inaugural Ball. “I looked at the rain, which just never came. You know, we finished the speech, went inside, and it poured!”

It wasn’t a consequential falsehood. And neither was Trump’s claim that his inaugural crowd was the largest ever, a whopper he sent his press secretary out to defend the next day in the face of overwhelming photographic evidence. Neither the meteorological conditions at his swearing-in nor the size of the audience that witnessed his swearing-in altered the remarkable fact that he had just been sworn in as the president of the United States. So why would the holder of the most powerful office on Earth insist on juicing his narrative with petty embellishments, especially when his propaganda could be so easily and objectively disproved?

In retrospect, it’s obvious that Trump was starting to construct an alternative reality for his supporters, establishing himself (rather than the “enemies of the people” in the “FAKE NEWS” media) as the only reliable source of truth. Really, it was pretty obvious at the time. Trump aide Kellyanne Conway was already spinning that the administration was helpfully supplying the media with “alternative facts.”

more
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/30/rating-donald-trump-year-one-2017-216199

December 30, 2017

Putin voices hope for cooperation with U.S. in letter to Trump

Source: Associated Press




By ASSOCIATED PRESS 12/30/2017 07:40 AM EST

In a New Year telegram to President Donald Trump, Russia's President Vladimir Putin says a constructive dialogue between the two nations is essential for global stability.

The Kremlin said Saturday that Putin emphasized in his Seasons Greetings to Trump that Russia and the U.S. could develop a "pragmatic cooperation aimed at long-term perspective" on the basis of "equality and mutual respect."

Putin noted that "the development a constructive Russian-U.S. dialogue is particularly important for strengthening strategic stability in the world and finding the optimal answers to global threats and challenges."

Ties between Moscow and Washington sank to a post-Cold War low following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the allegations of its meddling in the U.S. presidential election last year.

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Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/30/putin-voices-hope-for-cooperation-with-us-in-letter-to-trump-319785