CNN vs TRUMP (MORE DISTRACTION MEDIA BIAS DRAMA)

CNN vs TRUMP (MORE DISTRACTION MEDIA BIAS):

CNN INTENSIFIES ATTACKS AGAINST TRUMP AS DIRECTED BY OBAMA & SOROS TO UNDERMINE HIM.

TRUMP STRIKES BACK; WARNS WH LEAKERS; DEFEATS ELIZABETH WARREN IN 2020 POLLS.


Sources: Fox News, Boston.com, CNN


******* Trump blasts ‘out of control’ media, defends agenda at heated press conference



President Trump’s feud with the media turned into an all-out war Thursday afternoon.

His early presidency beset by damaging leaks and a burst of staff turmoil, Trump used a hastily called press conference to blast the media’s coverage of his administration in his strongest terms yet. He claimed the press is “out of control,” reports on his team’s ties to Russia are “fake,” and news outlets are attacking him because they oppose his agenda.

"The media’s trying to attack our administration because they know we are following through on the pledges that we made, and they’re not happy about it," Trump declared at the White House.

The president spoke and took questions for more than an hour and 15 minutes, even joking with some reporters toward the end and saying he was having fun. In a bid to preempt negative coverage of his remarks, Trump insisted he was not "ranting and raving." But he lamented that the "tone" of coverage of his administration is one of "such hatred."

"The public doesn't believe you people anymore," he said.

Trump, who is dealing with the roughest stretch of his nascent presidency so far, unleashed the battery of accusations after first announcing his newest pick for labor secretary. After his original nominee withdrew, Trump nominated law school dean and former federal prosecutor Alexander Acosta for the post Thursday.

has had a tremendous career," Trump said, noting he's been through Senate confirmation three times for past positions.

But Trump pivoted to tout his administration's record so far and to blast the media for allegedly underplaying progress made.

"The press honestly is out of control," Trump said, vowing to take his message "straight to the people."

Amid a court fight over his controversial immigration executive order, which he maintained is “lawful,” Trump said he would announce a "new and very comprehensive order to protect our people."

He also staunchly defended his administration’s work on everything from the economy to energy to security. "This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine,” he said.

The press conference was held days after Michael Flynn resigned as national security adviser over a controversy regarding his past contacts with Russia’s ambassador. Those contacts emerged in news reports. Fast food chain CEO Andrew Puzder also withdrew from consideration for labor secretary on Wednesday amid deepening scrutiny of his personal and professional past.

Trump on Thursday personally denied having any contact or connections with Russia, saying: "I have nothing to do with Russia. I have no deals there. I don't know anything."

While acknowledging he sought Flynn’s resignation, he also said Flynn was just doing his job by contacting Russia. He said Flynn was asked to resign because he was dishonest about the details of the call with Vice President Mike Pence.

And he dismissed recent reports that campaign aides had been in contact with Russian officials before his election. Trump called the reports a "ruse" and said he had "nothing to do with Russia." Trump added, "Russia is fake news. This is fake news put out by the media."

In a free-wheeling event that, before Trump, would have been unprecedented in a modern presidential news conference, the president by turns teased and lambasted members of the press corps.

Toward the end of the press conference, Trump summed up his complaints by suggesting he was being blamed for problems that have existed for years: “I didn’t come along and divide this country. This country was seriously divided before I got here.”

He also blasted Senate Democrats for holding up his Cabinet nominees.

His latest pick for Labor Department might have an easier time. If confirmed, Acosta would be Trump’s first Latino Cabinet member. According to top GOP sources, Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and other Hispanic leaders are enthused about the pick.

Acosta currently is dean of Florida International University College of Law. He previously served as the first Hispanic assistant attorney general and as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, as well as on the National Labor Relations Board.

In the wake of the Flynn reports and other damaging stories, Trump also has vowed to root out those leaking sensitive information.

“We’re going to find the leakers. ... They’re going to pay a big price for leaking,” Trump said at a meeting ahead of the press conference.

ELIZABETH WARREN OR JULIAN CASTRO WILL BE HILLARY'S 2016 RUNNING MATE (CHRISTIE)

ELIZABETH WARREN OR JULIAN CASTRO WILL BE HILLARY'S 2016 RUNNING MATE:

DONALD TRUMP SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER CHRIS CHRISTIE.

Sources:  Vox, Chicago Tribune, NJ.com, YouTube 

****** Hillary Clinton’s VP shortlist has leaked. Here are the pros and cons of each

On last Thursday, the Wall Street Journal’s Laura Meckler and Colleen McCain Nelson broke the news that Hillary Clinton is vetting Elizabeth Warren for the vice presidency — but not vetting Bernie Sanders. In the process, they provided a shortlist of candidates that Clinton is considering:

Beyond the Massachusetts senator, other prospective candidates include Labor Secretary Tom Perez; Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro; Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Cory Booker of New Jersey; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and Reps. Xavier Becerra of California and Tim Ryan of Ohio, several Democrats said.

Now, this isn’t necessarily an exhaustive list, and Meckler and Nelson note that the vetting is still in early stages, using publicly available information rather than asking candidates to submit tax returns and the like.

Nonetheless, this list is the best information we've gotten about who Clinton is considering, and it includes some names that haven’t popped up in prior media speculation. All of these candidates have obvious strengths that have put them on this list, but of course, they each have their weaknesses as well. 

1) Elizabeth Warren

The case for picking her: Vox’s Andrew Prokop ably summarized the pros and cons of picking Warren here, but suffice it to say she’s one of the most famous and popular Democratic politicians in the country, with a huge social media following and passionate fans among the Democratic base.

She’s proven to be an excellent anti–Donald Trump attack dog already this cycle, and her anti–Wall Street credentials and populist approach to economic issues would help shore up Sanders supporters who might be skeptical of Clinton’s ties to the financial sector. She would attract considerable media coverage, preventing Trump from dominating the news cycle, and her reputation for fighting against corruption and corporate influence helps rebut Trump’s "Crooked Hillary" attack line.

Picking Warren would be massively important as a step for women’s political representation. Some have speculated that Clinton could easily appoint an all-woman Cabinet — Secretary of State Wendy Sherman (or Susan Rice or Samantha Power), Secretary of Treasury Lael Brainard, Secretary of Defense Michèle Flournoy, etc. — and having a female running mate would be a great start.

Finally, Warren’s research as a law professor gave her considerable insight into the working of the administrative state, especially as it relates to the economic conditions of middle-class families. That could translate into a skill at exploiting the federal bureaucracy for progressive ends, a skill that is more useful when in the executive branch than the Senate.

The case against picking her: Let’s start with the fact that Warren has accused Clinton of flip-flopping on bankruptcy legislation due to donations and pressure from the financial industry:

Warren was not planning on becoming a politician at this point, which helps explain her candor, but all the same it would be jarring for Clinton to pick someone who's accused her of being bought and paid for — and it's not a stretch to imagine Clinton would find it hard to work with someone who at least once thought so little of her.

Even if Clinton doesn’t find that disqualifying, Warren's independent profile suggests she might try to maintain an individual identity and avoid hewing too closely to Clinton’s message. That could prove aggravating to the would-be president, especially if Warren uses her command of the press to try to push the administration leftward.

An all-woman ticket would be a statement, but it also might be too much for the American people to handle, and the 2008 race suggested that Clinton is pretty small-c conservative about that kind of thing. Her VP shortlist then was then-Gov. Ted Strickland (D-OH), then-Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), former Gov. Tom Vilsack (D-IA), and Joe Biden: all boring, safe white dudes.

Clinton could also be wary of pissing off financial sector donors, and it bears mentioning that rich people all over America hate Elizabeth Warren and regard her as a dangerous economically illiterate charlatan. "The prospect of a Warren vice presidency could well drive the 1 percent straight into Trump’s arms, help the billionaire solve his fundraising problems, and make for a closer race in the end," Prokop notes.

Last but not least, Massachusetts has a Republican governor, meaning that electing Warren would give Republicans an extra Senate seat for at least a little bit. There'd be a special election shortly thereafter, thanks to a 2004 change in the law meant to limit then-Gov. Mitt Romney’s ability to replace John Kerry should he have won the presidency, but Democrats should not be overly confident about their ability to win Senate special elections in the state after what happened in 2010.

HILLARY CLINTON'S 2016 VP PICK IS KASIM REED?? BIG MISTAKE (RUMORS)

HILLARY CLINTON'S 2016 VP PICK IS KASIM REED?? BIG MISTAKE (RUMORS)

BETTER CHOICES:  JULIAN CASTRO OR ELIZABETH WARREN

Sources: AJC, 11Alive, WSB, YouTube

There are political rumors floating that 2016 Democrat presidential Frontrunner HILLARY CLINTON has added Atlanta Mayor KASIM REED to her VP pick shortlist.

If this rumor has legs or any credibility, I want to scream from the top of my lungs to Hillary's campaign staff, "NO!"

Before anyone takes this rumor seriously, I would encourage you to visit the city of Atlanta and risk driving over a death-defying Pothole.

Visit Atlanta and stuff your mouth with some Greasy, Ghetto fare.

By the way where are Atlanta's FARMERS MARKETS in the BLACK communities??

Finally I want to encourage you to travel through Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport and experienced being treated like Dirt by Atlanta's arrogant, extremely rude TSA agents who are arrogant & rude by choice.

Atlanta needs more Diversity as in WHITE voters and a WHITE Mayor to cancel out years of Complacent leadership practiced by BLACK leaders who have neglected their constituents.

Hillary Clinton choosing Kasim Reed as her VP is a long shot at this stage in the game.

A better choice would be someone like JULIAN CASTRO or ELIZABETH WARREN.

Kasim Reed would be a good fit for Congress one day but as a VP, let's just say he is not ready yet for politics on such a grand scale national level.

Kasim Reed is a skilled politician but he is NOT on Obama's level......yet.

**** Is Kasim Reed in the running to be vice president?

Hillary Clinton hasn’t locked up the Democratic nomination yet, but rumors are swirling already about her possible vice presidential pick. And one of the names that’s floating out there, at least among some in the local punditry class, is that of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.

A local television crew on Wednesday asked the two-term Atlanta mayor, who appeared with Clinton at a campaign event last week, whether he’s been approached. He answered it the way virtually any politician would:

I don’t have any comment on that. I don’t know anything about it. The only thing I’m focused on is being the mayor of the city of Atlanta and going out and doing a great job for Secretary Clinton and making sure she’s the next president. I feel about this campaign the way I felt in 2012 when President Obama was running.

I don’t think any American can sit and watch what is going on in our national discourse and not want to get involved on one side or the other. We will hash it out and pick a president. I haven’t been asked to be considered for the vice presidency. I don’t know anything about that. The only thing I’m focused on is being mayor.

Recall, too, that Sen. David Perdue has answered similar questions about the possibility of being a running mate.

Reed also told our AJC colleague Scott Trubey that Democrats should count on Donald Trump to be the GOP nominee.

“I expect Mr. Trump to be the nominee unless they engineer a way to take the nomination from him. He’s either going to be the nominee or there are going to be a lot of people who voted for him that are going to have a lot of frustration because to avoid him being the nominee they are going to have to engineer a way to prevent him from getting it.”

Elizabeth Warren vs. Scott Brown In 2012! Its Official! Go Elizabeth!

Elizabeth Warren launches US Senate campaign with Mass. tour

Harvard Law professor and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren officially launched her Democratic campaign for the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, hoping for a chance to take on Republican Sen. Scott Brown in next year's election.

Warren, who greeted commuters at a subway station in Boston before embarking on a tour of the state, cast herself as fighter for the middle class, saying she's "stood up to some pretty tough folks over the past few years."

"There's been a lot of very powerful interests who have tried to shut me down, squeeze me, push me sideways and so far it just hasn't worked," Warren said. "I'm willing to throw my body in front of a bus to try to stop bad ideas that are going to be harmful to the middle class."

Warren was heavily courted by Democrats hoping to win back the seat long held by Sen. Edward Kennedy, who died in 2009 after a long battle with brain cancer. Democrats are also trying to hold onto their narrow Senate majority by ousting Brown.

Warren was tapped by President Barack Obama last year to set up a new consumer protection agency, but congressional Republicans opposed her leading the office. She returned to Massachusetts this summer.

Supporters say her image as a crusader against well-heeled Wall Street interests and her national profile will give her candidacy muscle, though she's never run for political office.

Some Democrats, including Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, have voiced skepticism about how strong a candidate she will be, given her lack of political experience.

Warren said she knows she has to make her case in a crowded primary if she wants a chance to challenge Brown.

Brown political adviser Eric Fehrnstrom called Warren's entrance into the race evidence of a "crowded, long and divisive Democratic primary."

"In the meantime, people are hurting and they are looking for work. Scott Brown is going to keep his focus on creating jobs, keeping taxes low and getting spending and debt under control," Fehrnstrom said.

Republicans have already branded Warren as a liberal academic from Cambridge whose Harvard ties put her out of touch with working families. They've also mocked her as an outsider whose roots are in Oklahoma where she grew up and not Massachusetts.

Warren has lived in Massachusetts for nearly two decades and said what's most important is what's in a candidate's heart.

"People just want to know ... are you there for big corporations? Are you there for families like mine?" she said. "I think people know where I'm really from."

Democratic leaders are banking that her national profile will help her raise the money needed to topple Brown, who has more than $10 million in his campaign account.

A recent Boston Globe poll showed Brown as the most popular major politician in the traditionally Democratic state. Brown shocked the political establishment by beating Attorney General Martha Coakley in last year's special election to succeed Kennedy. He was a little-known state senator who cast himself as a moderate, an average guy with his trademark barn coat and pickup truck. He once posed as a Cosmopolitan magazine centerfold.

Warren has spent the past several weeks meeting with party activists and voters. She's already gotten a boost from EMILY's List, which raises money for female Democratic candidates.

Commuters who shook hands with Warren said they were keeping an open mind.

Katherine Kinzel, a 25-year-old Boston resident and researcher at a local hospital, voted for Brown but described Warren as "genuine."

"I'm still waiting to see what she has to say, how she plays out against the other Democratic candidates," said Kinzel, an independent voter. "There's still a long way to go."

Chad Capellman, a 38-year-old website manager from Quincy, said he's impressed with Warren's fighting spirit.

"I can tell just from everything I've seen and heard and what's she's put up with in Washington that there's something different about her," he said. "It sounds like a `Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' kind of thing." The 1939 Oscar-winning movie tells the story of a Washington outsider appointed to the U.S. Senate who refuses to back down when surrounded by corruption.

Warren planned to travel Wednesday to New Bedford, Framingham, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell, and Gloucester to meet voters.

Other Democrats already announced include Setti Warren, no relation to the consumer advocate, the first-term mayor of the affluent Boston suburb of Newton and the state's first popularly elected black mayor; City Year youth program co-founder Alan Khazei; immigration attorney Marisa DeFranco; state Rep. Tom Conroy; Newton resident Herb Robinson; and Robert Massie, who unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor in 1994.


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Sources: AP, Boston Globe, Youtube, Google Maps

America's Disappearing Middle Class (Voters)...Where's Obama's "Middle Class Task Force"?

Study: Half of all U.S. children will need Food Stamps. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis say nearly half of all American children and 90 percent of African-American children will be on food stamps at some point during childhood. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

(VP Joe Biden)

"A Strong Middle Class equals a strong America. We can't have one without the other.
This task force will be an important vehicle to assess new and existing policies across the board and determine if they are helping or hurting America's Middle Class.
It is our (Obama Admin.) charge to the Middle Class, the backbone of our country, up and running again".










America Without a Middle Class


Can you imagine an America without a strong Middle Class? If you can, would it still be America as we know it?

Today, one in five Americans is unemployed, underemployed or just plain out of work. One in nine families can't make the minimum payment on their credit cards. One in eight mortgages is in default or foreclosure. One in eight Americans is on food stamps. More than 120,000 families are filing for bankruptcy every month. The economic crisis has wiped more than $5 trillion from pensions and savings, has left family balance sheets upside down, and threatens to put ten million homeowners out on the street.

Families have survived the ups and downs of economic booms and busts for a long time, but the fall-behind during the busts has gotten worse while the surge-ahead during the booms has stalled out. In the boom of the 1960s, for example, median family income jumped by 33% (adjusted for inflation). But the boom of the 2000s resulted in an almost-imperceptible 1.6% increase for the typical family. While Wall Street executives and others who owned lots of stock celebrated how good the recovery was for them, middle class families were left empty-handed.

The crisis facing the middle class started more than a generation ago. Even as productivity rose, the wages of the average fully-employed male have been flat since the 1970s.

But core expenses kept going up. By the early 2000s, families were spending twice as much (adjusted for inflation) on mortgages than they did a generation ago -- for a house that was, on average, only ten percent bigger and 25 years older. They also had to pay twice as much to hang on to their health insurance.

To cope, millions of families put a second parent into the workforce. But higher housing and medical costs combined with new expenses for child care, the costs of a second car to get to work and higher taxes combined to squeeze families even harder. Even with two incomes, they tightened their belts. Families today spend less than they did a generation ago on food, clothing, furniture, appliances, and other flexible purchases -- but it hasn't been enough to save them. Today's families have spent all their income, have spent all their savings, and have gone into debt to pay for college, to cover serious medical problems, and just to stay afloat a little while longer.

Through it all, families never asked for a handout from anyone, especially Washington. They were left to go on their own, working harder, squeezing nickels, and taking care of themselves. But their economic boats have been taking on water for years, and now the crisis has swamped millions of middle class families.

The contrast with the big banks could not be sharper. While the middle class has been caught in an economic vise, the financial industry that was supposed to serve them has prospered at their expense. Consumer banking -- selling debt to middle class families -- has been a gold mine. Boring banking has given way to creative banking, and the industry has generated tens of billions of dollars annually in fees made possible by deceptive and dangerous terms buried in the fine print of opaque, incomprehensible, and largely unregulated contracts.

And when various forms of this creative banking triggered economic crisis, the banks went to Washington for a handout. All the while, top executives kept their jobs and retained their bonuses. Even though the tax dollars that supported the bailout came largely from middle class families -- from people already working hard to make ends meet -- the beneficiaries of those tax dollars are now lobbying Congress to preserve the rules that had let those huge banks feast off the middle class.

Pundits talk about "populist rage" as a way to trivialize the anger and fear coursing through the middle class. But they have it wrong. Families understand with crystalline clarity that the rules they have played by are not the same rules that govern Wall Street. They understand that no American family is "too big to fail." They recognize that business models have shifted and that big banks are pulling out all the stops to squeeze families and boost revenues. They understand that their economic security is under assault and that leaving consumer debt effectively unregulated does not work.

Families are ready for change. According to polls, large majorities of Americans have welcomed the Obama Administration's proposal for a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). The CFPA would be answerable to consumers -- not to banks and not to Wall Street. The agency would have the power to end tricks-and-traps pricing and to start leveling the playing field so that consumers have the tools they need to compare prices and manage their money. The response of the big banks has been to swing into action against the Agency, fighting with all their lobbying might to keep business-as-usual. They are pulling out all the stops to kill the agency before it is born. And if those practices crush millions more families, who cares -- so long as the profits stay high and the bonuses keep coming.

America today has plenty of rich and super-rich. But it has far more families who did all the right things, but who still have no real security. Going to college and finding a good job no longer guarantee economic safety. Paying for a child's education and setting aside enough for a decent retirement have become distant dreams. Tens of millions of once-secure middle class families now live paycheck to paycheck, watching as their debts pile up and worrying about whether a pink slip or a bad diagnosis will send them hurtling over an economic cliff.

America without a strong middle class? Unthinkable, but the once-solid foundation is shaking.


By Elizabeth Warren: Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard and is currently the Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel.


Sources: Huffington Post, MSNBC, Whitehouse.gov, MTV, Youtube