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Today we report from France where masked gangs are regularly breaking in to trucks and lorries heading for the UK, which have stopped at a motorway service station near Dunkirk and Calais.

The long overdue destruction of the Calais Jungle camp last year was hailed as a means of ending the migrant crisis but this newspapers investigation makes it clear that the hordes who are intent on coming to Britain have dispersed to an extent but have not really gone away.

The French authorities have not made sufficient efforts to end the epidemic of human trafficking which is leading to violence on a daily basis.

The desperation of the migrants who are intent on coming to Britain by any means is matched by the unscrupulousness and viciousness of the gangs of people smugglers.

Wearing hoods they lurk at the side of the road waiting for trucks to leave the motorway.

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This will be the third summer plagued by chaos on the roads outside Calais.

Migrants are returning to the areas in ever increasing numbers. While France has a part to play Britain must also do more to ensure that weak borders are not an invitation to desperate migrants and wicked traffickers.

Only if the borders are strong will they be deterred.

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The European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker says that Brussels will approach the negotiation for Britains withdrawal from the EU (which he persists in calling a failure and a tragedy) in a friendly way.

But that bill for 50billion? That still has to be paid he insists even though he doesnt want anyone to think its some sort of punishment.

Well, if thats what he calls friendly then one wouldnt care to see him when he was being actively hostile. This ludicrous, made-up figure of 50billion has been bounced around for months.

Britain has absolutely no obligation to stump up this kind of payment and would be perfectly in its rights to demand payment from Brussels instead to reflect our vast contribution to the EUs assets and coffers.

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Remember to put your clocks, timers, etc, forward one hour this weekend.

We have so many gadgets these days that this twice-yearly task has become quite a business.

You will feel as though you get an hours less sleep but with the weather promising to be spring-like an early start may not be such a bad thing.

See more here:
A third summer of chaos threatens outside Calais - Express.co.uk

Vice President visiting Little Rock to discuss the American Healthcare Act

THV11 Digital , KTHV 8:43 AM. CDT March 24, 2017

CREDIT: Getty Images (Photo: Mark Wilson, 2017 Getty Images)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) Vice-President of the United States Mike Pence will visit Arkansas Friday.

Mr. Pence will meet with local small business owners to discuss the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its impact on Arkansans.

"I think he's here to listen to Arkansans and their concerns about health care and also educate Arkansans on what he believes will be the end product of our new health care," said Doyle Webb, Chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas.

The Heath Care Listening Session will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the Little Rock Tours and Travels office. Doors will open at 12:00 p.m. It is open to anyone, you just have to go through security. If you attend, park at Horace Mann Middle School. Shuttles will begin picking up people from that location at noon.

Mr. Pences visit to the Natural State comes as Congress debates the Republicans plan to repeal and replace theACA, informally referred to asObamacare.

"The new act that comes out will leave more flexibility for the states. The needs of Arkansans are different than the needs of Californians. It's not one size fits all," said Webb.

Arkansas Senator Tom Cottonhas been a vocal opponent of the Republican plan, otherwise known as the American Health Care Act.

Democratic Party of Arkansas Chairman Vincent Insalaco released the following statement Thursday afternoon ahead of Vice President Mike Pence's trip to Little Rock:

"On the day that the U.S. House of Representatives may be voting to take away health insurance from over 300,000 Arkansans, thousands of President Trump's own supporters are wondering if they will continue to have coverage. In Vice President Pence's home state of Indiana, thousands are pleading with him to not allow this legislation to pass.

When President Trump and Vice President Pence were campaigning, they promised people they would be able to keep their health insurance, that they would have a plan to defeat ISIS in 30 days, and that Mexico would be paying for a wall. Of course, we know now that they are keeping none of these promises, and indeed the Trump administration is facing the potential of investigation for serious crimes committed against our nation fewer than 100 days into his presidency.

It is the most vulnerable among us who will pay the steepest price of this administration's irresponsible policies. Here in Arkansas, 300,000 of our neighbors face the imminent threat of losing healthcare coverage. We hope Governor Hutchinson will remind Vice President Pence of this fact during his visit to our state."

2017 KTHV-TV

Read more:
Vice-President Mike Pence set to visit Arkansas as the healthcare debate intensifies - THV11.com

UPDATE 3/26/17 @ 10:15 p.m. TEAYS VALLEY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- When a world leader's platform is in the middle of a warehouse, there's usually a good story tucked close by.

Vice President Mike Pence spent almost all his Saturday trip to the mountain state on the campus of Teays Valley business, Foster Supply

"And let me thank our hosts today, Ronald Reagan Foster and Nancy Reagan Foster. I just said a little bit ago, they're my second favorite Ron and Nancy's I've ever met." Vice President Mike Pence said.

Owners Ron and Nancy hosted one of the most powerful men in the world and say he was a gracious guest.

"He's so personable, and he remembered our names, remembered our employees, remembered what business we do, so it was remarkable. Wouldn't you agree?" Nancy Reagan Foster said.

The focus of the visit was small businesses like Ron's, which started in 1981, with the help of his twin sons. The legacy is still going strong.

He said, "We're transitioning into the next generation, and the United States of America has just transitioned from one presidency to another, and I think small business is gonna have a voice."

Brothers Ron and Geoff are also owners and run different divisions of the company.

"The round table discussion was very valuable and just to see it was really interesting, just seeing that the current administration in Trump and Pence are very, very interested in small business," said Ron.

"He talked to us about certain issues and then came down here and actually remembered those issues, talked about them, mentioned them in his speech," said Geoff.

Parts of a round table discussion spilled over into the occasional joke from the podium

The Vice President joked, "I just heard that you have a wall division here at Fosters. Maybe we need to talk."

A family business now hoping the Vice President remembers the notes he took in West Virginia.

"Hello West Virginia! It is great to be back, if only just to say thanks," he addresses the crowd after walking onto a small stage inside a Foster Supply warehouse.

Foster Supply hosted two events for Vice President Pence, a campaign-style speech with an audience of an estimated 150 people and a more intimate roundtable discussion with approximately a dozen small business owners.

"President Donald Trump is gonna be the best friend American small business will ever have," Pence told the crowd.

In the larger setting, SBA Administrator Linda McMahon helped rally the crowd.

"I've been bankrupt. I've had my house auctioned off, my car repossessed in the driveway, pregnant with my second child at the time, so i get it," she said. "And that's what President Trump wants to do -- proper taxes, proper regulatory environment, making sure that we are providing our small businesses with the tools that we need to start, to grow and to be successful."

Tim Burns, the CEO of Grassmasters, LLC, a landscaping business located in Scott Depot, was one of the few selected to shake hands with the VP and one of a dozen to participate in the roundtable discussion

"Everybody really had a chance to go around and talk about their business, problems they face," he says. "Meeting Vice President Pence was definitely an honor, and he was very open to what we had to say, and I feel like it was a very good conversation."

Not much from the sit-down conversation made its way to the stage. Instead, Pence preached a message to the crowd that the Trump administration has not forgotten West Virginians.

"West Virginia voted overwhelmingly to make Donald Trump the 45th President of the United States, and we will never forget it," Pence said.

Predictably, the conversation also moved to building a wall, healthcare and coal.

"Right after we dropped our hands on January 20th, it was official, the war on coal is over, and a new era of American Energy has begun."

A day after legislation was pulled off the House floor that would have unraveled former President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, Pence told a gathering Saturday in Scott Depot, West Virginia, that "we will end the Obamacare nightmare and give the American people the world class health care that they deserve."

He told a few hundred people at construction materials firm Foster Supply that Friday's setback was a victory for the status quo in Washington, D.C., "but I promise you that victory won't last very long."

Earlier, Pence and U.S. Small Business Administrator leader Linda McMahon held a private discussion with a dozen business owners about the challenges they face.

Visit link:
UPDATE: Owners of Putnam County business talk about Pence's visit - WSAZ-TV

It was a season of basketball excellence and many local standouts were named to postseason all-star teams.

Class A state champion Greely had three players named to the boys Western Maine Conference Class A first-team. Seniors Jordan Bagshaw, Matt McDevitt and Ryan Twitchell all were honored, as were Falmouth senior Colin Coyne and Yorks Trevor LaBonte.

The Class A boys second-team included Falmouth senior Sean Walsh. He was joined by Cape Elizabeths Finn Bowe and Quinn Hewitt, Kennebunks Cam Lovejoy and Yorks Payton Small.

In Class B, the first-team included Yarmouth senior Aleksandar Medenica and junior Nolan Hagerty. They were joined by Gray-New Gloucesters John Martin, Lake Regions Tyler Walker and Wells Owen Berry.

Yarmouth senior Gibson Harnett made the Class B boys second-team. He was joined by Gray-New Gloucesters John Villanueva, Polands Nate Chouinard and Kurt Leighton and Wells Deandre Woods.

The Class C boys first-team featured North Yarmouth Academy senior Jake Malcom. He was joined by Old Orchard Beachs Ian Regan and Waynfletes Yai Deng, Askar Houssein and Jack Meahl.

NYA senior Haven Cutko and freshman TeAndre King made the second-team, along with St. Doms Sam Rines and Traip Academys Shane MacNeil and Angelo Succi.

The WMC boys All-Academic team included Falmouths Walsh, Jack Hepburn, Ben Simonds and Brock Welch, Greelys Brendan Scott and Ben Williams and Yarmouths Harnett and Medenica.

Falmouths Walsh, Greelys Bagshaw, McDevitt and Twitchell, NYAs Cutko and Chandler Waldron and Yarmouth Harnett and Medenica were WMC Senior All-Stars. Greelys Travis Seaver and NYAs Jason Knight served as coaches.

Falmouths Coyne was a finalist for the Bob Butler Award, which was won by Yorks Trevor LaBonte.

The WMC girls Class A first-team featured Falmouth senior Adelaide Cooke and Greely sophomore Anna DeWolfe and freshman Brooke Obar, along with Fryeburg Academys Mackenzie Buzzell and Yorks Nina Howe.

Greely seniors Molly Chapin, Isabel Porter and Moira Train made the second-team, along with Kennebunks Gabrielle Fogg and Sierra Tartre and Yorks Madigan Cogger.

In Class B, the first-team was made up of Skye Conley and Brianna Jordan of state champion Gray-New Gloucester, Lake Regions Kristen Huntress, Polands Nathalie Theriault and Wells Natalie Thurber.

The second-team featured Freeport senior Regan Lynch and Yarmouth seniors Alison Clark and Cory Langenbach. They were joined by Chandler True of Lake Region and Wells Taryn Lambert.

In Class C, NYA sophomore Maggie Larson made the first-team, along with Old Orchard Beachs Brianna Plante, Traip Academys Cassidy Delano and Waynfletes Annika Brooks and Lydia Giguere.

The Class C second-team consisted of Old Orchard Beachs Samantha Donnell and Emily Greenlee, St. Doms Chloe Dwinell and Caroline Gastonguay and Traips Marina Casey.

The WMC girls All-Academic team included Falmouths Alaina Birkel, Adelaide Cooke, Maddie Rouhana, Abigail Ryan and Hadley Wiggin, Freeports Regan Lynch, Greelys Molly Chapin, Isabel Porter and Moira Train, NYAs Zelda Clegg and Yarmouths Isabel Bates, Alison Clark, Johanna Hattan and Cory Langenbach.

Falmouths Birkel and Cooke, Freeports Lynch, Greelys Chapin, Porter and Train and Yarmouths Clark and Langenbach took part in the WMC Senior All-Star Game. Greelys Todd Flaherty served as a coach.

The Maine McDonalds Senior All-Star games in Bangor also featured familiar names.

In the Class AA/A/B boys contest, Falmouths Coyne, Greelys Bagshaw, McDevitt and Twitchell and Yarmouths Medenica were named to the South team, which lost, 127-117, to the North, despite Medenicas game-high 26 points. Greelys Seaver was one of the Souths coaches.

In the Class C/D boys game, NYAs Knight helped coach the South to a 121-104 win over the North.

The girls Class AA/A/B contest featured Greelys Train playing and Greelys Flaherty coaching in a 93-79 loss to the North.

Falmouths Adelaide Cooke and Greelys Isabel Porter qualified for the Maine McDonalds All-State, All-Academic team.

Falmouths Coyne and Greelys Bagshaw and McDevitt were named Mister Maine Basketball semifinalists.

Last, but certainly not least, Greelys McDevitt was named Mr. Maine Basketball.

Sidebar Elements

Greelys Matt McDevitt earned no shortage of postseason honors, capped by being named Mr. Maine Basketball.

North Yarmouth Academys Haven Cutko helped the Panthers reach the Class C South semifinals and was named to the Western Maine Conference all-star team as a result.

Alison Clark helped Yarmouths girls team to its best record in a dozen years and was named a Western Maine Conference all-star.

Read more here:
Forecaster Country produces many hoops all-stars-Northern edition - The Forecaster

President Trump criticized former president Barack Obama for golfing too often. Now the White House is defending his own frequent outings. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)

Invariably, whenever we look at how much time President Trump spends at the golf courses that bear his name, we incur one of two responses or both.

1. The president is entitled to time off. 2. Why shouldnt he go to properties that bear his name?

To which the appropriate responses are: (1) He is. However! and (2) For at least one very good reason.

Or, to go into a bit more detail:

Sure! The president, like anyone else, is entitled to some down time. And, of course, the president unlike anyone else never really gets any. Hes always on duty, always available as needed.

When we point out that Trump is playing a lot of golf (as we did on Sunday), the point isnt that he should only be either sitting at a desk making presidential decisions or asleep. The point is that Trump himself, piggy-backing on the anti-Barack-Obama Republican rhetoric of the past eight years, repeatedly insisted that unlike Obama he wasnt going to spend time playing golf if he was elected president.

One example:

Another:

Another:

And on and on.

Again, Trump was simply picking up on a line of argument that was common on the right. It seems that for every dismissal of Trumps golfing as an issue here from his former campaign spokesman

there are easy examples of a differing view when the person in the White House was Barack Obama.

Obama played golf about once every 8.8 days. Trump has likely played once every 5.5.

But we dont really know that, because the Trump White House is unusually coy about when he is or isnt playing golf. Hes made at least a dozen visits to Trump-branded golf courses (and other Trump properties) since he became president, but we only know for sure that he played golf on some of those occasions.

The White House press office has only confirmed that Trump has played golf on a few occasions, preferring as press secretary Sean Spicer did last week to imply that Trump was instead holding important meetings. On Sunday, Trump spent only a brief period of time at his club in Sterling, Va. not enough to play a full round. Usually hes at his golf clubs and unaccounted for for hours, more than enough time to play 18 holes. (The smart money is on Spicer noting during an upcoming press briefing that Trump visited his club this weekend without playing golf.)

How sensitive are the White House and its allies about Trumps golfing? It apparently bears a news update from the Trump-friendly Fox News when Trump doesnt head to his club in Florida for the weekend.

Mind you, this wasnt true: He almost certainly played golf on Saturday, given social media posts showing him puttering around the course on a golf cart.

We can here apply the parent-of-a-small-child test to Trumps golfing. If the White House thinks its no big deal for the president to play golf, why is it so eager to minimize his doing so?

The chart above shows the regularity with which Trump heads to Trump-branded properties doing so about once every three days over the course of his presidency.

Whys that worth noting? In part because its the president using his office to tacitly (if not explicitly) promote his personal business. Trump repeatedly promised a clean break from his personal businesses once he got to the White House, but documents show that he still benefits from the Trump Organization financially. As The Posts Rosalind Helderman and Drew Harwell wrote last month, he retains ownership of the business and will personally benefit if the business profits from decisions made by his government.

Even when he doesnt directly receive payment, he is still reinforcing a symbiotic relationship with his private brand. Last week, the government approved Trumps continued ownership of the Trump hotel that sits a few blocks from the White House, because he wouldnt receive money from it directly while in office. (The Trump Organization leases the building from the government, with the stipulation that no elected official can benefit from it.) Trump critics point out that the property still benefits from its relationship with the president who has visited the property several times since being elected president, effectively helping to promote the property that his business still operates.

Then theres the question of how much government money is spent on Trump properties. Weve looked at this before, estimating that each trip to Mar-a-Lago in Florida costs the government some $2 million. While most of that cost is spent on transportation, the amount that is paid to the Trump Organization isnt clear. There are reports that the Secret Service and the Department of Defense sought space in Trump Tower, where they would be paying Midtown Manhattan rental costs to the Trump Organization.

Put another way, its not less problematic that hes going to his own properties, its more problematic at least in terms of concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Theres also a prohibition in Article II of the Constitution, setting the presidents salary for a term and stating that he shall not receive within that period any other emolument payment from the United States, or any of them.

In this hyper-partisan age, we are constantly reminded that prohibitions and priorities are far more subjective than we may have thought, allowing someone to, say, rail against a president who plays golf for recreation and then, later, to play golf nearly every weekend of his own presidency. It is also clear that, despite partisan protestations, there is a reason to point out such hypocrisies as well as potential (or obvious) conflicts of interest.

In the future, at least, complaints about the media doing so can be redirected to this article, saving everyone arguing about this issue some modicum of time.

See the original post:
Donald Trump's golfing is a political problem thanks to Donald Trump - Washington Post