Saturday, June 11, 2016
Statement from the President on the Passing of Gordie Howe
The following statement was issued on June 10.
The list of
hockey players who suited up in six different decades, including
returning to the ice after being inducted into the Hall of Fame, is a
short one: it starts and ends with Gordie
Howe. But the list of kids who skated around the pond until dark,
picturing themselves passing, scoring, and enforcing like Howe, dreaming
of hoisting the Stanley Cup like him – that one comprises too many to
count. Howe’s productivity, perseverance, and
humility personified his adopted hometown of Detroit, to which he
brought four championships and which he represented as an All-Star more
than 20 times. The greatest players define their game for a generation;
over more than half a century on the ice, Mr.
Hockey defined it for a lifetime. Michelle and I send our condolences
to his sons and daughter, his family, and his loyal fans from Hockeytown
to Hartford to Houston and across North America.
Source: The White House, Office of the Press Secretary
Friday, June 10, 2016
Muhammad Ali Memorial Service (Full Video)
Former President Bill Clinton, actor Billy Crystal, interfaith leaders,
and others spoke at a memorial service in Louisville, Kentucky, for
boxer Muhammad Ali, who died June 3, 2016, at age 74.
Click here for video.
Source: C-SPAN
Debate: Is Cuomo's Crackdown on BDS Unconstitutional McCarthyism or a Stand Against Anti-Semitism?
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has issued the first-ever executive order
forcing state agencies to divest from any organizations aligned with
the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. BDS
is an international campaign to pressure Israel to comply with
international law and respect Palestinian rights. However, its opponents
say BDS is a thinly disguised anti-Semitic
attempt to debilitate or even destroy Israel. Cuomo’s executive order
forces state officials to make a list of businesses and groups who are
engaged in activities targeting Israel.
Democracy Now speaks to Rebecca Vilkomerson,
executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, and Robert Freedman, a
visiting professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University and
the former president of Baltimore Hebrew University.
Click here for video.
Source: Democracy Now!
VP Biden's Remarks at American Constitution Society (Full Video)
Vice President Joe Biden criticized Republican presidential candidate
Donald Trump for his comments against U.S. District Judge Gonzalo
Curiel who was overseeing lawsuits against Trump University. He said the
candidate’s comments tilted towards “authoritarianism and tyranny” and
warned that he would defy the courts if they ruled against him if he
were to be elected president. The vice president also spoke against his
former colleagues in the Senate who refused to grant a hearing to
President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick Garland.
This
was part of the opening session of the American Constitution Society
for Law and Policy 2016 National Convention, held at the Capital Hilton.
Click here for video.
Source: C-SPAN
Janet Redman Testimony at DNC Platform Hearing
Redman, Climate Policy
Director at the Institute for Policy Studies, spoke at the DNC Platform Hearing on June 9, 2016, in
Washington, DC.
User-Created Clip
by Josh Hoxie
June 9, 2016
by Josh Hoxie
June 9, 2016
Click here for video.
Source: C-SPAN
Roundtable on Retirement Security and Savings
Former Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) and James Lockhart, co-chairs of the
Bipartisan Policy Center’s Commission on Retirement, discuss the
commission’s report on obstacles facing Americans as they save for
retirement.
Click here for video.
Source: C-SPAN
Secretary Burwell Calls Governors to Discuss Zika Preparedness
On June 9, 2016, HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell and CDC Director Tom Frieden,
along with Deputy Homeland Security Advisor Amy Pope at the White House
hosted a video tele-conference with Governors and local officials from
states believed to be at the highest risk
for local transmission of Zika. The discussion focused on the Federal
government’s support of and partnering with state and local governments
as they conduct Zika preparedness and response efforts. In addition, the
discussion covered guidance that the Federal
government is providing today to states to help them prepare for cases
of local transmission as we enter the summer months, which are the
height of mosquito season. Governors from Alabama, Arizona, Florida,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas joined the call
along with officials from Georgia, Hawaii, California, and Los Angeles
County.
During the call, Burwell and Frieden briefed the governors on the
Administration’s Zika response efforts to date. Burwell stressed the
importance of states quickly implementing mosquito control and
surveillance activities; ensuring sufficient laboratory
capacity to handle indicated diagnostic testing needs; communicating
with the public, particularly pregnant women and women of childbearing
age and returning travelers; about the risk of mosquito-borne and
sexual transmission of Zika; and taking additional
steps to ensure the safety of the blood supply.
Burwell also stressed the need for Congress to pass the
Administration’s full emergency funding request so that states and
territories have the funding they need to fight Zika.
CDC Director Frieden highlighted federal resources available to
states, including technical assistance from CDC; funding for
preparedness and response, building laboratory capacity, and technical
support for vector control; CDC’s Emergency Response Team
(CERT), a group of public health experts who can be mobilized and
deployed upon confirmed local transmission; and guidance to assist
state, local, and territorial public health officials in preparedness
and response planning.
Frieden also discussed CDC’s draft Zika Response Plan document, a
resource document that outlines Federal and state roles in responding to
a potential case of local Zika transmission in the continental United
States and Hawaii. The draft response plan, created
with input from state and local officials, includes detailed guidance
for states and local jurisdictions on critical areas including but not
limited to: protocol for the initial response to local transmission of
Zika, defining and communicating with the public
about a Zika transmission area for multiple confirmed cases of local
transmission, and technical assistance and expanded capacity for
mosquito surveillance and control. Several governors expressed
appreciation for the call and the urgent need for additional
funding, and asked for further communication as mosquito activity
increases this summer.
Secretary Burwell also committed to working with governors to
maintain support and an ongoing dialogue as federal, state, and local
officials prepare for local transmission of Zika and continue to respond
to travel-associated cases in their jurisdictions.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
DEA Wants Inside Your Medical Records to Fight the War on Drugs
By Christopher Moraff
The feds are fighting to
look at millions of private files without a warrant, including those of
two transgender men who are taking testosterone.
Marlon Jones was arrested for taking legal painkillers, prescribed to him by a doctor, after a double knee replacement.
Jones, an assistant fire chief of Utah’s Unified Fire Authority, was snared in a dragnet pulled through the state’s program to monitor prescription drugs after someone stole morphine from an ambulance in 2012. To find the missing morphine, cops used their unrestricted access to the state’s Prescription Drug Monitor Program database to look at the private medical records of nearly 500 emergency services personnel—without a warrant.
Jones was arrested along with another firefighter and a paramedic on suspicion of prescription fraud.
“I got a
call at work from the police chief, who I know and work with,” Jones
testified before a state senate committee last year. “He said ‘We think
you have a problem, you’re taking too many medications. We need to make
sure you’re no longer a threat to the community or yourself. So we’re
doing this to help you.’”
Jones described in tearful detail what happened next.
“There were three police officers pounding on the door. They said they had a warrant for my arrest and they were going to take me in,” he said. “It was the middle of the day, on my front doorstep, in front of my wife and daughter. I’m handcuffed and stuffed into a police car and they haul me to jail.”
Jones was hit with 14 felony counts but all of them were later dropped.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Daily Beast
Trailblazers in Black History: Lola Falana
Uploaded to YouTube on May 12, 2009.
The
talented Lola Falana meets with Kevin O'Brien of Theatre of the Word
Inc.
In this first interview Lola talks and explains about who she is.
Lola is a talented singer and actress known for her great performances
in television and on stage.
Bonus feature: Muhammad Ali on the Lola Falana Show
Bonus feature: Muhammad Ali on the Lola Falana Show
First Read's Morning Clips: Pummeling Trump
OFF TO THE RACES: Pummeling Trump
NBCNews.com sums up Democrats' pummeling of Donald Trump after top leaders coalesced behind Hillary Clinton.
NBC's Kasie Hunt confirms reports that Clinton and Elizabeth Warren will meet Friday morning.
CLINTON: From the Wall Street Journal:
"At the center of a criminal probe involving Hillary Clinton's handling
of classified information is a series of emails between American
diplomats in Islamabad and their superiors in Washington about whether
to oppose specific drone strikes in Pakistan. The 2011 and 2012 emails
were sent via the "low side''—government slang for a computer system for
unclassified matters—as part of a secret arrangement that gave the
State Department more of a voice in whether a Central Intelligence
Agency drone strike went ahead, according to congressional and
law-enforcement officials briefed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation
probe."
Click here for the full article.
Source: NBC News
Hackensack Mayor, Deputy Mayor Break With GOP in Protest of Trump as Presumptive Presidential Nominee
By Checkey Beckford
The mayor and deputy mayor of a New Jersey city have ditched their Republican party affiliation, fed up with what they call racist comments by Donald Trump, the party's presumptive presidential nominee. Checkey Beckford reports.
Click here for video.
Source: NBC News
Another Staten Island Church Targeted in Fire-Bombing Attempt: NYPD
A flaming bottle was thrown into a Staten Island church early Thursday
morning in an apparent attempt to set the building on fire, police say,
the second time in a week that a church in the Stapleton neighborhood
has been targeted. Ida Siegal reports.
Click here for video.
Source: NBC News
OP-ED: The Case for LGBT-Inclusive Education
The alarming rate of bullying, homelessness, HIV and suicide among LGBT youth should be an outrage: Nearly a fifth of students are physically assaulted because they are LGBT; among homeless children, 25 to 50 percent are LGBT; the CDC reports
among youth aged 13 to 24 diagnosed with HIV in 2014, 80 percent were
gay and bisexual males; and gay teens are also eight times more likely
to report having attempted suicide.
Instead, the outrage swirls around who gets to
use whose bathroom. Sparked by North Carolina's "bathroom bill", the
legal battle over transgender rights recently escalated to include over a
dozen states suing the federal government in response to the Obama
administration's transgender bathroom policy. What if all the time,
energy and taxpayer money spent on litigation were invested toward
providing comprehensive LGBT inclusive health education for all
children?
Click here for the full article.
U.S. Takes Key Step in Ceding Control of Internet Addresses
The U.S. government is taking a key step in
relinquishing control of the Internet's addressing system, fulfilling a
promise made in the 1990s.
The Commerce Department's National
Telecommunications and Information Administration said Thursday that it
endorses a March proposal to turn full control over to a private
international organization. All that remains is completing some
contracts and operational testing. That's expected to be done in the
coming months.
Click here for the full article.
Source: NBC News
Thomas J. Perkins, Major Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist, Dies at 84
SAN FRANCISCO — Thomas Perkins, one of the
founding fathers of Silicon Valley, died on Tuesday at age 84 at his
home in Belvedere, California, according to the Marin County coroner's
office.
As co-founder of the venture capital firm
Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Perkins played a major role in the
formative years of the computer and biotech industries. The firm that
bears his name went on to fund some of the biggest names of the internet
era, including Google and Amazon.
Click here for the full article.
Source: NBC News
Twitter Hack: Should You Worry About Millions of Leaked Passwords?
Yet another security outfit is reporting that
millions of stolen passwords — this time, for Twitter accounts — are
floating around the dark side of the internet. Should you be worried?
In truth, it's hard to say. And that's rapidly emerging as the latest dilemma of digital life.
The website LeakedSource said it received a
cache of Twitter data that contains 32 million records, including
passwords. Twitter said that its systems haven't been breached.
LeakedSource said the passwords were most likely collected over time by
malware-infected browsers that sent saved passwords to hackers.
Click here for the full article.
Source: NBC News
Charleston Church Shootings: Dylann Roof Wants to Waive Trial
Federal prosecutors and lawyers for Dylann Storm
Roof are at odds over whether he should face a jury on capital charges
that he killed nine people at a South Carolina church last year,
according to court documents.
Lawyers for Roof, 22, of Columbia, South
Carolina, filed a motion Thursday waiving his right to a jury trial in
the shootings on June 17, 2015, during a Bible study class at the Mother
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.
But in the same motion, they said federal prosecutors had already rejected the idea and are determined to bring him to trial.
Click here for the full article.
Source: NBC News
Prosecutor: Police Van Driver Gave Freddie Gray 'Rough Ride'
Baltimore Police Officer Caesar Goodson's trial begins. News4's Chris Gordon reports.
Published Thursday, June 9, 2016.
Click here for video.
Source: NBC News
U.S., Iraqi Officials Can’t Confirm Report Islamic State Leader Baghdadi Wounded
Reuters, 10/06 12:16 CET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – U.S. and Iraqi
officials fighting Islamic State said on Friday they could not confirm a
report by an Iraqi TV channel that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi had been wounded in an air strike in northern Iraq.
A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting the
radical Islamist militants, Colonel Chris Garver, said in an email that
he had seen the reports but had “nothing to confirm this at this time”.
Kurdish and Arab security officials in northern Iraq said they also could not confirm the report.
Al Sumariya TV cited a local source in the northern
province of Nineveh saying that Baghdadi and other Islamic State leaders
were wounded on Thursday in a coalition air strike on one of the
group’s command headquarters close to the Syrian border.
The channel has good connections with Shi’ite politicians and Iraqi forces engaged in the battle against Islamic State.
Click here for the full article.
Source: euronews.
U.N. Says Israeli Move on Palestinian Permits May Be Collective Punishment
Reuters, 10/06 15:40 CET
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) – Israel’s
cancellation of entry permits for Palestinians following a deadly attack
in Tel Aviv may amount to collective punishment, which is banned under
international law, the United Nations’ top human rights official said on
Friday.
Responding to the criticism, Israel defended its actions as “legitimate steps in order to defend its citizens from terrorists”.
The Israeli military on Thursday revoked permits for
83,000 Palestinians to visit Israel and said it would send hundreds more
troops to the occupied West Bank a day after a Palestinian gun attack
that killed four Israelis in Tel Aviv.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al
Hussein condemned the attack, the largest loss of Israeli life in a
single attack since the current surge in violence, spokeswoman Ravina
Shamdasani said.
But he is deeply concerned about the revoking of permits
“which may amount to prohibited collective punishment and will only
increase the sense of injustice and frustration felt by Palestinians in
this very tense time”, she told a news briefing.
Click here for the full article.
Source: euronews.
Italy Arrests Two Ukrainians Suspected of Trafficking Syrians by Boat
Reuters, 10/06 11:26 CET
ROME (Reuters) – Italian police have
arrested two Ukrainians suspected of trafficking Syrians to Italy on a
sail boat, and have launched a probe to find the criminal organization
ultimately responsible.
Almost 50,000 sea-borne migrants have landed this year in
Italy, which is on the front line of Europe’s biggest migration crisis
since World War Two.
Most are sub-Saharan Africans and many travel on boats so
rickety they risk sinking before arriving and are picked up in Italian
or Libyan waters and brought ashore by the coastguard.
But finance police said in a statement the suspected
traffickers arrested on Thursday had managed to leave 16 people with wet
clothes on a beach in Calabria, in the toe of Italy’s boot, and start
making a getaway towards international waters.
Police chased and boarded the 10-metre (33 ft)
single-mast vessel and arrested the two Ukrainians on board. The boat
was confiscated and the pair were taken to jail after the migrants
identified them.
Click here for the full article.
Source: euronews.
“Nae Brexit” Say Scots Unwilling to Follow England Out of Europe
By Hans von der Brelie | With Robert Hackwell (English Journalist), Tim Hirst (Camera)
Source: euronews.
Europeans ‘Increasingly Anti-Brussels, But Don’t Want Brexit’
By Thomas Seymat | With PEW RESEARCH CENTER
A few weeks ahead of the make-or-break UK referendum on whether to leave the European Union, several surveys hint that while Europeans are against Brexit, they are increasingly divided, and doubtful, on the role of the EU.
Views on the EU vary dramatically depending on the member states, according to a Pew Research survey.
Poland and Hungary, despite
current tensions with Brussels from their Eurosceptic governments, have
the highest percentage of favourable views of the EU, with 72 percent
and 61 percent respectively.
Click here for the full article.
Source: euronews.
Big Job Cuts in Britain’s Oil and Gas Sector
As many as 120,000 workers will have lost their jobs in Britain’s oil and gas sector by the end of the year, according to the industry’s lobby group.
Oil and Gas UK said that would mean a 25 percent fall in the workforce since mid-2014 when oil prices started declining.
The losses include those directly employed and people in the supply chain and providing services.
Click here for summary.
Source: euronews.
Thursday, June 9, 2016
White House Briefing
Josh Earnest responded to reporters' questions on a variety of topics,
including President Obama’s meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
and his endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president earlier in the day.
Click here for video.
Source: C-SPAN
Bernie Sanders White House Driveway Remarks
Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke to
reporters following a meeting with President Obama at the White
House. He pledged to work with presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton to
defeat Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump, and would campaign
in the June 14 Washington, D.C., primary.
Click here for video.
Source: C-SPAN
Senate Minority Leader Reid on Meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) spoke to reporters following a
meeting with 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie
Sanders (I-VT).
Click here for video.
Source: C-SPAN
House Republican National Security Agenda
Congressional Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), and
Representatives Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) unveiled
their party’s national security policy proposals at an event hosted by
the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.
Click here for video.
Source: C-SPAN
House Minority Leader Weekly Briefing
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi briefed reporters on her legislative
agenda and responded to their questions on a variety of topics.
Click here for video.
Source: C-SPAN
Puerto Rican Debt Relief Legislation
The Hill's Peter Schroeder discusses the Puerto Rican debt relief bill under consideration in the House.
Click here for video.
Source: C-SPAN
Sharpton to Speak at Wake of Dayshen McKenzie
On June 10, at 10:30 a.m., Rev. Al Sharpton will speak at the wake
of Dayshen McKenzie.
While the circumstances surrounding his death
remain unclear, and the role of race has not yet been determined, the
teenager clearly died as a result of being chased.
Rev. Sharpton is honoring his commitment to the family and will forego attending Muhammad Ali’s service in Kentucky.
Minister Kirsten John Foy, Northeast Regional Director of National Action Network, will officiate the service.
The service will be held at A. Azzara Funeral Home, 183 Sand Lane, in Staten Island, New York.
Source: Mercury
Politics in Action: Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act
STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY
H.R. 5278 - Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act
(Rep. Duffy, R-WI, and two cosponsors)
The Administration strongly supports House passage of H.R. 5278, the
Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act
(PROMESA), which would provide Puerto Rico with a comprehensive
restructuring authority to address its unsustainable debt, coupled with
appropriate fiscal oversight to increase transparency and achieve
meaningful reforms.
Puerto Rico has already begun defaulting on its $70 billion of debt with a much larger default anticipated on July 1
when nearly $2 billion in additional payments are due. However, this
is not just a matter of financial liabilities. The human costs for the
3.5 million Americans in Puerto Rico – in terms of access to health
care, electricity, education, and basic public safety – are real and
escalating daily. H.R. 5278 would allow Puerto Rico to restructure its
liabilities to help address the ongoing crisis, with no new Federal
spending.
While the Administration
supports passage of H.R. 5278, the Administration has concerns with some
provisions in the bill. The Administration opposes the measures in
this bill on minimum wage and overtime that put in jeopardy important
protections for workers, do nothing to address the crisis, and further
exacerbate the economic disparities between Puerto Rico and the mainland
United States. Although the bill would include important provisions to
ensure adequate funding for public sector pensions, it could do even
more to protect pensions. Further, the bill should ensure Puerto Ricans
have a robust voice on the proposed Financial Oversight and Management
Board. While the bill includes provisions the Administration opposes,
on balance, the Administration believes this compromise legislation is
far superior to the status quo and is necessary to protect the
well-being of 3.5 million Americans and create a path to recovery.
Only Congress has the
authority to provide Puerto Rico the tools to resolve this crisis.
Failing to act now will result in an economic and humanitarian crisis
far beyond what Puerto Rico is already facing today. Absent the bill's
protections and tools, an escalating series of lawsuits between
creditors and against Puerto Rico could ensue, which could imperil
essential services and put pensions in jeopardy.
The
Administration urges the Congress to build on the bipartisan effort behind
PROMESA and pass this legislation quickly before this crisis grows materially
worse.
Source:
Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget
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