Incoming White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Thursday morning defended the racial makeup of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees, during his first official briefing on the eve of the president-elect’s Inauguration. Related: Schedule of events for Donald Trump’s Inauguration In a 45-minute briefing that included remarks from Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who has been the […]
Sean Spicer Defends Trump’s Cabinet Picks Read More »
USAAmong the 273 people who were pardoned or had their sentences commuted this week by outgoing President Barack Obama was 74-year-old Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar López Rivera. “Oscar,” as he’s known to supporters, was linked to a Puerto Rican nationalist group, the Armed Forces of National Liberation, which carried out bombings and other crimes in
Death Row inmate Ricky Gray, 39, was put to death Wednesday night by the state of Virginia. Eleven years ago, Gray walked into a family’s home on New Year’s Day and killed two young girls and their parents by slashing their throats and then setting their home ablaze. Gray reportedly showed no emotion as he
PALM BEACH, Fla. — The genteel people of Palm Beach, home to the old-money fortunes of captains-of-industry scions, once ridiculed even their wealthy Kennedy neighbors — with their Irish Catholicism, Hollywood paparazzi and family scandals — as contemptible nouveau riche. Then came Donald Trump. Immediately branded by the notoriously insular locals as a vulgar arriviste,
Haughty Palm Beach learns to love Trump, once a scorned outsider Read More »
USANew York, Ramallah- South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley seconded criticism of the United Nations by the new U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and many of their fellow Republicans before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, especially for what she termed its “bias” against Israel. At her Senate confirmation hearing, Haley slammed the Obama administration for allowing “mistreatment”
Trump Nominee for U.N. Ambassador Supports Moving U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem Read More »
Middle East, USASouleymane Guengueng tells me his story in the Bronx, where he lives on the 16th floor of a 21-story housing project with his wife and three kids. He’s stylish, wearing a green collared shirt and his signature fedora. “I am a survivor of torture,” he says, sitting on his couch. “I have fought for human
How this torture survivor from Chad made good on ‘a pact with God’ Read More »
International, USAThe National Endowment for the Arts, the independent federal agency that promotes and funds art in American communities, will be eliminated if the Trump administration has its way, the Hill reported Thursday. The NEA provides direct grants to art agencies and artists throughout the country. In 2015, the agency awarded grants in every Congressional district,
Donald Trump Wants To Eliminate The National Endowment For The Arts Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USAA Senate committee on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved James N. Mattis, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense, according to The Los Angeles Times. Mattis thus became the first of Trump’s Cabinet picks to clear the crucial hurdle. The GOP-led Senate Armed Services Committee voted 26-1 in favor of Mattis on Wednesday, according to the
Senate committee confirms Trump’s Defense Secretary Read More »
Middle East, USAThe FBI said on Wednesday it would probe the wave of false telephone bomb threats against Jewish community centers across the United States. The announcement came after 27 JCCs in 17 U.S. states reported receiving bomb threats, a week after 16 Jewish community centers in nine states received similar threats. The FBI and the Justice
FBI to probe bomb threats against JCCs Read More »
USA3:20 p.m. Former President George W. Bush still plans to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration this week even though his father and mother are hospitalized in Houston. Freddy Ford is a spokesman for the younger Bush in Dallas. He said Wednesday that the 43rd president expects to be in Washington on Friday and doesn’t plan
The day we learn of H.W.’s hospitalization, there is bad news about Barbara Bush as well Read More »
USACNN’s president says the incoming U.S. commander in chief is trying to “delegitimize journalism.” The rift between President-elect Donald Trump and CNN was highlighted once again on Wednesday with the publication of a New York Magazine interview with Jeff Zucker. The piece prompted attacks against Mr. Trump after the writer revisited reporting on unverified intelligence
Jeff Zucker, CNN president, attacks Donald Trump’s attempts to ‘delegitimize journalism’ Read More »
International, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USAIt’s official: 2016 was the hottest year on record in 122 years of record-keeping, according to independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The 1.78-degree jump over the mid-20th-century average marks the third year in a row that global temperatures have reached record-shattering levels. Earth’s average surface temperature has risen about
Earth sets heat record in 2016 � for the third year in a row Read More »
The World We Share, USAWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama closed his presidency on a note of optimism Wednesday, telling a room of reporters that, despite the worry felt by many of his fellow partisans about the incoming Trump administration, “we’re going to be OK.” In what was scheduled as the final news conference of his presidency, Obama said that
Obama’s parting message: Hope Read More »
USAATLANTA — President-elect Donald Trump picked former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue on Wednesday to be his agriculture secretary, tapping a veterinarian-turned-politician who was the state’s first Republican governor in more than a century to lead the sprawling department. Perdue, 70, had emerged as Trump’s leading contender to run the agriculture department in recent days, and
Donald Trump taps Sonny Perdue as his agriculture chief Read More »
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