Trump Tops Obama, Bush and Clinton in Golfing and Private Getaways So Far
After years of criticizing
former President Barack Obama for playing golf and going on private
getaways, President Trump has already done more of both in his first 81
days than Mr. Obama, as well as former Presidents George W. Bush and
Bill Clinton. Mr. Trump played golf again this past weekend, on Saturday
and Sunday.
He Has Spent 17 Days at a Golf Course
“I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to play golf.”
Mr. Trump at a Virginia campaign rally in 2016
Mr. Trump can be found at a Trump golf course
on most weekends. Administration officials rarely confirm whether he
actually played golf, forcing reporters to glean clues from photos
posted on social media.
He’s played some golf at least 13 times, according to Mark Knoller, a White House correspondent for CBS News.
Mr. Obama played just once during his first 100
days, but went on to hit a total of 333 rounds during his two terms as
president, Mr. Knoller’s data shows.
The White House says Mr. Trump uses his time on
the green to foster relationships with world leaders and lawmakers.
However, the White House does not generally reveal whom he plays with.
Just because Mr. Trump is at a golf course, it
does not necessarily mean he’s playing golf, Sean Spicer, White House
press secretary, said in March, citing a “mini Cabinet” meeting at Mr.
Trump’s golf club in Virginia.
Trump Has Spent Half of His Weekends at Mar-a-Lago
“I would rarely leave the White House because there’s so much work to be done.”
During their first 100 days, presidents often
spend several weekends away from the White House, usually splitting
their time between a private residence and Camp David, the official
presidential retreat near Thurmont, Md.
Mr. Trump has spent six of his 12 weekends as president flying to Mar-a-Lago,
his exclusive resort in Palm Beach, Fla., on Air Force One. He has not
traveled to Camp David, which is about a 30-minute ride on Marine One
from the White House and likely less expensive.
Mr. Spicer has dismissed criticism of Mr.
Trump’s frequent trips to Mar-a-Lago, noting Mr. Bush’s trips to his
ranch in Crawford, Tex. “The president, wherever he goes, he carries the
apparatus of the White House,” Mr. Spicer said.
Tags: National Archives; Clinton Digital Library; George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum; Mark Knoller, CBS News.
McCain defends free press, raises specter of dictatorship from Trump's attacks
Senator John McCain is speaking out in opposition to Trump's ongoing feud with the media. On Saturday, McCain sat down with Chuck Todd in an interview with 'Meet the Press,' and addressed Trump's tweet on Friday that accused the media of being the "enemy of the American people.' USA TODAY NETWORK
WASHINGTON — President Trump's long-term rhetorical war on the
press is heating up again, thanks to a tweet declaring the media "the
enemy of the American people" and concerns that Trump's increasingly
acerbic rhetoric is the cutting edge of authoritarianism.
"If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free -- and many times adversarial — press," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaking on NBC's Meet The Press.
"And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our
individual liberties over time — that's how dictators get started."
Citing
history, McCain told NBC that "the first thing that dictators do is
shut down the press," though he hastened to add: "I'm not saying that
President Trump is trying to be a dictator. I'm just saying we need to
learn the lessons of history."
McCain responded to the echoes of
this Trump weekend tweet: "The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes,
@NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the
American People!"
The president amplified his comments at a Saturday political rally in Melbourne, Fla., telling cheering supporters that "dishonest" media members "have their own agenda, and their agenda is not your agenda."
During a tour of Sunday interview shows, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus
more or less defended Trump's "enemy" comment, saying too many news
stories are based on anonymous sources with anti-Trump agendas, and some
are simply wrong.
Priebus challenged stories about investigations into potential contacts between Trump campaign
associates and Russian operatives in the wake of Russia's attempt to
influence the 2016 election, saying there are no such contacts. He
disputed accounts of alleged conflicts between Trump and the
intelligence community.
Trump's chief of staff criticized the
entire nature of 24/7 television news, saying it emphasizes gossipy
trivia -- such as his supposed battles with senior adviser Steve Bannon -- at the expense of real issues like trade policy. "All this is just total garbage, un-sourced stuff," Priebus told Fox News Sunday.
Trump and his staff believe in the free press, Priebus said on NBC's Meet The Press, and "we don't believe everything is bad. But there are some things that are really bad."
Defense Secretary James Mattis
disagreed with Trump's "enemy" comment. While "I’ve had some rather
contentious times with the press,” Mattis told reporters over the
weekend that the media is "a constituency that we deal with, and I don’t
have any issues with the press myself."
Political analysts
said there's a difference between criticizing the press and calling it
"the enemy" -- a phrase authoritarian governments of the past have
indeed used to de-legitimize political opponents and institutions.
"This is something that you hear tin-pot dictators say when they want
to control all of the information," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.,
the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, speaking on ABC's This Week.
Matt
Mackowiak, a Texas-based Republican political consultant, said Trump is
facing a "vigorously hostile press corps" that has low approval ratings
of its own, and seems to be "competing to see who can be the first to
cause his impeachment."
While Trump "is attacking a weak opponent
that his base despises," Mackowiak added that the president needs to
reach out to the broader public in order to get legislation passed. "The
campaign is over," Mackowiak said. "It's time for governing and
governing requires persuasion."
Beating up on the press is as old as the presidency itself, analysts said, from George Washington to Barack Obama. The
question is whether they take specific actions designed to curb freedom
of the press -- something Trump hasn't done, at least so far.
Nicole Renee Hemmer, assistant professor at the University of Virginia's
Miller Center, said "the rhetoric is not yet cause for panic." But she
said journalists need to push back and explain that "their work is a
vital component of democratic governance and the system of checks and
balances, especially given Donald Trump's autocratic tendencies."
Said
Hemmer: "Trump has a tendency to blur the distinctions between himself,
the government, and the people, more so than any modern president. And
his wholesale attacks on the press soften the ground for anti-press
action."
Utah Republican argues against equal pay for women: It’s ‘bad for families’ and society
Snow
rests on the sign on the Utah state Capitol on the opening day of the
2017 session in Salt Lake City, Jan. 23. (Scott G Winterton/Deseret News
via AP)
In a letter criticizing a bill that addresses
pay gap in the workforce, a Utah Republican said that men have
traditionally earned more than women and, citing “simple economics,”
argued that things should stay that way.
James Green’s letter to
the editor, published in two local publications earlier this week,
immediately prompted such outrage that within two days, Green had
written an apology and resigned from his post as vice chair of the
Wasatch County Republican Party.
Green said in his letter, published Wednesday by the Park Record and the Wasatch Wave,
that men make more than women because they’re “the primary
breadwinners” of their families, and paying women equally would somehow
ruin the makeup of a traditional family where “the Mother” remains at
home raising children.
“If businesses are forced to pay women the
same as male earnings, that means they will have to reduce the pay for
the men they employ, simple economics,” Green wrote. “If that happens,
then men will have an even more difficult time earning enough to support
their families, which will mean more Mothers will be forced to leave
the home (where they may prefer to be) to join the workforce to make up
the difference.”
And having more women in the workforce would
create competition for jobs, “even men’s jobs,” Green wrote. That will,
in turn, lower the pay for all jobs and force “more and more Mothers”
into the workforce, he argued.
That’s “bad for families and thus
for all of society,” Green wrote. “It’s a vicious cycle that only gets
worse the more equality of pay is forced upon us. It’s a situation of
well-meaning intentions, but negative unintended consequences.”
Green’s comments were directed at Senate Bill 210,
which would make changes to laws related to employee pay in the state.
The bill, authored by state Sen. Jacob Anderegg, a fellow Utah
Republican, would commission a study on whether there’s a pay gap
between male and female workers in the state. It would require certain
employers to adopt a uniform criteria that will be used to determine
whether someone should get a raise based on performance, and would
create a pay index that states the average pay range for each occupation
based on years of experience.
SB 210 was introduced on Monday.
Shortly after its publication, Green’s letter was met with a sharp response.
State
Rep. Tim Quinn, a Republican who represents Utah’s 54th district, which
includes Wasatch County, denounced the comments and distanced himself
from Green. Wasatch County, with a population of a little more than 29,000, is southeast of Salt Lake City.
“I
am shocked and appalled to learn how James Green feels about equal pay
for women. I don’t know where this belief came from,” Quinn said in a
statement, according to Fox affiliate KSTU.
“I do not subscribe publicly or privately to the words or the spirit
behind these words, thoughts or ideas. Of course, the Wasatch County
Republican Party and I are for equal pay and rights for all people.”
The Utah Women’s Coalition, which supports SB 210, took to social media with its criticism of Green’s comments.
“Are we really having this conversation in 2017?” asked a Facebook post sharing a local story about Green.
The coalition’s Stephanie Pitcher told Fox affiliate KSTU that
the bluntness of Green’s remarks were “very disappointing” and
contradicts the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as
anti-discrimination provisions in state law.
“He was very
straightforward and blunt about his thoughts on women in the workforce
and that was really surprising, but the first thing I noticed was a very
open recognition that there is a pay disparity between men and women,”
Pitcher told KSTU of Green.
Green did not return a call from The Washington Post on Saturday. But he told KSTU that he has been in “hot water” since his letter was published.
“You wouldn’t believe the hateful, vile comments and messages I’ve received,” Green told KSTU,
adding that he decided to resign from his position as vice chair of the
Wasatch County GOP because he “didn’t want to hurt the party,” which he
said was getting blamed for his comments.
Green
then wrote a second letter saying his comments are not representative
of the Wasatch County GOP or the Republican Party in general and
apologizing to those who have been offended.
“I want to clarify
that the main focus of my letter was to express that I don’t feel the
government should be dictating to private establishments what they must
do in regard to employment, hiring, or wages,” Green wrote, according to KSTU.
“There was no offense intended toward Women, whatsoever. And yet some
took it that way. To those who were offended, I profusely apologize. I
sincerely did not mean to do that.”
He also said he values
women’s contributions in the workforce, and that he was only pointing
out the “historical reasons for pay disparity.”
“While I worked
my fingers to the bone (with numerous extra side jobs) so my Wife could
say in the home and raise our two Sons, who are now both
Physician/Surgeons (plus one also has a Law Degree), I realize not
everyone is so fortunate,” Green wrote.
A spokeswoman for the
Utah GOP told the TV station on Friday afternoon that Green had
resigned. Efforts to reach the Utah GOP on Saturday were unsuccessful.
Women in Utah make 71 cents for every dollar paid to men, according to the National Women’s Law Center. That’s lower than the national average, which is 80 cents for every dollar paid to men.
Black and
Latina women in the state make 56 cents and 47 cents for every dollar
paid to white men, respectively, according to the center. Both numbers
are below the national averages: 63 cents for black women and 54 cents
for Latina women.
The center’s report does not indicate that the discrepancies in pay are for the same occupation.
Politicians have repeatedly pointed out that women make less than men. But as The Post’s Glenn Kessler pointed out last year,
the specific number on the pay difference is an overused “factoid” that
has become a major talking point for Democrats but fails to capture
some of the nuances in the workforce.
Although few experts
dispute the existence of a pay gap, that number does not take into
account differences in life choices between men and women — such as
women tending to leave the workforce when they have children, Kessler
wrote.
Last Night in Sweden’? Trump’s Remark Baffles a Nation
At a campaign-style rally in Florida on Saturday, President Trump issued a sharp critique of Europe’s refugee policies, ticking off a list of places that have been struck by terrorists. But he also mentioned Sweden, which has not been a target of recent terrorist attacks.
LONDON
— Swedes reacted with confusion, anger and ridicule on Sunday to a
vague remark by President Trump that suggested that something terrible
had occurred in their country.
During a campaign-style rally
on Saturday in Florida, Mr. Trump issued a sharp if discursive attack
on refugee policies in Europe, ticking off a list of places that have
been hit by terrorists.
“You
look at what’s happening,” he told his supporters. “We’ve got to keep
our country safe. You look at what’s happening in Germany, you look at
what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this?”
Not the Swedes.
Nothing particularly nefarious happened in Sweden on Friday — or Saturday, for that matter — and Swedes were left baffled.
“Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound,” Carl Bildt, a former prime minister and foreign minister, wrote on Twitter.
As the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet
noted, Twitter users were quick to ridicule Mr. Trump’s remark, with
joking references to the Swedish Chef, the “Muppets” character; Swedish
meatballs; and Ikea, the furniture giant.
Mr.
Trump did not state, per se, that a terrorist attack had taken place in
Sweden. But the context of his remarks — he mentioned Sweden right
after he chastised Germany, a destination for refugees and asylum
seekers fleeing war and deprivation — suggested that he thought it might
have.
“Sweden,” Mr. Trump said. “They took in large numbers. They’re having problems like they never thought possible.”
He
then invoked the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris in 2015 and
in Brussels and Nice, France, last year, to make an argument for
tightening scrutiny of travelers and asylum seekers. “We’ve allowed
thousands and thousands of people into our country, and there was no way
to vet those people,” he said. “There was no documentation. There was
no nothing. So we’re going to keep our country safe.”
Sarah
Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokeswoman, tried to clarify the
president’s remarks Sunday, saying Mr. Trump did not mean to suggest
that a particular attack had happened the night before, but rather was
talking about crime in general in Sweden.
On Sunday, Mr. Trump offered his own clarification,
writing on Twitter, “My statement as to what’s happening in Sweden was
in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning
immigrants & Sweden.”
In that story, the Fox News correspondent Tucker Carlson interviewed Ami Horowitz,
a filmmaker who asserts that migrants in Sweden have been associated
with a crime wave. “They oftentimes try to cover up some of these
crimes,” Mr. Horowitz said, arguing that those who try to tell the truth
about the situation are shouted down as racists and xenophobes.
(Mr. Carlson interjected, “The masochism of the West knows no bounds at all.”)
Mr.
Horowitz said, “Sweden had its first terrorist Islamic attack not that
long ago, so they’re now getting a taste of what we’ve been seeing
across Europe already.”
It was not clear what he was referring to. In 2010, a suicide bomber struck central Stockholm, injuring two people. The bomber,
Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, 28, was an Iraqi-born Swede who had
developed an affinity for Al Qaeda. But that attack occurred long before
the current wave of migrants.
Sweden
has a long history of welcoming refugees — Jews, Iranians, Eritreans,
Somalis, Kurds and people from the former Yugoslavia, among others — but
even some of the most tolerant and idealistic Swedes have raised questions about whether the country can absorb so many newcomers so quickly.
Henrik Selin, a political scientist and deputy director of the Swedish Institute, a state agency dedicated to promoting Sweden globally, said he was puzzled by Mr. Trump’s remarks.
“I
do not have a clue what he was referring to,” he said in a telephone
interview. “Obviously, this could be connected to the fact that there
has been a lot of negative reporting about Sweden, since Sweden has
taken in a lot of refugees.”
The
country processed 81,000 asylum seekers in 2014, 163,000 in 2015 and
29,000 last year, with another 25,000 to 45,000 expected this year,
according to the Swedish Migration Agency.
Mr.
Selin completed a study recently focusing on negative news reports
about Sweden’s acceptance of refugees. It found numerous exaggerations
and distortions, including false reports that Shariah law
was predominant in parts of the country and that some immigrant-heavy
neighborhoods were considered “no-go zones” by the police.
Breitbart
News, the right-wing website once led by Stephen K. Bannon, now Mr.
Trump’s senior strategist, has published numerous stories alleging that
migrants have been responsible for a surge in crime and for a wave of
sexual assaults. Swedish officials have said that their statistics do
not justify such sweeping assertions, and that the country has a high
number of sexual assault reports relative to other European countries because more victims come forward, not because there is more violence.
Mr.
Selin said the news reports “were highly exaggerated and not based in
facts,” adding, “Some of the stories were very popular to spread in
social media by people who have the same kind of agenda — that countries
should not receive so many refugees.”
As
for the cover-up alleged by Mr. Horowitz, Mr. Selin said: “That kind of
claim has been in the political debate for 15 years now. But nobody has
been able to prove there is a cover-up. On the contrary, the fact is
that crime rates are going down.”
He
added: “Swedish authorities have nothing to gain from hiding the truth.
We are quite keen to ensure that the debate and the story about our
country is fact-based and nuanced. We are more than happy to talk about
the challenges our country faces as well as the things that are going
well.”
Asked about Mr. Trump’s comment, Anna Kinberg Batra,
the leader of the opposition Moderate Party, said in a statement,
“President Trump has to answer himself for his statements, why he makes
them and based on what facts.”
Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom declined to comment because, her press secretary, Erik Wirkensjo, said, “it’s hard to say what Trump is talking about.”
In
an essay in the newspaper Dagens Nyheter, the journalist Martin Gelin
speculated that “Trump might have gotten his news from the countless
right-wing media in the United States that have long been reporting that
Sweden is heading for total collapse.”
He
added, “Among Trump supporters, there are common myths that Sweden is
in a state of chaos after taking in refugees from the Middle East.”
Kings, Pelicans agree to DeMarcus Cousins trade, sources say
The Sacramento Kings stunningly changed course Sunday night and agreed to trade All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans just two weeks after publicly proclaiming Cousins off the market, according to league sources.
Sources
told ESPN.com that the Kings and Pelicans, while Sunday's All-Star Game
in New Orleans was playing out, came to terms on a trade that will send
Cousins and swingman Omri Casspi to the All-Star hosts in exchange for Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway and both a 2017 first- and second-round pick.
The
first-round pick that Sacramento will acquire in this fast-moving
blockbuster deal is top-three protected in the June draft, ESPN.com has
learned. That means New Orleans must immediately surrender the pick if
it lands at No. 4 or lower.
Sources say the deal is likely to be submitted Monday for league approval.
The
immediacy of landing two picks in the trade from what is widely
projected as a strong draft, as well as the chance to start over amid
growing internal concern about Cousins' unpredictability and run-ins
with referees, were chief among the lures that convinced Sacramento to
go forward with this trade late Sunday night, as opposed to playing the
process out until Thursday's 3 p.m. trade deadline.
Sources added
the Kings are also quietly hopeful that their expected slide in the
Western Conference standings in their remaining 25 games this season
will ensure that they get to hang onto their own first-round pick in the
June draft, which must be sent to Chicago
if it falls outside of the top 10. Sacramento should thus wind up with
two lottery picks in June to start reshaping its roster in earnest
post-Cousins.
League sources told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne that the
Pelicans, meanwhile, are confident they will convince Cousins to sign a
contract extension to stay in New Orleans in the near future.
Cousins
would have been eligible to sign a five-year, $209 million extension
with the Kings this summer had he stayed in Sacramento and has spoken
openly for weeks about his desire to spend his entire career there,
despite the club's decade-long playoff drought.
"That's home,"
Cousins said of Sacramento in an interview with ESPN Radio earlier this
week. "I'm loyal to the city, I'm loyal to the fans and I'm loyal to the
organization. This is part of my legacy and I want to bring us back to
the promised land."
Earlier Sunday night, before both teams
committed to the deal, Cousins' agent, Jarinn Akana, told ESPN that the
26-year-old would likely pass on an extension with any team that traded
for him before Thursday's deadline.
Cousins has one more season
left on his current contract and can become a free agent in the summer
of 2018; New Orleans would be able to offer him a five-year extension
worth an estimated $179 million in July.
"I have spoken many times
recently with [Kings owner] Vivek [Ranadive] and [general manager]
Vlade [Divac] about DeMarcus' future with the Kings," Akana told ESPN.
"They
have assured me, and DeMarcus, that the Kings won't trade him and are
committed to signing DeMarcus long term. In fact, Vlade has gone on
record saying exactly the same thing. If the Kings flip-flop on what
they committed, that is on them.
"Under the circumstances and
given the Kings' commitments, I would find it highly unlikely that
DeMarcus would re-sign with a team that trades for him at this point."
On Feb. 6, Divac told ESPN: "We're not trading DeMarcus ... we hope he's here for a long time."
Divac's
public statement, sources said, followed a face-to-face meeting days
earlier in which he assured Cousins and his representatives that there
would be no trade and that the sides were on track for the extension
this summer.
But the Pelicans -- knowing Cousins grew up some 90
minutes away from New Orleans in Mobile, Alabama -- aren't concerned
about their ability to sell the former Kentucky star on a long-term future alongside another former Wildcats star in Anthony Davis.
"I
don't think they would have done the trade without a lot of confidence
they could re-sign him," one source with knowledge of New Orleans'
thinking told Shelburne.
The Pelicans have been looking for an
offensive-minded center to play alongside Davis dating to last season's
trade deadline, when they flirted with dealing for Milwaukee's Greg Monroe. New Orleans has also pursued Philadelphia's Jahlil Okafor and Brooklyn's Brook Lopez in recent weeks before focusing its efforts this week on trying to pry Cousins away from the Kings.
ESPN's Justin Verrier reported earlier Sunday that New Orleans also tried to engage the Indiana Pacers in trade discussions involving Pacers star swingman Paul George, desperate to land some top-level help for Davis, who earned All-Star Game MVP honors Sunday after scoring a league-record 52 points in the West's 192-182 victory.
"This
is an unbelievable weekend," Davis told ESPN's Jeff Goodman after
learning of the trade following his MVP news conference, greeting the
news with a smile and a big thumbs-up.
"All-Star MVP and now getting Boogie. It doesn't get better than this."
Davis told Goodman he hasn't heard anything official from management or talked to Cousins yet.
Cousins,
averaging 27.8 points and 10.6 rebounds this season, played only two
minutes in Sunday night's All-Star Game. Sources told ESPN that Cousins
asked Western Conference coach Steve Kerr to keep his minutes down
before the game for reasons unrelated to the trade talks.
Cousins
was flying back to Sacramento on a private plane with his assistants and
family and is expected to return to New Orleans on Tuesday, a source
told The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears.
The three-time All-Star was
recently forced to serve a one-game suspension after accruing his 17th
technical foul this season and will be forced to serve additional
suspensions with every other tech he incurs for the rest of the regular
season.
Sources told ESPN's Chris Haynes that the Pelicans will now seek a trade partner for power forward Terrence Jones to take on Jones and ease their frontcourt logjam.
The Los Angeles Lakers also pursued Cousins in recent days but felt Sacramento's asking price was too high, sources told Shelburne.
Shelburne
reports that talks quickly fizzled once the Kings informed the Lakers
that they weren't interest unless they would receive 2016 No. 2 overall
pick Brandon Ingram as part of a Cousins deal.
The
Kings get a player with a lot of potential in the 6-foot-4 Hield,
although he has been inconsistent during his rookie season out of Oklahoma, where as a senior he was one of the best players in the nation.
Hield is averaging 8.6 points but has been explosive at times, with a season high of 21 points.
Evans won the NBA's Rookie of the Year Award in Sacramento in 2010 -- beating out Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry -- before joining New Orleans in the summer of 2013 in free agency via sign-and-trade.
The 6-foot-9 Casspi has been playing about 19 minutes per game for the Kings this season, averaging 5.9 points and 4.1 rebounds. Information from The Associated Press was included in this report.
Three spectators injured in Florida sprint car crash
Three spectators were injured Sunday night at a sprint car race at Volusia Speedway Park near Barberville, Fla.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s office tweeted that all three victims were taken to Halifax Health, two of them as trauma alerts.
Video
shows sprint cars getting tangled during a race on the half-mile dirt
oval. One of the cars flips several times and clears the fencing that
surrounds the track. People can be seen watching the race and walking
along the outside of the track.
According to Speedsport.com, Dale Blaney’s car flipped after contact with Rico Abreu — who competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
in 2016 — and Jason Sides during the World of Outlaws Craftsman sprint
car series feature. All three drivers walked away after the crash.
Late Sunday night, DIRTcar Nationals said in a statement,
"We would like to extend a thank you for everyone's thoughts and
prayers for the three participants injured in the pit area Sunday night
during the 46th running of the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway
Park.
"Two of the three individuals remain in the care of medical
staff at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Fla. Each have
family present at the hospital and have requested privacy at this time.
"Mr. Gary Streek of the United Kingdom has been discharged."
Volusia
Speedway Park is holding its DirtCar Nationals through Feb. 25, an
annual event that coincides with Daytona Speedweeks and attracts drivers
from all across the nation. Many NASCAR drivers moonlight here while
competing at Daytona International Speedway.
Wife leaves husband of 22 years because he voted for Donald Trump
'It totally undid me that he could vote for Trump. I felt like I had been fooling myself'
Ms McCormick described her husband's ballot as a 'deal breaker' REUTERS
Burning passions over Donald Trump's
presidency are taking a personal toll on both sides of the political
divide. For Gayle McCormick, it is particularly wrenching: she has
separated from her husband of 22 years.
The retired California prison guard, a self-described "Democrat
leaning toward socialist," was stunned when her husband casually
mentioned during a lunch with friends last year that he planned to vote
for Trump – a revelation she described as a "deal breaker."
"It totally undid me that he could vote for Trump," said McCormick,
73, who had not thought of leaving the conservative Republican before
but felt "betrayed" by his support for Trump.
"I felt like I had been fooling myself," she said. "It opened up
areas between us I had not faced before. I realised how far I had gone
in my life to accept things I would have never accepted when I was
younger."
Three months after the most divisive election in modern U.S. politics
fractured families and upended relationships, a number of Americans say
the emotional wounds are as raw as ever and show few signs of healing.
The rancour has not dissipated as it has in the aftermath of other
recent contentious U.S. elections. A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll shows it
has worsened, suggesting a widening of the gulf between Republicans and
Democrats and a hardening of ideological positions that sociologists
and political scientists say increases distrust in government and will
make political compromise more difficult.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll of 6,426 people, taken from Dec 27 to Jan 18,
shows the number of respondents who argued with family and friends over
politics jumped 6 percentage points from a pre-election poll at the
height of the campaign in October, up to 39 percent from 33 percent.
Six ways Donald Trump and Barack Obama are opposites
Sixteen percent said they have stopped talking to a family member or
friend because of the election - up marginally from 15 percent. That
edged higher, to 22 percent, among those who voted for Democrat Hillary
Clinton. Overall, 13 percent of respondents said they had ended a
relationship with a family member or close friend over the election,
compared to 12 percent in October.
"It's been pretty rough for me," said Rob Brunello, 25, of Mayfield
Heights, Ohio, a truck driver who faced a backlash from friends and
family for backing Trump.
"People couldn't believe Trump could beat Hillary. They are having a hard time adjusting to it," he said.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the poll results.
At the same time, many people reported their relationships have not
suffered because of the election. The poll found about 40 percent had
not argued with a family member or friend over the race.
The election also enabled a significant number to forge new bonds -
21 percent said they became friends with someone they did not know
because of the election, though the poll question did not ask
respondents to specify if the friendship was with someone from a
different party.
Sandi Corbin, a retiree in East Galesburg, Illinois, said she has
visited some of the new friends she made because of their shared support
for Clinton. "We talk all the time now," she said. "I would say that's a
plus from the election."
The election's fervour has spilled into the streets since Trump's
inauguration on Jan. 20. Hundreds of thousands of people marched in
protest on the day after Trump took office, and there have been
demonstrations against a travel ban on visitors from seven
Muslim-majority countries.
Arguing over Trump has become a bitter reality for many Americans.
"Once people found out I had voted for Trump the stuff started
flying," said William Lomey, 64, a retired cop in Philadelphia who no
longer speaks with a friend he grew up with after they clashed on
Facebook over the election. "I questioned him on a few things, he didn't
like it, he blew up and left me a nasty message and we haven't talked
since."
He said his friend is gay and worries about Trump's sometimes
demeaning campaign rhetoric about minority groups including Muslims,
Hispanics, immigrants and the disabled.
"I think people are getting too wound up," Lomey said.
Sue Koren, 57, a Clinton supporter in Dayton, Ohio, said she can
barely speak to her two Trump-backing sons and has unfriended "maybe
about 50" people on Facebook who support the president.
"Life is not what it was before the election," she said. "It's my
anger, my frustration, my disbelief. They think our current president is
a hero and I think he's a nut."
George Ingmire, 48, a radio documentary producer in New Orleans, said
he broke off a close relationship with an uncle who had helped him
through his father's suicide because of his uncle's fervent support for
Trump.
"We had some back and forth and it just got really deep, really ugly," Ingmire said. "I don't see this ever being fixed."
Many personal conflicts erupt on social media. In the Reuters/Ipsos
poll, 17 percent said they had blocked a family member or close friend
on social media because of the election, up 3 percentage points from
October.
LeShanda Loatman, 35, a black Republican real estate agent from
Delaware, has severed ties on social media with former co-workers and
old friends over their support for Trump and their criticism of the
Black Lives Matter movement against violence and racism against blacks.
"I haven't come across anybody who was openly belligerent about the
election or Black Lives Matter movement when I was out in public. It's
just on Facebook," said Loatman, who voted for Green Party candidate
Jill Stein.
Eventually, McCormick's husband changed his mind about Trump and
wrote in former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich in
November, but by that time she had decided to strike out on her own.
While the couple plans to vacation together and will not get divorced
- "we're too old for that" - she recently settled in her own place in
Bellingham, Washington.
"It really came down to the fact I needed to not be in a position
where I had to argue my point of view 24/7. I didn't want to spend the
rest of my life doing that," said McCormick, who ultimately cast a
write-in vote for Democratic U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
In St. Charles, Missouri, retired tour company operator Dennis
Conner, who is a Trump supporter, says he has avoided confrontations
with his brother, sister-in-law and brother-in-law, who were Clinton
backers.
His advice: "We don't have to talk about politics." Reuters
More about:
Donald Trump
Gayle McCormick
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Wife leaves husband of 22 years because he voted for Donald Trump
Tags: News, Trends, Trump, Latest News, America News, CNN. Fox. BBC
Elizabeth Warren was just silenced on the Senate floor. Her crime was quoting Coretta Scott King.
A low moment for the world’s greatest deliberative body.
Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell used a parliamentary procedure to silence Sen.
Elizabeth Warren in the middle of a speech critical of Sen. Jeff
Sessions, Trump’s pick to be the next attorney general.
McConnell
claimed Warren broke the rules of decorum by quoting a letter from
Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s widow, opposing Sessions’
nomination to be a federal judge in 1986.
In
the letter, King wrote that Sessions “used the power of his office as
United States Attorney to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the
ballot by citizens.” Among other things, Sessions attempted to
“intimidate and frighten elderly black voters,” King added.
McConnell
said that, by quoting Martin Luther King Jr.’s widow, Warren “impugned
the motives and conduct of our colleague from Alabama.” He then invoked Rule 19 to force Warren to stop speaking.
The
rule is intended to encourage senators to be polite to each other. But
McConnell used it to squelch debate about a man nominated to be the next
Attorney General of the United States.
Warren
objected, saying she was “surprised that the words of Coretta Scott King
were not suitable for debate in the United States Senate.” She asked to
continue her remarks. McConnell objected.
“The senator will take her seat,” the chair, Sen. Steve Daines, commanded.
The Senate then voted to uphold the rule of the chair and silence Elizabeth Warren:
Warren called in to the Rachel Maddow show to discuss her ordeal. She
said that she had been “red carded” and would not be allowed to speak on
Jeff Sessions anymore:
arren
called in to the Rachel Maddow show to discuss her ordeal. She said that
she had been “red carded” and would not be allowed to speak on Jeff
Sessions anymore:
The
final vote of Sessions’ nomination is expected to take place on
Wednesday. Democrats are holding the floor for 30 hours in a final
effort to oppose his nomination.
The former president seems to be having a good-ass time with his buddy Richard Branson.
On January 20th, Barack Obama left office.
On January 21st, our nation fell into a state of chaos. Illegal
executive orders were made and are now being fought in the courts.
Protests have erupted across the nation. The future of healthcare hangs
in the balance, and our current Glorious Leader is getting in screaming
matches with the Prime Minister of Australia. I know I speak for many of
us when I say, I wish Barack Hussein Obama was still pacing the halls
of The West Wing and guiding our future.
One person who definitely disagrees? Barack Hussein Obama.
Even
though, I'm sure he's hating what his successor is already doing to
this country, I don't think there's a person on the planet who has had
more fun since January 20th, then Barack Obama does in this video where
he kiteboards with Richard Branson.
Kiteboarding
is something that I didn't even know existed until this video. Is it an
activity that you have to be super rich before they'll even tell you
about? You know, like how you have to be super rich before you can go
hunting for human beings on a remote island with a certain former
dastardly Vice President. (Al Gore is way more wild than you think.)
Regardless, I hope you had fun Barack, but I have a message for you from President Bartlet.
Now come back and help us save the country from our terrifying President Steve Bannon and that ventriloquist dummy with the hair that he talks through.
LaMelo Ball Scores 92 Points vs. Los Osos High School: Latest Comments, Reaction
Chino Hills standout LaMelo Ball—the younger brother of UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball—dropped 92 points in a 146-123 win over Los Osos High School on Tuesday night, per Big Baller Brand.
The UCLA commit acknowledged his achievement with a postgame message on Twitter:
LaMelo Ball Scores 92 Points vs. Los Osos High School: Latest Comments, Reaction
As if his point total wasn't
impressive enough, Ball was also efficient to a remarkable degree on a
night when he scored 63 points in the second half, per ESPN.com's Jeff Borzello.
According to a box score provided by Southern California News Group's Tommy Kiss,
Ball shot 30-of-39 on two-point attempts and 7-of-22 on threes. He was
also 11-of-14 from the line and added seven assists and five rebounds
for good measure.
And as BallIsLife noted in a video breakdown, 41 of Ball's points came in the fourth quarter:
Following the win, Chino Hills
head coach Stephan Gilling referred to Ball's performance as "very
exciting, almost overwhelming," according to the Los Angeles Times' Eric Sondheimer.
Jared Goff and Todd Gurley, your thoughts?
LaMelo Ball Scores 92 Points vs. Los Osos High School: Latest Comments, Reaction
The sophomore's scoring eruption came one game after Chino Hills'
60-game winning streak was snapped by national powerhouse Oak Hill
Academy on Saturday, and it added to his growing legend.
The class of 2019
sensation has provided countless jaw-dropping moments throughout the
2016-17 season. No play encapsulated his swagger more than the
half-court shot he hit in December at the Rancho Mirage Holiday Invitational:
Thanks to that panache, Sporting News' Sam Vecenie explained Ball's time as a star is likely just beginning:
And based on what he's already done at Chino Hills,
Ball should have no problem continuing to make high school gyms his
personal playground before he arrives at UCLA ready to bask in the
national spotlight.
Tags: Sports, News, LeMelo Ball, Scores, VS, Los Osos, High School, Reaction, Latest News, Trends,
