New York Times | Meet the Obama Holdovers Who Survived Trump's Sweep - The ... New York Times Thomas A. Shannon Jr., second from left, who rose to the No. 3 post in the State Department in the Obama administration, welcomed Secretary of State Rex W. |
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Meet the Obama Holdovers Who Survived Trump's Sweep - The ... - New York Times
Holy smoking gun, Batman!
Once you waveaway all the smoke created by our dishonest media, the story of this past week was pretty simple. The Trump-Russia-Conspiracy narrativeis falling apart. The Obama-Spied-on-his-Political-Opposition narrative is coming together. The media has given credence to Democrat Congressman Adam Schiff's hysterical charges about howthe Republican chair of the committee, Devin Nunes, made his latest discoveries. But Schiff is a dishonest McCarthyite, spewing insinuations and accusations without any proof toback them up. Nunes, on the other hand, has obviously gotten hold of solid intel showing that Obama spied on Trump and his people, pretty much as the president tweeted back on March 4.The willing Democrat executioners of truth i.e. the news staffs at ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and theNew York Times give equal weight to the statements of both men, making it seem like the House Intelligence Committee has simply descended into partisan bickering. But that's a lie. Nunes has found something. Schiff is smearing him and the president. Those two actions do notdeserve the same sort of coverage.
An intelligence whistle blower has apparently shown Nunes documents containing intelligence gathered on members of Trump's transition team. Though this intelligence may have been gathered legally i.e. as part of a wiretap onforeigners at least two of the names of Americans, including the name of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, were illegally revealed and shared widely. Other names were made obvious even though they remained concealed. None of the investigations seems to have had anything to do with Russia.
You can tell that Nunes has got this stuff solid because after he saw the documents he first informed the media, then informed the president, then informed the media that he had informed the president. The White House has since invited members of both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to view certain documents which may or may not be the ones Nunes saw. That's a lot different thanSchiff making McCarthyite noise about there being "more than circumstantial evidence" that Trump works for SMERSH. Schiff and other Democrats have tried to confuse the issue with cries that Nunes isn't playing fair and demands that he recuse himself.
But in a stunning piece of video, a former Obama official who went on to advisethe Hillary Clinton campaignessentially confirmed that she was urging theprevious administration to abuse intelligenceon the Trump people. Evelyn Farkas, former deputy assistant secretary of defense, told Mika Brzezinski earlier this month: "I was urging my former colleagues and, frankly speaking, the people on the Hill, it was more actually aimed at telling the Hill people, get as much information as you can, get as much intelligence as you can, before President Obama leaves the administration.Because I had a fear that somehow that information would disappear with the senior [Obama] people who left, so it would be hidden away in the bureaucracy. That the Trump folks if they found out how we knew what we knew about... the Trump staff dealing with Russians that they would try to compromise those sources and methods, meaning we no longer have access to that intelligence." But Farkaswas already out of the administration and advising Hillary. Why the helldid sheknow anything about secret intelligence?
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on Sunday defended the administrations positions on climate change and ending domestic energy policies that he said the Obama administration just made up.
Pruitt tried to make clear his position, amid outcry from environmental activists, that humans indeed contribute to climate change.
"There's a warming trend, the climate is changing, and human activity contributes to that change in some measure," he told "Fox News Sunday." "The real issue is how much we contribute to it and measuring that with precision."
He also argued that Congress provides the EPA with the authority to make rules and that former President Obama overstepped that authority with his 2015 Clean Power Plan, which is now subject to a Supreme Court stay.
As much as we want to see progress made with clean air and clean water with an understanding we can also grow jobs, we have to do so within the framework of what Congress has passed, Pruitt said.
The past administration just made it up, they reimagined authority under the statute. Thats why President Trump is dealing with that regulatory overreach in charting a new path forward to deal with these issues within the framework of the Clean Air Act.
Trump last week signed an executive order to dismantle Obamas 2015 plan.
Pruitt had recently said that carbon emissions are not a primary contributor to climate change. He declined on Sunday to say whether Trump will pull out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement that limits carbon emissions worldwide, calling it a bad deal for the U.S. economy.
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EPA's Pruitt: Trump will end overreach, Obama 'made up' regulatory power - Fox News
Pete Souza, the chief White House photographer for former President Barack Obama, appeared to take a veiled shot at President Donald Trump Friday on the social media platform Instagram.
On Friday, Souza uploaded a picture of Obama practicing to throw the first pitch at the Washington Nationals 2010 home opener.
Seven years ago today, practicing to throw out the first pitch for the Washington Nationals home opener the following week, Souzas caption read.
The picture comes after the White House said last week that Trump declined the opportunity to do the same at the Nationals home opener this week.
The White House told the Washington Examiner that although the president was in talks with the team to give the ceremonial first pitch, ultimately scheduling conflicts got in the way. Presidents have been delivering the first pitch at Nationals games dating back to former President William Taft in 1910.
Still, liberals piled onto Trump this week after it was announced he would not throw the opening pitch. The American Prospect said Trump likely declined the invitation because he didnt want to be booed. Slate compiled 10 reasons why Trump probably decided, with the number 1 reason being that hes still upset about 1947 integration of the major leagues.
Surprisingly, though, the Washington Post noted that the outrage at Trump is overblown because even Obama declined to throw the opening pitch his inaugural year in 2009.
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Obama WH photographer takes veiled shot at Trump for the silliest of reasons - TheBlaze.com
President Trumps election appears to be negatively affecting gun sales in the U.S. and the bubble appears to be bursting despite a staunch advocate for gun rights in the White House and Republicans ruling Congress.
"President Obama was the best gun salesman the world has ever seen," Karl Sorken, a production manager at Battle Rifle Co. in Houston. Sorken is an Army veteran and self-described liberal who voted for Obama and notes the change for the industry under Trump is a topic of conversation in the shop.
Fears of government limits on guns -- some real, some perceived -- led to a surge in demand during Obama's tenure and manufacturers leapt to keep up. Over the decade ending in 2015, the number of U.S. companies licensed to make firearms jumped 362 percent.
"The trends really almost since Election Day or election night have been that gun sales have slacked off," said Robert Spitzer, political science department chairman at State University of New York at Cortland. "When you take away Barack Obama and you give the Republicans control of both houses of Congress, which is extremely friendly to the gun lobby, then the political pressure subsides. And that surely is at least a key part of the explanation for the drop-off in sales."
The Washington Post reported that the FBI conducted about 500,000 fewer background checks in December 2016 then in 2015. Gun sales this year have reportedly dropped about 17 percent.
From 2004 to 2013, sales of all handguns -- pistols and revolvers -- increased nearly fivefold, according to industry figures. Sales of rifles tripled in that timeframe.
Battle Rifle took shape in the middle of that surge, formed in 2010 after its founder Chris Kurzadkowski ventured into his garage to build his police officer son a rifle from scratch.
"Our forefathers realized what tyranny does and if you don't have a way to protect yourself from tyranny then you become a subject," said ammunition expert Jamey Spears, who spent five years in Texas law enforcement until he was shot during a raid on a Dallas crack house. The .45-caliber hollow point bullet that went through a gap in his body armor remains lodged next to his spine, a noticeable lump reminding him of how close he came to dying that day.
"I have nothing but the most heartfelt adoration for people who serve so others can be safe," he said.
One reason for the surge in manufacturers of AR-platform firearms -- called "modern sporting rifles" by the industry -- is that they are not protected by patents or trademarks. That makes it an open field for anyone with the proper federal license.
Another has been demand helped by a monied clientele. The majority of AR owners are overwhelmingly male, with half between the ages of 45 and 64, and more than half reporting annual income of more than $75,000, according to a 2013 survey conducted for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents gunmakers.
Daniel Defense, a company based in Black Creek, Georgia, about 25 miles west of Savannah, capitalized on that growth. It began in 2000 by making parts for AR-style firearms. Last year, Daniel sold 60,000 complete weapons.
Founder Marty Daniel, who employs about 310 workers and is more than doubling his manufacturing facility's square footage, said he was prepared for the dips in sales and anticipates those will last through the year. But he considers the downturn part of a natural business cycle, like those that hit the housing market.
"There are some blips in there from time to time. And we're in one of those because Trump was elected," Daniel said. But, he says, "it's not gloom and doom."
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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Without Obama, once-booming gun industry poised to shrink - Fox News