Directly contradicting much of the Trump administration’s position on climate change, 13 federal agencies unveiled an exhaustive scientific report on Friday that says humans are the dominant cause of the global temperature rise that has created the warmest period in the history of civilization.
Over the past 115 years global average temperatures have increased 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, leading to record-breaking weather events and temperature extremes, the report says. The global, long-term warming trend is “unambiguous,” it says, and there is “no convincing alternative explanation” that anything other than humans — the cars we drive, the power plants we operate, the forests we destroy — are to blame.
The report was approved for release by the White House, but the findings come as the Trump administration is defending its climate change policies. The United Nations convenes its annual climate change conference next week in Bonn, Germany, and the American delegation is expected to face harsh criticism over President Trump’s decision to walk away from the 195-nation Paris climate accord and top administration officials’ stated doubts about the causes and impacts of a warming planet.
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Smoke rose from trees burned in a wildfire in Wrightwood, Calif., last year. A report from 13 federal agencies says extreme weather events have cost the United States $1.1 trillion since 1980.CreditJonathan Alcorn/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Jared Kushner has turned over documents in recent weeks to special counsel Robert Mueller as investigators have begun asking in witness interviews about Kushner’s role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey, CNN has learned.
Mueller’s investigators have expressed interest in Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and a White House senior adviser, as part of its probe into Russian meddling, including potential obstruction of justice in Comey’s firing, sources familiar with the matter said.
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Their questions about Kushner signal that Mueller’s investigators are reaching the President’s inner circle and have extended beyond the 2016 campaign to actions taken at the White House by high-level officials. It is not clear how Kushner’s advice to the President might relate to the overall Russia investigation or potential obstruction of justice.
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Sources close to the White House say that based on their knowledge, Kushner is not a target of the investigation.
Five friends from Argentina celebrating the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation were among the eight people killed in Tuesday’s terror attack in New York.
Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the deaths of Hernán Mendoza, Diego Angelini, Alejandro Pagnucco, Ariel Erlij and Hernán Ferruchi.
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The five men, all from Rosario, Argentina, died after a man drove a rental pickup truck onto a crowed bike path near the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.
Another victim was identified as a Ann-Laure Decadt, a Belgian mother of two who died Tuesday night at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, according to a statement from her husband, Alexander Naessens.
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Five of these friends from Argentina died in terror attack
America be aware that The Trump Administration is attempting to kill the ‘Affordable Care Act’ by cutting funds for the enrollment period and cutting the length of the enrollment period. Also, cutting funding for a help line. – Mohur
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Affirming its disdain for “Obamacare,” the Trump administration on Thursday announced sharp cuts in programs promoting health care enrollment under the Affordable Care Act for next year.
Advertising will be cut from $100 million spent on 2017 sign-ups to $10 million, said Health and Human Services officials. Funding for consumer helpers called “navigators” will also be cut, from $62.5 million for 2017, to $36.8 million for next year.
About 12.2 million people signed up for subsidized private health insurance under former President Barack Obama’s signature law this year. The number currently enrolled is estimated to be around 10 million, due to attrition also seen in prior years.
Democrats are likely to accuse the administration of trying to undermine the ACA.
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Here is the information you need to enroll! From Mohur
Former President Barack Obama took to Twitter Wednesday morning to encourage people to shop for Affordable Care Act health insurance.
Obama’s rare appeal comes as his signature health care law is under attack by his successor, President Trump, and Republicans in Congress.
Obama’s tweet to his more than 95 million followers includes a short video, set to jaunty music, where the former president urges people to log on to the federal insurance exchange, HealthCare.gov, and sign up for coverage for next year.
“It’s November 1, which means today is the first day to get covered for 2018,” Obama says. It’s not clear where he’s standing, but the ocean is in the background.
The President’s tried and tested political defense mechanism is to whip up chaos to tip his enemies off balance and launch a fierce counter attack. He’ll also take cover with his ultra-loyal political base, rely on Republicans who are too cowed to repudiate him and fog an issue with alternative facts.
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Like clockwork, Trump sought Tuesday morning to discredit the probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election and his campaign’s potential role in it.
“The Fake News is working overtime. As Paul Manaforts lawyer said, there was “no collusion” and events mentioned took place long before he came to the campaign. Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar. Check the DEMS!” Trump said in a series of tweets. “I hope people will start to focus on our Massive Tax Cuts for Business (jobs) and the Middle Class (in addition to Democrat corruption)!”
Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman who was indicted on federal conspiracy and money laundering charges Monday, has a long history of ties to pro-Putin groups in Ukraine. He also has a long history of connections to Donald Trump. According to leaked texts sent and received by his daughter, Andrea Manafort Shand, the two pals were “perfect allies.”
The Trump administration has been working overtime to downplay Manafort’s role in last year’s campaign.
“Paul Manafort was brought in to lead the delegate process, which he did, and was dismissed not too long after that,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday. “Paul was brought on sometime in June, and by the middle of August he was no longer with the campaign,” then-press secretary Sean Spicer said in March.
Spicer’s statement was untrue, and Sanders’ claim was misleading.
In Indianapolis, the director of the state’s largest organization helping people find Affordable Care Act insurance had to lay off nine of 13 staff members last month because the federal government had just taken away more than 80 percent of the grant that paid for their work.
In Atlanta, festivalgoers at the annual Pride weekend in mid-October were mystified that members of Insure Georgia had a table set up, because they thought President Trump had gotten rid of the health-care law.
And across Ohio, residents starting to phone a call center for appointments with coaches to renew their coverage are being told that the service no longer exists and that, for help, they should go to a website, a hotline, an insurance broker, a county health department or — if all else fails — their member of Congress.
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The Affordable Care Act’s fifth enrollment season faces a multitude of challenges when it begins on Wednesday. (Healthcare.gov)
Even as President Trump was on Twitter insisting that the indictment of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was meaningless because it involved activities unrelated to Trump or the campaign came news that former Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos had pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with, wait for it, Russia.
The Manafort news drew the bigger headlines Monday morning — understandable given his high-profile role at the top of the Trump campaign. But, the Papadopoulos guilty plea — and the fact that he has been cooperating with the special counsel investigation since his July arrest — strikes me as significantly more problematic for Trump and his White House in the medium-to-long term.
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This paragraph from the FBI’s guilty plea agreement with Papadopoulos is incredible:
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“In truth and in fact, however, and as set forth above, defendant PAPADOPOULOS met the Professor for the first time on or about March 14, 2016, after defendant PAPADOPOULOS had already learned he would be a foreign policy advisor for the Campaign; the Professor showed interest in defendant PAPADOPOULOS only after learning of his role on the Campaign; and the Professor told defendant PAPADOPOULOS about the Russians possessing” dirt” on then-candidate Clinton in late April 2016, more than a month after defendant PAPADOPOULOS had joined the Campaign.”
So, Papadopoulos copped to lying to the FBI about the timing of his contacts with Russians. In his initial interview in January 2017, Papadopoulos was insistent that he had reached out to his foreign contact “The Professor” (amazing!) before he had formally joined the Trump presidential campaign. He was arrested in July, pleaded guilty in October and appears to have been cooperating in between.
President Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was indicted Monday on charges that he funneled millions of dollars through overseas shell companies and used the money to buy luxury cars, real estate, antiques and expensive suits.
The charges against Mr. Manafort and his longtime associate Rick Gates represent a significant escalation in a special counsel investigation that has cast a shadow over Mr. Trump’s first year in office.
The two men appeared in the Federal District Court in Washington on Monday afternoon and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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Paul Manafort surrendered to federal authorities on Monday.Published OnCreditImage by Alex Brandon/Associated Press
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Five of these friends from Argentina died in terror attack
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James' World 2 