(CNN) The State Department announced Friday that it will not release 22 emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton because they contain "top secret" information, the highest level of government classification. The decision, coming three days before the Iowa caucuses, could provide fodder for Clinton's political opponents, especially Republicans, who are likely to make note of the emails' "top secret" designation. Clinton's email use has haunted her on the campaign trail since it became public early last year that she maintained a private server while leading the State Department. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the documents, totaling 37 pages, were not marked classified at the time they were sent, but are being upgraded at the request of the Intelligence Community because they contain sensitive information. But, Kirby said, a separate review by the bureaus of Diplomatic Security and Intelligence and Research is being held into whether the information in the emails was classified at the time they were sent and received. He would not say when the review began or how long it would go, and acknowledged it's possible there could be classified emails that weren't marked as such. "It's certainly possible that for any number of reasons, traffic can be sent that's not marked appropriately for its classification. That is certainly possible," Kirby said. But he added that he wasn't going to make any judgments about this particular case. "All I can tell you definitively is it wasn't marked classified at the time it was sent," Kirby said. A senior State Department official said the review "began very recently" and was initiated by the State Department, but the official wouldn't say what prompted it. A spokesperson for the Intelligence Community's inspector general declined to comment. Kirby also said 18 emails, comprised of eight email chains between Clinton and President Barack Obama, are being "withheld in full" to "protect the President's ability to receive unvarnished advice and counsel." But, Kirby said, they "have not been determined to be classified" and said they will "ultimately be released in accordance with the Presidential records act." "I'd love for people to see what I did and I hope that will happen," she said. Brian Fallon, a spokesman for Clinton's campaign, said in a statement that Friday's announcement was a case of "over-classification run amok" and reiterated Clinton's position that the emails be made public. But later Friday, Fallon declined to say whether Clinton would ask Obama to declassify the emails when pressed by CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room." "The President easily could declassify all of these emails if she asked him and if he agreed, right?" Blitzer asked. "I'd really be surprised if this has risen to the President's level," Fallon replied. "Because, again, this a mundane matter of fulfilling a FOIA request." Asked Friday if he had "certainty and confidence" that Clinton will not be indicted over the email controversy, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said any decision to prosecute Clinton would rest with the Justice Department. "That is a decision to be made solely by independent prosecutors," Earnest said. "But again, based on what we know from the Department of Justice, it does not seem to be headed in that direction." The State Department released more than 900 of Clinton's emails Friday -- 242 of which received classification upgrades: 11 to "secret" and 209 more to "confidential," along with the 22 emails containing "top secret" information -- but the release fell well behind the judge-imposed timetable for producing all of her emails. Among the most interesting correspondence: This month's release was supposed to be the final one and include just over 9,000 pages of documents -- the largest number to date. That delay was then compounded by a huge snowstorm that shut down the federal government for several days, according to the State Department's motion. Several prominent Republicans, including presidential hopefuls, quickly condemned Clinton, the Democratic 2016 front-runner, over Friday's developments. "The new e-mail release is a disaster for Hillary Clinton. At a minimum, how can someone with such bad (judgment) be our next president?" GOP front-runner Donald Trump tweeted. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Clinton's email use was a "disqualifier" for the White House. "Hillary Clinton put some of the highest, most sensitive intelligence information on her private server because maybe she thinks she's above the law," Rubio said at a town hall event in Clinton, Iowa. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that Clinton's email controversy would seriously imperil her presidential aspirations. "We are talking about serious offenses for which the Obama Justice Department threw the book at General (David) Petraeus," Cruz said. "And justice needs to be enforced fairly and impartially." And Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted that Clinton and the Obama administration have "obfuscated and misled at every available opportunity," adding that she has "removed all doubt that she cannot be trusted with the presidency." But Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said classification determinations "are often very complex." "It's important to remember that none of these emails had any classification markings at the time they were sent, and Secretary Clinton and her staff were responding to world events in real time without the benefit of months of analysis after the fact," Schiff said. Meanwhile, Clinton's top Democratic 2016 rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, said in a statement that "there is a legal process in place which should proceed and not be politicized." "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails," he said then to applause.


The USS Ronald Reagan, a 100,000-ton nuclear powered aircraft carrier, patrolled in waters east of the Korean peninsula on Thursday, in a show of sea and air power designed to warn off North Korea from any military action. The U.S. Navy s biggest warship in Asia, with a crew of 5,000 sailors, sailed around 100 miles (160.93 km), launching almost 90 F-18 Super Hornet sorties from its deck, in sight of South Korean islands. It is conducting drills with the South Korean navy involving 40 warships deployed in a line stretching from the Yellow Sea west of the peninsula into the Sea of Japan. The dangerous and aggressive behavior by North Korea concerns everybody in the world, Rear Admiral Marc Dalton, commander of the Reagan s strike group, said in the carrier s hangar as war planes taxied on the flight deck above. We have made it clear with this exercise, and many others, that we are ready to defend the Republic of Korea. The Reagan s presence in the region, coupled with recent military pressure by Washington on Pyongyang, including B1-B strategic bomber flights over the Korean peninsula, comes ahead of President Donald Trump s first official visit to Asia, set to start in Japan on Nov. 5, with South Korea to follow. North Korea has slammed the warship gathering as a rehearsal for war . It comes as senior Japanese, South Korean and U.S. diplomats meet in Seoul to discuss a diplomatic way forward backed up by U.N. sanctions. The U.N. Security Council has unanimously ratcheted up sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes since 2006. The most stringent include a ban on coal, iron ore and seafood exports that aim at halting a third of North Korea s $3 billion of annual exports. On Monday, Kim In Ryong, North Korea s deputy U.N. envoy, told a U.N. General Assembly committee the Korean peninsula situation had reached a touch-and-go point and a nuclear war could break out at any moment. A series of weapons tests by Pyongyang, including its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3 and two missile launches over Japan, has stoked tension in East Asia. A Russian who returned from a visit to Pyongyang has said the regime is preparing to test a missile it believes can reach the U.S. west coast. On Sunday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said President Donald Trump had instructed him to continue diplomatic efforts to defuse tension with North Korea. Washington has not ruled out the eventual possibility of direct talks with the North to resolve the stand-off, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan said on Tuesday.


A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives introduced bills on Wednesday to toughen U.S. foreign investment rules amid growing concern about Chinese efforts to buy U.S. high-tech companies. Senator John Cornyn, a member of the Republican leadership who is on the Senate Intelligence Committee, introduced a Senate bill to broaden the government's power to stop foreign purchases of U.S. firms by strengthening the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Representative Robert Pittenger, a North Carolina Republican, introduced an identical bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. Both bills have Republican and Democratic co-sponsors. "This bill focuses on providing CFIUS with updated tools to address present and future security needs," said Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat. "Senator Cornyn and I have been working on this bill for the last eight months, and we hope to build on the progress we've already made to update CFIUS and address national security threats." In addition to Cornyn, of Texas, and Feinstein, cosponsors of the Senate bill include Republicans Marco Rubio of Florida, John Barrasso of Wyoming, James Lankford of Oklahoma and Tim Scott of South Carolina. Democratic co-sponsors are Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Gary Peters of Michigan and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. "China is buying American companies at a breathtaking pace. While some are legitimate business investments, many others are part of a backdoor effort to compromise U.S. national security," said Pittenger in a press statement. House co-sponsors include Republicans Devin Nunes of California, Chris Smith of New Jersey and Sam Johnson and John Culberson, both of whom are from Texas. House Democrats backing the bill are Denny Heck of Washington and Dave Loebsack from Iowa. "That's a pretty powerful collection of members, which makes me think it's got a good shot (at becoming law)," said Seth Bloom, a former general counsel on a Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee. The bills would expand CFIUS' reach to allow it to review, and potentially reject, smaller investments and add new national security factors for CFIUS to consider. Those factors include whether information about Americans, such as Social Security numbers, would be exposed as part of the transaction or whether the deal would facilitate fraud. The bills would also allow CFIUS to exempt certain transactions from review if the investors are from a country that is a treaty ally or has another security arrangement with the United States. CFIUS already has a reputation for being tough on high-tech deals involving China in particular, and has blocked transactions that involve sophisticated semiconductors. It has become more cautious since President Donald Trump was inaugurated amid growing political and economic tensions between the United States and China. Since the inauguration, the panel has balked at approving a broader range of deals from China, according to lawyers who specialize in representing proposed transactions to the board.


Hollywood may experience one of the worst slumps at the box office in the last decade this summer as Americans grow tired of the seemingly endless number of sequels and tentpoles churned out by the film industry. [Multiple reports by the Los Angeles Times and the Hollywood Reporter show box office revenues are on track to decline by five percent this summer season when compared with last year, and could drop by as much as ten percent. In real dollars, that could calculate out to a net loss of $450 million for Hollywood's film industry, with summer earnings for movies expected at about $4 billion, which would make box office performance during this year's summer season the worst in at least ten years. The summer season kicked off with a bang with the release of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on May 5. The ensemble superhero sequel starring Chris Pratt, Kurt Russell, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and Bradley Cooper opened to a robust $145 million in its domestic debut, and is expected to top the box office in its second frame with an estimated $60 million haul. The James film has already crossed the $500 million mark in international sales. But the second weekend of summer hints at more trouble to come, as Warner Roadshow's pricey tentpole King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is set to debut to around $25 million in its opening weekend, a disastrous projection when compared with its reported $175 million budget, before marketing costs. But the real test will come later this summer, when Paramount trots out Transformers: The Last Knight and Disney releases Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, both of which represent the fifth entries in their respective, franchises. Other key tests will include the sequel Alien: Covenant, War for the Planet of the Apes, and the third reboot of the Spiderman franchise, : Homecoming. Of course, Americans' sequel fatigue also comes at a time when there are more programs available to watch on demand and in the comfort of one's home than one could ever hope to watch in a lifetime. These options include hits like Game of Thrones and newly created cult classics like Netflix's Stranger Things and Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale. Studios are looking to avoid a repeat of last summer's uneven season, which saw numerous major releases — including Independence Day 2, Alice Through the Looking Glass, The BFG, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, The Legend of Tarzan, and Warcraft — either underwhelm or else outright bomb at the box office. There appear to be at least a couple of bright spots this summer, as the animated family film Despicable Me 3 and Christopher Nolan's World War II drama Dunkirk are expected to perform well for Universal and Warner Bros. respectively. But some executives are already blaming the upcoming season's with sequels for the projected decline in box office. "Some of the tent poles are just not as strong this year," 20th Century Fox domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson told the Times. "Pirates of the Caribbean? It's the fifth one. Transformers? It's the fifth one. " John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.


We all know the feeling of dread that takes over when you see someone in public that you would really rather avoid. That frantic moment when you look around for somewhere, anywhere, to hide. Well, apparently former FBI Director James Comey felt that way about Donald Trump, not that you can blame him.The New York Times reports that Comey was once so desperate to avoid dealing with Trump that he tried to blend in with the curtains to avoid him. Make no mistake, Comey is not a little guy. He stands 6 8 tall. So he tends to stand out. But Brookings Institution fellow Benjamin Wittes said that Comey was hoping that if he stood close enough to the dark blue curtains of the White House Blue Room in his suit (that was an almost perfect match), maybe he could go unnoticed. He thought he had gotten through and not been noticed or singled out and that he was going to get away without an individual interaction, Wittes told the Times.But no such luck. Trump spotted Comey and made a big production out of it. He called Comey out of the curtains, noting that he had become more famous that himself and then proceeded to hug Comey against his will.Comey said that as he was walking across the room he was determined that there wasn t going to be a hug, Wittes said. It was bad enough there was going to be a handshake. And Comey has long arms so Comey said he pre-emptively reached out for a handshake and grabbed the president s hand. But Trump pulled him into an embrace and Comey didn t reciprocate. If you look at the video, it s one person shaking hands and another hugging. Lucky for us, this classic moment was caught on video:


President Donald Trump's administration plans to consider almost all illegal immigrants subject to deportation, but will leave protections in place for immigrants known as "dreamers" who entered the United States illegally as children, according to official guidelines released on Tuesday. The Department of Homeland Security guidance to immigration agents is part of a broader border security and immigration enforcement plan in executive orders that Republican Trump signed on Jan. 25. Former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, issued an executive order in 2012 that protected 750,000 immigrants who had been brought into the United States illegally by their parents. Trump has said the issue is "very difficult" for him. Trump campaigned on a pledge to get tougher on the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, playing on fears of violent crime while promising to build a wall on the border with Mexico and to stop potential terrorists from entering the country. Trump's planned measures against illegal immigrants have drawn protests, such as an event last week that activists called "A Day Without Immigrants" to highlight the importance of foreign-born people, who account for 13 percent of the U.S. population, or more than 40 million naturalized American citizens. A banner declaring "Refugees Welcome" was posted on the base of the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of American acceptance of immigrants, before park rangers removed it on Tuesday, WABC television reported. DHS officials, on a conference call with reporters, said that although any immigrant in the country illegally could be deported, the agency will prioritize those deemed a threat. These include recent entrants, those convicted of a crime and people charged but not convicted of a crime. Some details of the guidelines were detailed in a draft memo seen on Saturday. Many of the instructions will not be implemented immediately because they depend on Congress, a public comment period or negotiations with other nations, the officials said. Mexican immigration officials immediately objected to part of the new rules. The guidance also calls for the hiring of 10,000 more U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) agents and 5,000 more U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents. The DHS will need to publish a notice in the Federal Register subject to review in order to implement one part of the plan that calls on ICE agents to increase the number of immigrants who are not given a hearing before being deported. The new rules would subject immigrants who cannot show they have been in the country for more than two years to "expedited removal." Currently, only migrants apprehended near a U.S. border who cannot show they have been in the country more than 14 days are subject to rapid removal. The memos also instruct ICE to detain migrants who are awaiting a court decision on whether they will be deported or granted relief, such as asylum. DHS officials said they are reviewing what jurisdictions may have laws in place that prevent the amount of time immigrants can be held. The agency also plans to send non-Mexican migrants crossing the southern U.S. border back into Mexico as they await a decision on their case. The DHS officials said this plan would be dependent on partnerships with the Mexican government and would not be implemented overnight. The guidelines were released a day before U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly were due in Mexico City for talks with President Enrique Pena Nieto and Mexican officials. An official from Mexico's Foreign Ministry said the government would tell Kelly's team to that it was "impossible" for Mexico to accept deportees or asylum applicants from foreign countries, and would ask them to explain their plan. The deportation of Mexicans would be one of the government's major concerns at the meeting, said the official, who declined to be named. A spokeswoman from the Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, under mounting pressure to advance gun-control legislation, will vote next week on a measure to keep guns out of the hands of people on government terrorism watch lists. Republican and gun lobby sources said the legislation, due to be introduced as part of a terrorism package, was likely to be a National Rifle Association-backed bill brought by Representative Lee Zeldin of New York as the companion to a Senate Republican measure from Senator John Cornyn of Texas. House Democrats, who last week staged a 25-hour sit-in on the House floor to push for gun control after the June 12 mass shooting in Orlando, condemned the Cornyn-Zeldin measure as the handiwork of the NRA. Senate Democrats blocked the same legislation last week. "House Democrats will keep up our efforts to push for the majority to allow a vote on gun violence legislation, but bringing up a bill authored by the NRA just isn't going to cut it," said Drew Hammill, an aide to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. The NRA denied writing the legislation. House Speaker Paul Ryan announced the plan in a conference call with lawmakers. Republican leadership aides declined to provide details. One said the package was still being negotiated. After the Orlando, Florida, shooting that killed 49 people and wounded 53 more at a gay nightclub [nL1N19L1WH], gun-control proponents ratcheted up pressure for meaningful legislation. "We are going to get something done this year, I predict," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid told reporters. "I think we're going to take a bite out of the NRA." Reid said he was hopeful for a bill introduced by Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, and a bipartisan House companion bill backed by Republicans including Representative Carlos Curbelo of Florida, to prevent gun sales to anyone on the government's "No Fly List" for terrorism suspects or the "Selectee List" for extra airport screening. Before Thursday's announcement, Representative Bob Dold of Illinois, a Republican backer of the Collins-Curbelo bill, urged Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to opt for the bipartisan measure, according to a Dold aide. But hopes for a vote on that measure could be dashed if House Republicans move first on the Cornyn-Zeldin bill, which would allow party leaders to say they had acted on gun control. "It would really be a sharp blow," said Representative Scott Rigell, a Virginia Republican and NRA member who supports the Collins-Curbelo measure. The NRA-backed measure would give officials three days to decide whether a gun sale should be blocked. Democrats argue the timetable is insufficient and say the government would have to persuade a court that a would-be buyer "has committed or will commit an act of terrorism" before it could block a gun sale. Under the Collins-Curbelo bills, a court would have 14 days to decide on appeals.


This soldier s story is shocking and heartbreaking, but serves as a serious warning about what we, as a nation are getting ourselves into if we bring hundreds of thousands of people to our country whose beliefs are diametrically opposed to ours. These are also people who have no intention of assimilating in our country, as their actions are justified as part of their faith I don t typically go on rants or express my political beliefs here (Facebook), but I just have to get this off my mind.As some of you know, I m active duty Army. Aside from that, I am a medic. I ve spent 3 years of my life overseas in both Afghanistan and Iraq. I ve seen some pretty atrocious sites caused by war, from both sides. I ve picked up blown up body parts of friends and I ve saved the lives of guys who were trying to kill me and my guys right before I was keeping them from their 72 virgins or whatever they believe awaits them on the other side.Here is an unbiased truthful view to the Syrian refugee situation.My first deployment to Iraq, in 2006, my unit voluntarily ran a childrens burn clinic outside of the FOB. It was a constant target for attacks. You would think that people wouldn t shoot mortars or rockets at their own children, but you would be wrong. We saw hundreds of children, from infants to 18 year olds. The overwhelming majority of the kids we saw (90% or better) were clear cases of abuse. These parents were literally dunking their kids in boiling water, or throwing hot chai at their kids faces Yes, we re talking about babies, toddlers, kids not even old enough to understand why their parents would do these things to them. HUNDREDS of kids We saw quite a few of these kids that were sexually abused, both girls and boys. Their parents acted if nothing was wrong with this, even when confronted by our doctors.This is the mentality of their society, not the viewpoint of a few individuals these beliefs have been accepted to the vast majority of these people. Many were educated, well dressed, well spoken men, but yet, they still raped their own children, and kept chai boys (if you don t know what that means, google it.)During that deployment, we also captured the 3rd largest EFP cache that had ever been captured. There were hundreds of copper plates, homemade explosives, fake curbs to house the EFP s, hundreds of mortars and rockets and howitzer rounds, even an anti-aircraft gun. All of these things came from one place, Syria. Almost every single IED or EFP we found or hit could be traced back to Syria A lot of the terrorists we captured were from SYRIA Imagine that.Fast forward a couple years, and I find myself in Helmand Province, in Afghanistan We had a group of Afghani s that were paid to help guard our little mud hut in the middle of an Afghan village (I wasn t on a fob) These guys also kept a chai boy A boy, about 11 years old, who was there to serve these guys sexually. We heard him being sexually assaulted many times, but there was nothing we could do about it. We asked the police, the Afghan Army, and we were told the same thing every time . it s their culture, and accepted as the norm .Once again, we captured Syrian made explosives, weapons, and other items We found Syrian passports during raids And people out there want us to let these people into the US, with our kids, and near our wives. Near our schools, near our churches, synogogues, malls. Places where we should never have to fear being blown up, shot, kidnapped and tortured Don t forget what they did to the Egyptian Coptic Christians, or the Jordanian pilot Don t forget about what they do to rape victims! They stone these women to death for being raped! They behead their own people. Do you think they will show mercy to you?Look at the rape statistics in Denmark, Sweden, Belgium. Facts don t lie 97% of rapes committed in Sweden were committed by Muslim immigrants And you want 10,000 of these people here? Even if just 1% of these so called refugees were ISIS supporters or active ISIS terrorists, would that be acceptable to you?Chew on it think about it. Take a good look at your kids or your wife and decide if the risk is worth taking. Feel free to share this if you want.-Christopher Allard, Facebook post Nov. 16, 2015Christopher Allard posted this plea (below) for donations to the Scania Burn Clinic on Nov. 18, 2015, as a follow up to his Facebook commentary (which has since been removed). If you re so inclined, he would appreciate your donations.A little follow-up for you guys and gals. First, let me thank you guys for sharing my story. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the support. Second. I forgot about this, but there is a video on Youtube of the burn clinic that I mentioned. It s an old video and the quality isn t great but here it is. You can see me throughout the video:


A former governor of Puerto Rico shut down a question from MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski on Wednesday when she asked about President Donald Trump s treatment of San Juan Mayor Carmen Yul n Cruz.Trump and Cruz s interactions and criticisms have drawn national attention during the process of helping Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria, with Cruz charging that the Trump administration has been too slow in delivering federal assistance. Trump tweeted criticism of her over the weekend, saying she exhibited poor leadership and that others in Puerto Rico were not doing enough to get their workers to help. Upon meeting each other face-to-face on Tuesday, Cruz told Trump it was saving lives and not about politics. Trump shook her hand and then walked away.After Morning Joe played the clip, a cross-armed Brzezinski looked disgusted. After welcoming former Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortu o to the show, she asked him what he made of Trump s treatment of Cruz. I m very sorry, Mika, but I m not going to get into local politics, Fortu o said.Brzezinski did a double take upon hearing his answer. If she s running for governor, there are different parties I don t care, Fortu o said. I care about results. Is that what you think it is? Brzezinski asked. You think it was politics that had him attacking her? I have no idea, he said. All I can tell you is we need results. We have people that desperately need help. As long as we get that help, we should not be talking about politics at this moment. WFB


The Office of Brazil s Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot asked the Federal Supreme Court on Thursday to convert the temporary detention of billionaire beef tycoon Joesley Batista into preventative detention, a person with knowledge of the situation said.


A healthcare bill being unveiled by U.S. Senate Republicans on Thursday is expected to roll back the Obamacare expansion of the Medicaid healthcare program for the poor and reshape subsidies to low-income people buying private insurance. Those subsidies are expected to be linked to recipients' income, a "major improvement" from a healthcare overhaul bill passed in the House of Representatives that tied them solely to age, Republican Senator Susan Collins said on Wednesday. The Washington Post reported that the bill would also repeal most of the taxes that pay for the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, give states wider latitude to opt out of its regulations and eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood, a healthcare provider that offers abortion services. The healthcare bill will be released to the Republican Senate Conference on Thursday morning and posted online, senators said. A vote could come as soon as next week, several senators said. Senate Republicans have been working behind closed doors for weeks on legislation aimed at repealing and replacing major portions of Obamacare, former Democratic President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law. Obamacare extended insurance coverage to millions of Americans through both subsidized private insurance and an expansion of Medicaid. "There is an urgency to get this done because of the continued collapse of the Obama healthcare law," Senator John Barrasso, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, told CNN. "People across the country are suffering pain and the pain is getting worse as insurance companies are pulling out." Democrats accuse Republicans of sabotaging Obamacare, and say the Republican healthcare bill is aimed at cutting taxes for the wealthy. Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington said in a statement that leaked details of the bill indicated it was "every bit as devastating for families' bank accounts and healthcare coverage as the disastrous bill that passed in the House." President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans campaigned last year on a pledge to replace and repeal Obamacare, which they described as ineffective and government intrusion in a key sector of the economy. Some Republican senators voiced concern on Wednesday about the rush to consider the major legislation as their party's leaders prepare to unveil it. Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said he wanted to read the bill and discuss it with constituents before he votes. "I'd find it hard to believe we'll have enough time," he said, adding that if he did not get enough information, "I won't be voting yes." Democrats hoping to block the healthcare measure in the Republican-led Senate need at least two Republicans to defect. The Democrats have criticized the behind-the-scenes meetings, and blocked Senate committees on Wednesday from meeting for over two hours in protest. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, defending the closed-door sessions, has said all Senate Republicans have had a chance to participate in meetings on the bill, and that Democrats are not interested in overhauling Obamacare. Once the plan is unveiled, Senate Republicans will face a skeptical public that thinks the House version would be harmful for low-income Americans and people with pre-existing health conditions, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. Trump told a rally in Iowa on Wednesday night that he hoped the Senate would come up with a "really good" bill. "I've been talking about a plan with heart," Trump said. He had privately called the House legislation "mean," according to congressional sources. Several weeks of negotiations over the bill have been plagued by tensions between moderates and conservatives. Much of the battle has been over how quickly to phase out the Medicaid expansion that took place under Obamacare. Moderates favored a seven-year phase-out, but the Senate leadership proposed three years starting in 2020. There was also an argument over Medicaid's growth rate going forward, with conservatives favoring lowering the growth rate in 2025. "That's what we're told it might be," said Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Cassidy said senators had also been told the legislation would continue funding cost-sharing subsidies made available to help low-income Americans under Obamacare "for a couple of years." Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine, said she wanted to read an assessment by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on its impact on cost and insurance coverage before making her decision. "The first concern is how many people will lose coverage and what do the demographics of that group look like," she said. An estimated 23 million people could lose their healthcare under a similar plan narrowly passed last month by the Republican-controlled House, according to the CBO.


Donald Trump has long had a contentious relationship with the press. He cannot stand to be criticized, and any publication that dares to do so risks his ire. He banned a long list of publications from his campaign rallies, and now that he has been elected, he continues to attack the Fourth Estate. Trump s latest target is Vanity Fair, and the reason could not be more petty.Apparently, one of the magazine s writers, Tina Nguyen, wrote a scathing article criticizing the quality of Trump Grill, which is an eatery in Trump Tower. Nguyen says of the place: The allure of Trump s restaurant, like the candidate, is that it seems like a cheap version of rich. Nguyen also goes on to say that Trump Grill s quality reveals everything you need to know about our next president. Of course, one of the things that sticks in Trump s craw the most is anyone questioning his wealth, or his status among the elite. There are many people who believe that Trump is not a billionaire at all, and that if only he would release his tax returns, we d see a man who knows nothing of finances and money, who is a tax cheat, as well as a cheapskate who donates nothing to charitable causes like most truly wealthy people do.The article provoked a thinly veiled threat against Vanity Fair, as Trump insisted the magazine was in big trouble :Has anyone looked at the really poor numbers of @VanityFair Magazine. Way down, big trouble, dead! Graydon Carter, no talent, will be out! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2016Of course, the mention of editor Graydon Carter is telling as well, as to Trump s ability to hold long and enduring grudges. Carter is, after all, the one who dubbed Trump the short-fingered vulgarian, and it is a moniker that is appropriate and has stuck. That s why the GOP primaries devolved into dirty jokes regarding hand sizes. Of course, this speaks to Trump s insecurity about his own masculinity, which is something else that Trump cannot stand to have challenged.All in all, this is part of a much deeper and more troubling pattern, though. Trump is directly attacking the First Amendment, and it does not bode well to have a president who is so hostile to the press. He has already done a remarkable job of making his supporters blindly believe that the press hates them, that they are out to get them and their chosen king. Now, Trump s direct attacks on the press and specific publications means that he will likely use the bully pulpit of the White House to do the same for the next four years.This is how autocracies start, folks. Look for Trump to try to set up some kind of state-funded propaganda network, similar to what they have in Russia, to drive the message he wants and to shut out all other voices. This will likely start in the form of Breitbart News, which will then morph into some kind of television network on behalf of the Trump Administration.These are scary times, folks. Remember we must resist. We can no longer count on the institutions we ve long taken for granted to prevent the slow formation of a dictatorship. In fact, if you look closely, it s already happening.


Google Pinterest Digg Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Print Delicious Pocket Tumblr  Most sane people are horrified at the idea of a Donald Trump presidency. However, there's a substantial portion of the electorate that seems not to see just how absolutely dangerous the guy is as just a presidential candidate, much less how dangerous he would be as president. However, it seems that some of Trump's supporters DO recognize that he's a total nutcase, but plan to vote for him anyway. One woman's reason is truly out of this world. A lady named Crystal said of her choice to vote for Trump:  "Oh I think he's crazy, and he may get us killed, but at least he's going to be truthful with us." Ultimate Trump Voter Quote, from Crystal: "Oh I think he's crazy, and he may get us killed, but at least he's going to be truthful with us." pic.twitter.com/Qz4u7OIzB0  — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 29, 2016  Of course, Crystal's reason for her choice prompted much ridicule on Twitter. Here are just a few of the more fun tweets laughing at the absurdity of this logic: @MikeLewisTO @ddale8 "I'm nuking Germany because that dog Angela Merkel said my hands were tiny. Believe me. Get affairs in order now."


Next Prev Swipe left/right Super Mitchell Bros is the Mario parody every EastEnders fan must see  Inspired by the success of Super Mario Bros – YouTubers Douggy Pledger and Osysmo have created an EastEnder's version where you get to play as a drunken crack pipe smoking Phil Mitchell that fights his way through Albert Square. In the film a 16-bit Phil runs through Walford, gathering scotch eggs challenged along the way by adversaries such as Ian Beale, Dot Cotton and Sharon.  The duo's previous Mitchell tributes include;  A Lego Eastenders set;  a Phil action toy;  and conceptual art pieces… Speaking exclusively to The Poke Douggy said "I start doing these photoshopped images about 15 years ago, just to stick up in the office as a joke. Over the years I noticed Phil was cropping up on the odd funny picture floating around online so I decided to go do a bunch more of my own. I met Osymyso in 2001 and used to go to all the Bastard nights he DJ'd at, he was famous at the time for his 'Pat and Peg' song so we'd both been dabbling in messing around with Eastenders, despite the fact that neither of us watch the show. Nowadays we just skip through the episodes and pick out Phil's bits. Which in itself is quite weird as we only know Eastenders from Phil's perspective."  for more wonderfully warped Mitchell magic visit Utter Philth


German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday congratulated U.S. Republican Donald Trump on his election victory and offered to work closely with him on the basis of the values of democracy, freedom, respect for the law and for the dignity of people. "Germany and America are bound together by values - democracy, freedom, respecting the rule of law, people's dignity regardless of their origin, the color of their skin, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political views," Merkel said. "On the basis of these values, I am offering to work closely with the future President of the United States Donald Trump," she added. Merkel said working with the United States remained a key pillar of Germany's foreign policy.


The U.S. State Department, reacting to Spanish efforts to block a Catalan independence bid, said on Friday that Catalonia is an integral part of Spain and Washington backs Madrid s efforts to keep the country united. Catalonia is an integral part of Spain, and the United States supports the Spanish government s constitutional measures to keep Spain strong and united, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.


Brazilian police raided the home of Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi on Thursday in a corruption investigation linked to his time as a state governor, adding to the graft scandals rocking President Michel Temer s government. Last month the Supreme Court opened a bribery probe into Maggi s role in a scheme known as mensalinho, a payment of a monthly stipend to lawmakers in exchange for political support in his home state of Mato Grosso. He served two terms as governor there between 2003 and 2010. According to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, the raid was linked to a plea deal by former Mato Grosso state governor Silval Barbosa, who accuses Maggi of participating in the corruption scheme. Barbosa was Maggi s vice-governor, replacing him in the top job in 2010 when Maggi resigned to run for a seat in Brazil s Senate. Barbosa was subsequently elected to a four-year term that ended in 2014. Maggi denied any wrongdoing, claiming in a statement that Barbosa lied in his plea bargain testimony. I never authorized any illegal actions while in office nor have I obstructed justice, Maggi said. Maggi is a billionaire who was once Brazil s largest soybean producer. His family firm Amaggi SA runs large farms in Mato Grosso and operates a commodity trading business that competes in Brazil with global firms like Archer Daniels Midland Co, Cargill Inc and Bunge Ltd. Mato Grosso, where federal police said they served search warrants in nine cities, is a major producer of grains and cattle. Raids were also conducted in S o Paulo and Bras lia, the police said in a statement. The probe marks the latest blow to Temer s administration, whose economic reform agenda has been repeatedly thwarted by graft investigations that have targeted top officials, including the president. Temer has denied any wrongdoing.


This is just stunning! Free speech in our nations capitol under Obamas reign is now determined by your political bent Live video archived at Periscope shows U.S. Park Police officers detaining and searching a peaceful anti-Hillary Clinton demonstrator in the area of the opening ceremony for the National Museum of African-American History on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Saturday afternoon.Here is the video the protester is referring to with his sign, where Hillary refers to young black men as super predators and suggests we need to bring them to heel. Trump supporter Jack Posobiec went to the Mall dressed in an orange prison outfit wearing a blond wig and Hillary Clinton mask while holding a sign that read Blacks are super predators H The sign referenced a controversial remark Clinton made while First Lady in the 1990s. Clinton was not at the museum opening that was attended by President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush.DC Police Detained and Frisked me for Anti-Hillary Demonstration pic.twitter.com/CwDE6Ao9N4 Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) September 24, 2016After walking around on the sidewalk and closed street on the Mall near the new museum, Posobiec is surrounded by uniformed Park Police officers led by a Black officer who proceeds to interrogate Posobiec and demand his ID. The reasons for detaining and searching Posobiec ranged from holding a sign , a bogus claim of threatening the president by just being there, holding a can of Monster and an implied statement that he was annoying Black people with his demonstration.Here is a video of Jack protesting. It appears the only people offended by his protest are Obama s US Park Police. You can see the initial encounter with the US Park police at the 10:28 mark:LIVE on #Periscope: Hillary Calls Blacks Superpredators At National African American Museum https://t.co/HGIS8zrcXV Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) September 24, 2016The audio is difficult to hear at times, but the Black officer demands to know why Posobiec is protesting. He answers he is not protesting but is (garbled.)The Black officer says, You can do that anywhere. You can do that on You Tube. You can do that on Twitter. Why are you here? Posobiec s response is garbled.The Black officer then demands, Do you have any weapons on you? More back and forth and then the Black officer takes the Hillary sign from Polosiec and puts it on the ground and then orders his hands raised and put on his head and then to turn around.As the Black officer starts to search Polosiec he focuses on the photographer filming and orders his officers to search the photographer saying, You okay? You wanna check him out too cuz he s like doing all the filming. Let s make sure he doesn t have anything on him. The Black officer orders the camera being taken out of the photographer s hands so he can be properly searched.The camera continues filming at ground level while police search and interrogate the photographer who after a while appears to sit down. Prosobiec can be seen a few feet away sitting down on the sidewalk being detained by officers.After eight minutes of being detained the Black officer says to Polosiec, You are perfectly within your rights but I d advise you to (garbled) but if you come back (garbled,) The lecture is hard to hear, but the Black officer claims he doesn t care about Polosiec s politics and warns him that someone might (attack) him over the sign and the that he wouldn t come back to save you. You re free to go. The Black officer then walks over to the photographer to repeat the lecture, saying It is not a wise move to do it here, but you can do it here. (Garbled) coming back possibly to save you. Alright? You want to go the White House or Lafayette Park if you re under 25 people that s not a problem you can still make the same statement people feel comfortable This particular venue is not a wise place. But you can do, alright you re free to go, alright? Posobiec then starts speaking to the camera that there were numerous Black Lives Matter protesters around who were not being detained by police.Posobiec vows to continue his protest at the location.This writer was a prolific conservative activist with the Washington, D.C.chapter of FreeRepublic.com during the Clinton and Bush years and never witnessed or experienced any officer with federal or D.C. police agencies ask for ID or search a peaceful protester acting and dressed similarly to Prosobiec. The late FReeper Doctor Raoul Deming would wear masks and costumes to protest Bill and Hillary Clinton and was never searched or had ID demanded in D.C. over the course of hundreds of protests.In fact D.C. has some of the most lenient laws for protesters that allow spontaneous street demonstrations that block traffic where arrests can be made only after three prolonged warnings.Prosobiec was in a public place, not blocking traffic, and was not acting belligerent or threatening. He was exercising his First Amendment rights but as the officer implied because his audience was Black people, he should take his protest elsewhere like the White House of Lafayette Park (same thing, really, as a protest locale.)via: Gateway Pundit


Donald Trump s admiration of Vladimir Putin and the tyrannical way he runs Russia is very worrying to Trump s friend Joe Scarborough.The Morning Joe host strongly advised that Trump to put out a statement condemning the killing of journalists and political opponents. Because if he doesn t, his recent statements in two separate interviews over the course of the last year are even scarier. He s running his country, and at least he s a leader, Trump said in December 2015 when asked about Putin murdering journalists and political rivals. Unlike what we have in this country. But again: He kills journalists that don t agree with him, Scarborough replied.Trump then stunned Scarborough by excusing Putin s crimes. I think our country does plenty of killing, also, Joe, so, you know. There s a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, Joe. A lot of killing going on. A lot of stupidity. And that s the way it is. And just as in that interview, Trump basically repeated himself during an interview with Bill O Reilly that aired prior to the Super Bowl on Sunday. There are a lot of killers, Trump said in defense of Putin. You think our country s so innocent? And that makes Joe Scarborough wonder if Trump will start emulating Putin. If Donald Trump keeps being asked to criticize Vladimir Putin for assassinating journalists, and Donald Trump refuses to criticize Vladimir Putin for assassinating journalists, and say, well, we do it, too, in a sense, does that suggest that he thinks that it s OK to assassinate journalists? Does that suggest that it s OK to jail political opponents, to assassinate political opponents? Scarborough then condemned Trump for defending Putin and advised him to issue a statement against killing journalists and political rivals to make it clear that he does not support doing these things. If you don t condemn after being asked repeatedly to condemn these actions, at some point you go back to the he who does not deny admits story, and it suggests that he does. I suggest somebody at the White House get him to write a very strong statement letting the world know that he condemns the assassination of journalists and political rivals, because he suggests in the two interviews with O Reilly and us that he does not How do you compare a country whose leader assassinates journalists, a country s leader who assassinates political rivals we saw one found dead in the street across from the Kremlin a year ago who jails economic rivals, who has an authoritarian regime that has put everybody on notice, he s plundered his country. Many people estimate that Putin is worth $200 billion that he has stolen from the Russian people, and yet this desire to keep preaching moral equivalency continues and it is baffling. It was disturbing enough a year ago, it is baffling now, as president of the United States, that he s still doing this. Here s the video via MSNBC.Donald Trump is a threat to our individual liberties and our lives. His obsession with wanting to be buddies with Putin is frightening and the fact that he is actually defending murder is sickening and un-American.


21st Century Wire says The Oroville dam in Northern California has sustained sink hole damage in the main spillway and over 188,000 residents of the local area have been told to evacuate. Helicopters are dropping rocks into areas of erosion to try to prevent ground from eroding further downstream of the primary and the never before used secondary, passive spillways at the dam.ABC10 noted late last week that the amount of water in the Oroville dam is challenging the design of the dam (due to the sink hole having formed in the spillway which required the outflow to be slowed) with 185,000 cubic feet of water per second are coming into the dam and only 41,000 going out.There is a passive spillway that has now been forced into use as the water levels rise and more rain is expected later this week, but its unknown what the down stream effects will be as this auxiliary spillway has never been used before. It has the potential of causing a lot of damage spilling downstream into the Feather River and towards residential areas. Reports indicate they have increased the outgoing water from the main spillway to lessen the potential damage of the use of the passive spillway.Join ABC10 below for live updates and ongoing reports on this developing situation at the Oroville Dam ABC 10At least 188,000 people living downstream of California s Oroville Dam were ordered to evacuate late Sunday as officials said an emergency spillway was dangerously eroding and a failure could cause uncontrolled floodwaters to pour out of the lake.Water began flowing over the emergency spillway at the Oroville Dam in Northern California on Saturday for the first time in its nearly 50-year history after heavy rainfall.Evacuation orders still in place. We will work to keep updating everyone. Be safe. https://t.co/xjYGk6B8VF Yuba County (@YubaCounty) February 13, 2017Crews are hard at work reinforcing the integrity of the levee adjacent to Tyler Island. Stay tuned to our social media for continued updates pic.twitter.com/6UIgIbCjWm SacramentoOES (@SacramentoOES) February 13, 2017The Paradise Alliance Church is not longer accepting new evacuees. If seeking shelter visit https://t.co/zmTLivT9tA for updated list. Butte County, CA (@CountyofButte) February 13, 2017Butte County offices in the Oroville area will remain CLOSED tomorrow due to the #OrovilleSpillway evacuations. @ButteSheriff @CA_DWR Butte County, CA (@CountyofButte) February 13, 2017Continue this developing story with live updates at ABC10READ MORE US NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire US FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV


USA Today published an article today that was so egregiously misleading that every hotel that leaves this joke of a publication outside the doors for their guests to read, should be ashamed to be peddling such trash. (Even if it is free..and we all know what they say: If it s free It s free for a reason .) USA Today is one of the most virulently anti-Trump publications you will find anywhere. Much like the morning shows, whose morning talk hosts greet their viewers with cheerful dispositions and big white smiles, while sticking daggers into our president and his family, USA Today can be found as in almost every hotel in America as a complimentary source of news for their guests.USA Today comes across to the everyday American as a friendly publication that gives Americans a snapshot into the latest national news without any bias. Unfortunately, nothing could be further than the truth. USA Today s stories are so anti-Trump, they should almost come with a warning label for anyone who s looking for honest journalism and unbiased news.An article that appeared today, in the USA Today talked about the dire financial situation that President Trump and his family have caused with their with an unprecedented number of White House protectees. Shortly after the article was published, Secret Service Director Randolph Tex Alles released a statement refuting what USA Today claimed he said. The quotes in red in the USA Today article below are from the Secret Service Director s statement.USA Today The Secret Service can no longer pay hundreds of agents it needs to carry out an expanded protective mission in large part due to the sheer size of President Trump s family and efforts necessary to secure their multiple residences up and down the East Coast.Here s what Secret Service Director Randolph Tex Alles said about the Secret Service running out of money: The Secret Service has the funding it needs to meet all current mission requirements for the remainder of the fiscal year and compensate employees for overtime within statutory pay caps. Secret Service Director Randolph Tex Alles, in an interview with USA TODAY, said more than 1,000 agents have already hit the federally mandated caps for salary and overtime allowances that were meant to last the entire year.OOPS! It looks like the same thing happened in 2016 while Barack Obama was President: The Secret Service estimates that roughly 1,100 employees will work overtime hours in excess of statutory pay caps during calendar year 2017. Our agency experienced a similar situation in calendar year 2016 that resulted in legislation that allowed Secret Service employees to exceed statutory caps on pay.The agency has faced a crushing workload since the height of the contentious election season, and it has not relented in the first seven months of the administration. Agents must protect Trump who has traveled almost every weekend to his properties in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia and his adult children whose business trips and vacations have taken them across the country and overseas.To remedy this ongoing and serious problem, the agency has worked closely with the Department of Homeland Security, the Administration, and the Congress over the past several months to find a legislative solution. As we work to ensure that employees are compensated for the hours they work, the Secret Service continues its rigorous hiring of special agents, Uniformed Division officers, and critical support staff to meet future mission requirements. The president has a large family, and our responsibility is required in law, Alles said. I can t change that. I have no flexibility. The law, Title 18 US Code 3056, details protection requirements for the President, Vice President and their immediate family members.Alles said the service is grappling with an unprecedented number of White House protectees. Under Trump, 42 people have protection, a number that includes 18 members of his family. That s up from 31 during the Obama administration.Does USA Today really believe the average American is so stupid that they ve already forgotten about the several separate vacations that the former first lady took while her husband golfed almost every weekend that he was in office? What about her notorious trip to Spain where she brought most of her entire friends and family list courtesy of the American taxpayers?The people you see surrounding former First Lady Michele Obama on her luxury African Safari are Michelle s family members. Yes, the American taxpayer paid for her luxury African Safari with her brother, cousins and of course, her mother, who lived in the White House for Barack s entire 8-year term, and traveled to all of their overseas destinations courtesy of, you guessed it, the American taxpayer.Surely USA Today doesn t believe we ve already forgotten about Barack Obama s obsession with golf, that more than one time, took him and his lovely wife to opposite sides of the country to satisfy their individual 5-star travel needs:Overwork and constant travel have also been driving a recent exodus from the Secret Service ranks, yet without congressional intervention to provide additional funding, Alles will not even be able to pay agents for the work they have already done.The compensation crunch is so serious that the director has begun discussions with key lawmakers to raise the combined salary and overtime cap for agents, from $160,000 per year to $187,000 for at least the duration of Trump s first term.But even if such a proposal was approved, about 130 veteran agents would not be fully compensated for hundreds of hours already amassed, according to the agency. And finally, the same Secret Service Director Randolph Tex Alles who allegedly gave USA Today the exclusive scoop about how the Trump family were draining the Secret Service funds dry, concluded his statement with this:This issue is not one that can be attributed to the current Administration s protection requirements alone, but rather has been an ongoing issue for nearly a decade due to an overall increase in operational tempo.This isn t the first time USA Today was caught fabricating a story to make President Trump look bad to their readers. In April of 2017, USA TODAY was caught fabricating a story about an innocent Dreamer being deported. Click HERE to read the story.


The majority of America has been wondering who actually is supporting Donald Trump. He s been rejected in Chicago and protests have been a theme at his rallies throughout the country. Yet, he does have support as evidenced by his trouncing of other GOP hopefuls who are just as crazy as he is but are prone to show it less. So, who are Trump s supporters exactly? This video shows us who these people are and how they think:Watch video here:[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiFMts60ZIQ]One man believed that the government is after Trump, turning the volatile and nasty Republican candidate into a victim or even a martyr of sorts. I m for Trump cause he s being bullied by the government and they need to be together, the man said. And when asked about the frequent counter-protests against Trump, he defended the Republican candidate. I m not racist and I don t think he s racist, though he admitted Trump should have denounced the KKK.Another man believes in Trump s honesty and thinks Bernie will control his every move: I think Trump is honest. We don t need a Barack in office no more, because he s a liar. He can t be direct. Hillary Clinton is a criminal. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. He believes in taking away all our freedoms. He ll control the way we eat, the way we sleep, the way we live. These remarks border on paranoia and misinformation. If these people just looked a little closer and deeper at who they re voting for, they would see a racist, a demagogue, and someone who s already done damage to this country. One can only imagine the damage he would do should he become president.


ZACHARY, La. — For Linda Fernandez, this summer has been one long disaster tour. In July, her daughter died in Baton Rouge, while her infant mysteriously ailed in Houston. It was at a hospital there, a week and a half ago, where Ms. Fernandez learned she had lost her home, too, to flooding. She explained this to President Obama on Tuesday afternoon as he walked through that house, emptied of all the furniture except for what was too heavy to haul outside. He hugged her four times and they had their picture taken. Others may have debated the timing of Mr. Obama's visit and whether he was too late in coming to this state, but Ms. Fernandez wiped tears from her eyes and said she had not been following any of that. "Really I don't have time to think when I go home — I mean, go to my place in the corner," said Ms. Fernandez, who turned 69 on Saturday and is staying at a friend's house. "I've been busy. I haven't watched the news. I've been doing all this by myself. " Nearly 11 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Mr. Obama came to meet with flood victims in a visit that required him to navigate a delicate mix of compassion and politics. The president landed in Baton Rouge to see the devastation left by flooding in the last week, and to demonstrate, in part by his presence, that the federal government will deliver help to those who lost everything. Standing amid rubble in front of flooded homes, he lamented that so many people's lives were "upended" by the floodwaters that swept through communities with devastating force. But he praised the disaster relief response and expressed optimism that the people of Baton Rouge would recover and thrive. "I know how resilient the people of Louisiana are and I know you will rebuild again," Mr. Obama, dressed in a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, said after touring several homes. He pledged that the federal government would support the victims of the community for the long run. "These are some good people down here," he said. "They got a lot of work to do and they shouldn't have to do it alone. " Local and state officials from both political parties have praised the federal response in Baton Rouge, drawing a sharp contrast with the delays by the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Katrina. Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, a Republican who frequently criticizes Mr. Obama, said in an interview that federal officials had done "an excellent job" responding to the floods. "They actually do care," he said. But Mr. Obama arrived four days after Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, visited areas around Baton Rouge. In a Twitter message on Tuesday, Mr. Trump mocked the president for failing to cut short his Martha's Vineyard vacation last week. "Too little, too late!" he wrote. Some Republicans and distraught locals have also criticized the president for waiting more than a week to visit the tens of thousands of residents affected by the floods. More than 7, 000 people were forced into 37 shelters across a vast stretch of the state by the rainfall, which has been blamed for 13 deaths. The Advocate, a local newspaper, mocked the president in an editorial last week. And on Tuesday, Representative Charles Boustany, a Louisiana Republican, added, "It's a shame it took the president so long to come to Louisiana, but we are glad he is here. " Frustration over the president's absence, merging with a widespread sense that the disaster has been unjustly overshadowed in media coverage of the Summer Olympics and the presidential election, has ranged from the hot anger of The Advocate editorial to a more subdued disappointment. Some here said the president had been callously detached for vacationing during a catastrophe, while others said he was respectfully keeping his distance during rescue efforts. But for those most intensely affected, the political debate is a luxury they can hardly afford. "I didn't even know he was here," said Nita Case, 75, sitting wearily on a folded camp chair inside her gutted home, 11 miles from the neighborhood Mr. Obama had just visited. Florence Lucas, 79, had lost everything in Hurricane Betsy in 1965, lost her home during Hurricane Katrina and then had her home flooded this summer. She stood in the kitchen as a contractor discussed the rebuilding timeline, a needlepoint Home Sweet Home sign still hanging above the door to the hallway. "Politics should be out of this," Ms. Lucas said, adding that an earlier visit by the president would have just complicated the work of local responders and the police. "What can he do? He can't come and get rid of the water. " The president praised W. Craig Fugate, the FEMA administrator, for overhauling the agency to make it work better, and he announced that the federal government had already distributed $127 million in aid to the flooded communities. Still, Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, issued a statement after meeting with the president saying that he had formally requested additional help for his state. Mr. Edwards, who had urged the president not to visit the state when the rescue operation was in full swing, said the federal government so far has been "responsive to all of our requests. " Mr. Obama was in Baton Rouge for about three hours before heading back to Washington. White House officials said the president also planned to meet briefly with the family of Alton B. Sterling, the who was shot while being held on the ground by Baton Rouge police officers, as well as families of officers killed and injured in an ambush in July. In the long run, the success of Mr. Obama's visit will be judged in two different contexts: first, the political imagery that has become a vital part of White House planning since President George W. Bush was photographed gazing down on New Orleans from Air Force One, and second, the gritty reality on the ground for people struggling to rebuild. As a candidate in 2008, Mr. Obama was eager to focus on the politics of Mr. Bush's flyover, denouncing him during a rally for being "a president who only saw the people from the window of an airplane instead of down here on the ground, trying to provide comfort and aid. " Now the spotlight has shifted to Mr. Obama's actions. After touring the damage, Mr. Obama pledged continued help "even after the TV cameras leave" and waved aside questions about politics. "I guarantee you," he said, "nobody on this block, none of those first responders, nobody gives a hoot whether you're Democrat or Republican. " He could have been referring to Nita Case's husband, Dennis, 78. A fan of Bill O'Reilly, the conservative talk show host, he had few good words for the government, saying, it "ain't never done enough. " But he also said he had paid little attention to the politics surrounding Mr. Obama's visit on Tuesday. "I haven't watched the news for two weeks," he said. "I've been busy. "


A group of investigative journalists whose slogan is digging dung, fertilizing democracy is holding South African President Jacob Zuma to account over his widely criticized links to a family of wealthy businessmen. AmaBhungane, which means dung beetles in the Zulu language, was founded by three veteran reporters to expose wrongdoing in South Africa. Together with online news site the Daily Maverick, amaBhungane in June released leaked emails and documents that they said showed allegedly improper dealings in government contracts and influence peddling by the Guptas, a family with close ties to Zuma. Zuma and the Gupta family, which has said the emails were fake, have denied wrongdoing. Co-founder Stefaans Brummer said amaBhungane, which was founded in 2010, had spent several years probing Zuma s family business dealings, and had verified the authenticity of the leaked documents. Our very first stories as amaBhungane was a series called Zuma Inc and we looked at the Zuma family and how its business fortunes had grown since Zuma took the office of president, Brummer said. He said the Gupta name popped up in several of amaBhungane s inquiries into Zuma s family business links and the organization was well placed to process the trove of information in more than 100,000 emails and documents. You fight hard for every piece of information and when something like this happens it s like Christmas, you suddenly have a lot of information, said Brummer. Brummer said amaBhungane, which mostly uses external hard drives to store documents for safety reasons, had sent a copy of the leaked Gupta emails to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project - a global consortium of investigative journalism centers. Reuters has not independently been able to verify the allegations in the so-called GuptaLeaks emails, sent between the Gupta brothers and their associates. The allegations, which came after an anti-corruption watchdog report into claims of influence peddling, opened Zuma up to renewed scrutiny and deepened divisions within the ruling African National Congress. Zuma survived an attempt in parliament to force him from office on Aug. 8, but he was left politically wounded after some ANC members voted with the opposition. It s quite amazing that people in South Africa have woken up to state capture now in 2017 when amaBhungane have been exposing this for a decade, said Glenda Daniels, a senior media studies lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand. Perhaps the nature of their exposes were rather intense and detailed for people to follow. Maybe they have now let some air into their writing and everyone is getting it. As a non-profit company, amaBhungane s 8 million rand ($600,000) annual budget is funded by grants from charitable foundations and public donations. It does not sell adverts or accept funds from the government or from companies. Sam Sole, another amaBhungane co-founder, said his desire to expose society s injustices drove him into journalism. Both Sole and Brummer started their journalism careers before the end of apartheid in 1994. During my subsequent conscription into the defense force I came face to face with the sharp, brutish reality of apartheid - and that was the impetus for my first piece of journalism, said Sole. Journalism, for me, was a way to fight against injustice. The third amaBhungane co-founder, Adriaan Basson, is now editor of News24, an online news site. Sole and Brummer have won numerous journalism awards, including for their reporting on a 30 billion rand ($2.3 billion) deal to buy military equipment in the late 1990s that was plagued by allegations of fraud and corruption. Zuma was linked to the deal through his former financial adviser, who was jailed for corruption. The president said last year that an investigation into the deal found no evidence of wrongdoing, but critics denounced the findings as a cover-up. All charges against Zuma were dropped in 2009, but a court last year ordered a review of the decision. Zuma is appealing the ruling. The arms deal scandal lasted much longer and was much slower burning, which gave us time to develop some of the skills we use now, Sole said. For amaBhungane, the aim was to probe the link between politics and money. We set ourselves a target of trying to find that sweet spot of where organized crime, politics and business intersect, Brummer said. Politics has its good side but it has its bad side, business has its good side and its bad side, organized crime is all bad, but there is always that intersection where the three come together and that s where you get the worst wrongdoing. But amaBhungane has been accused by a group called Black First Land First and some on social media of being run by racist white men and not doing enough stories on white monopoly capital , a phrase used to describe the fact that the white minority still control much of the economy. Brummer said the criticism has not deterred amaBhungane. We are not going to roll over and die. Investigative journalism is what we do and what we like to do, he said.


A number of officials appear to suggest that the Obama administration may have actually wiretapped the Trump campaign, but that if they did it would have been justified by a court and part of an investigation by the Justice Department — not led by or ordered from the White House or the former president himself. [On Saturday, former President Obama's spokesman Kevin Lewis denied that the former White House or the former President himself would have given such an order to wiretap Trump Tower — or any other type of surveillance in any case — but that such an order would have come from an "independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. " "A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice," Lewis said. "As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U. S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false. " Lewis' statement on the former president's behalf came in response to the explosive charges from President Donald Trump, who tweeted on Saturday morning that the Obama team conducted surveillance on Trump Tower during the campaign and afterward. Valerie Jarrett, another close Obama aide, also tweeted the statement from former President Obama's spokesman, Lewis. Jarrett is, according to the U. K. Daily Mail, now living in the Obamas' multimillion dollar Washington, D. C. mansion. From there, the Daily Mail reports, the former president and Jarrett will be running a "nerve center for their plan to mastermind the insurgency against President Trump. " Check out statement from Kevin Lewis, spokesperson to former President Obama. Enough said. pic. twitter. — Valerie Jarrett (@ValerieJarrett) March 4, 2017, Interestingly, however, a number of other former Obama administration officials do not deny that such a wiretap existed. They just deny that the White House or Obama himself would have approved it or ordered it, and say that the Department of Justice would have sought it in consultation with a foreign intelligence surveillance, or FISA, court. Obama's former speechwriter Jon Favreau tweeted that he would warn reporters against saying there was no wiretap. I'd be careful about reporting that Obama said there was no wiretapping. Statement just said that neither he nor the WH ordered it. — Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) March 4, 2017, And Favreau endorsed a Twitter feed that laid out the reporting about the existence of the wiretaps, which cited reporting from Louise Mensch, formerly of Heat Street, and The Guardian that the Obama DOJ had sought a FISA court approved surveillance warrant for Trump Tower back in the summer of 2016 that was denied but received a narrower focused warrant in October. Ok you definitely need to read this thread https: . — Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) March 4, 2017, The wiretaps that Donald Trump "just found out" about have been reported for weeks. I'm going to summarize here some of the discussion. — Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 4, 2017, @LouiseMensch broke the news for @heatstreet that a FISA warrant was granted to explore Donald's Russia Ties https: . pic. twitter. — Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 4, 2017, The @guardian's @julianborger reported on the FISA warrant again when the Steele dossier news broke in January https: . pic. twitter. — Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 4, 2017, Republicans who have defended surveillance powers are now critical of it especially following Flynn's resignation https: . pic. twitter. — Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 4, 2017, And just this week Donald's administration announced it had no intention of curtailing FISA https: . pic. twitter. — Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 4, 2017, When @LouiseMensch reported on the FISA tap, she included details that implicated Putin's own daughters, Carter Page and Paul Manafort. pic. twitter. — Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 4, 2017, This week @SenCoonsOffice suggested the transcripts that the FBI has may prove collusion with Russia. https: . — Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 4, 2017, Coons has been one of the staunchest critics of surveillance powers, having introduced bills to reign in FISA https: . — Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 4, 2017, Back to Donald. Wiretapping him was not illegal, full stop. And it suggests the court had reason to permit it. https: . — Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 4, 2017, Donald's tweets this morning are a helpful reminder that he was under investigation, possibly for espionage. https: . — Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 4, 2017, We can now conclude that our govt has significant intelligence on Donald and his associates. We need to see it. https: . — Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 4, 2017, Donald can whine about being surveilled, but the reality is we citizens must now demand a special prosecutor and a select committee. — Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 4, 2017, Interesting Donald's tweets this morning may have in fact declassified the existence of the wiretap https: . — Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 4, 2017, @NRO's @AndrewCMcCarthy — a former terrorism considered the implications of using FISA to tap Trump. https: . pic. twitter. — Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 4, 2017, David Axelrod, another former Obama adviser, tweeted that such a wiretap would receive court approval "for a reason. " If there were the wiretap @realDonaldTrump loudly alleges, such an extraordinary warrant would only have been OKed by a court for a reason. — David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) March 4, 2017, In other words, these officials are subtly confirming the accuracy of the reporting — that the Obama administration did in fact conduct surveillance on Trump Tower in October and and that the administration originally sought a warrant back in the summer of 2016 — but they say the president himself and the Obama White House was not involved in the decision. What's more, Philip Rucker, the White House bureau chief at the Washington Post, says the same thing as these former Obama officials: That the Obama spokesman's statement does not deny the existence of wiretaps on Trump Tower, only that Obama himself and the Obama White House did not approve them if they did exist. The Obama statement does not say there was no federal wire tapping of Trump Tower. It only says Obama and White House didn't order it. — Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) March 4, 2017, The outrage from the media and the Democrats appears to be standard hatred of Trump. The president forced a set of facts into the news cycle that was already previously public but framed in a way that puts his political opponents and the establishment media on the defensive. This appears to be the calculus: either the wiretaps exist, as Trump suggests, and the president will use them to bludgeon the Obama administration and the media for impropriety and overreach or, there were no wiretaps, which suggests the previous administration had no reason to suspect Trump colluded with a foreign government.


Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland has been sympathetic to government regulators in his almost two decades as an appeals court judge, frequently rejecting business-led challenges to federal action. His overall record, however, suggests he is a moderate who follows Supreme Court precedent and is not eager to spearhead efforts to adopt novel legal theories. Garland sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which hears a large proportion of the legal challenges to major federal regulations in areas such as environment and labor. They are often brought by business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Cases are assigned randomly to three-judge panels. Garland has avoided some of the most contentious cases of recent years, including challenges to government efforts under President Barack Obama to curb carbon emissions and ensure equal access to Internet data via its so called "net neutrality" rule. Of the cases in which he has participated, some of his opinions and votes in his 19 years on the bench have already attracted criticism from conservative and pro-business groups following his nomination to the high court by Obama on Wednesday. They say he too easily defers to government action. "We have great concerns about this nominee's record," said Juanita Duggan, president of the National Federation of Independent Business, which represents small business owners. The group cites several cases, including one from 2003 in which the appeals court ruled against a developer challenging a finding the federal government had authority to force it to take measures to protect an endangered toad on the property under the federal Endangered Species Act. The ruling, written by Garland, was a win for the administration of Republican President George W. Bush, which was defending the actions of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Garland wrote a narrow decision, saying he was merely staying in line with court precedent. One of the judges on the appeals court who disagreed with the outcome was John Roberts, who Bush appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 2005. Roberts questioned whether the federal government had the authority to issue regulations protecting what he described as "a hapless toad." Roberts' opinion was questioned by liberals when he was nominated to the high court as a sign that he would limit federal power to issue broad nationwide regulations. In another case mentioned by the business group, Garland was part of a three-judge panel that in 1998 upheld Environmental Protection Agency emissions limits for nitrogen oxides from electric utility boilers. More recently, he was on a panel in 2014 that upheld an Obama administration air pollution rule that limits emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants. The court held that the government was not required to consider the cost of compliance before issuing the regulation. The Supreme Court in June 2015 threw out that decision, although the regulation remains in place. In another 2014 case, he was part of a panel of 11 judges that ruled 8-3 to reject a food industry challenge to a federal rule concerning labeling requirements for meat. Despite those votes in favor of the government and against business interests, Garland is seen by legal experts as a moderate on the appeals court. "He's a modest judge in that he really does try to stick to Supreme Court precedent," said Jonathan Adler, a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Adler said Garland was somewhere in the middle of the 17-judge court when it comes to deference to agency action. Appeals court judges' hands are somewhat tied on regulatory cases because they are bound by Supreme Court precedent that favors deference to government agencies. In 1984, the high court ruled that judges should not second-guess agencies if the law is ambiguous. Neal Katyal, a former Obama administration lawyer now in private practice with the Hogan Lovells law firm, said it is a "really tough argument" to suggest Garland's rulings on regulations show an ideological leaning. He described Garland's record on such cases as "very, very centrist." The Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, another industry group that regularly fights government regulations, said they would not comment on the merits of Garland's nomination. (This version of the story corrects the day of nomination announcement to Wednesday in paragraph five.)


The Republican Party has been nervous as hell ever since the CIA released reports that Russia had meddled in the U.S. election in order to sway it toward Donald Trump. This tension within the GOP couldn t have been more obvious than when Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer had a fullblown meltdown over his distrust of the CIA.While being interviewed by MSNBC on Monday, host Kate Snow brought up the recent reports about Russia s interference, and Spicer was quick to deny the truth. Spicer said that any evidence that the Kremlin was trying to help Trump win is based on the fact that the RNC was hacked, and it was not hacked. He said: That does call into question the intelligence and the conclusions they came to. Snow then asked Spicer to clarify whether or not he is saying he doesn t believe the CIA and that s when Spicer devolved into a toddler (obviously taking hints from Trump) and began throwing a temper tantrum. Spice yelled: Stop doing that! That s not what I said, no! You keep Snow jumped in and said, I m just asking a question. Are you saying you don t trust the CIA? Because just a moment ago you said three letter agencies with unnamed sources, that s why I m asking. Do you not trust Spicer continued on with his angry rant, making it clear that he doubted the validity of the CIA s reports. He shouted: No, no. Tell me someone in the CIA, give me a name, publish a report and we ll deal with it. Right now, you guys start saying that you read these reports, you have no name behind it. It should be noted that there are even members within the Republican party that wholeheartedly trust the CIA and are backing an investigation into this matter. Snow responded that the CIA has a high degree of confidence that the Kremlin was behind Trump s win. Snow asked Spicer, I m asking, do you not believe that? Spicer continued to snap, growing more angry with each question. He fired back: Can I answer the question? They ve now walked that back in the course of the last 48 hours. So my point to you is this: the facts that we were initially presented with are clearly not accurate and so it does call into question [the legitimacy of those reports]. And I find it interesting that you guys aren t asking them to provide further proof of this. Spicer ended his rant by insulting news networks like the one he was on, stating that news organizations were not doing a good job in getting more evidence of Russian interference.You can watch Spicer go insane below:


Police in Charleston, S.C., say a man they suspect opened fire and killed nine people during a Wednesday prayer meeting at one of the city's oldest historically black churches has been captured. Police are calling the attack a hate crime, and they released stills from a security video that authorities say show 21-year-old Dylann Roof entering the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Roof, police said, sat with the congregation for about an hour before he opened fire at around 9 p.m. ET. He left the church in a black sedan, unleashing an overnight manhunt that involved local and federal law enforcement. Police apprehended the lone suspect during a traffic stop in Shelby, N.C., an almost four-hour drive from Charleston. Roof waived extradition during a court appearance in Shelby and will be headed back to South Carolina. Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley said the arrest is a part of the healing process that has just begun. "In America we don't let people like this get away with this dastardly deed," Riley said. In a statement from the White House, President Obama meditated on the history of the church, which he called a "sacred place in the history of Charleston and in the history of America." He said the Emanuel AME is a church that has seen tragedy in the past. It was burned to the ground because its worshippers wanted to end slavery. It's a place where civil rights leaders spoke and led marches in search for freedom. Obama said it's a tragedy anytime Americans die in a situation like this, but it's especially heartbreaking when it happens "at a place where people are seeking peace." Obama quoted a eulogy Martin Luther King Jr. delivered at the funeral service for three of the four children who were killed in the 1963 bombing of a Baptist church in Birmingham. In death, King said, those three little girls told America "that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers." At an earlier press conference, Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen said: "It is senseless, it is unfathomable, that in today's society somebody would walk into a church, into a prayer meeting, and take lives." State Sen. Clementa C. Pinckney, who was also the senior pastor at Emanuel AME Church, was one of the people killed during the attack. The President Pro Tempore of South Carolina's Senate, Hugh Leatherman, said Pinckney was "a strong advocate for his constituents, a great pastor and community leader, but most importantly, a cherished and loved husband, father and son." He continued: "The victims were in a Bible study, learning the Word of God, in one of the most beloved institutions in our State whose roots go back to the dark days of slavery. What happened last night is incomprehensible." The Charleston County coroner identified the nine victims as Cynthia Hurd, 54; Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41; Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45; Ethel Lance, 70; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Myra Thompson, 59; Susie Jackson, 87; and Depayne Middleton Doctor, 49. All the victims, but Simmons, died at the scene. Simmons died in hospital. In a short speech at the White House, President Obama said that he was restrained by what he could say about the facts of case, but he was not constrained by emotion. Obama said that it is tragic anytime Americans die in a situation like this. But it is especially heartbreaking when it happens "at a place where people are seeking peace." He said the Emanuel AME is a church that has seen tragedy in the past. It was burned to the ground because its worshippers wanted to end slavery. It's a place where civil rights leaders spoke and led marches in search for freedom. "This is a sacred place in the history of Charleston and in the history of America," Obama said. Today, he said, marks another attempt against a black church in the United States. And like this church, and others like it, have rebuilt in the past, Mother Emanuel "will rise again, now." Update at 12 p.m. ET. Tip Led To Arrest: During a news conference, Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen said a civilian called police to report suspicious activity. Police followed up on the tip and quickly figured out that they were dealing with shooting suspect Dylann Roof, who was arrested without incident. Mullen, who would not comment on whether Roof had any weapons on him, said that Roof was cooperative. Mullen said that police had yet to determine a motive. Update at 11:13 a.m. ET. Barbaric Crime: "Acts like this one have no place in our country and no place in a civilized society," she said. Lynch said that federal authorities are working closely with local authorities to try to apprehend the suspect. President Obama is expected to make a statement at 11:45 a.m. ET. Update at 11:10 a.m. ET. Two Previous Arrests: A search of public records finds that Dylann Roof had two recent court cases against him — one for trespassing, one for drug possession. Update at 10:33 a.m. ET. Suspect Identified: The city of Charleston said police have named a suspect: 21-year-old Dylann Roof. "The vehicle he may be driving is a black Hyundai with vehicle tag LGF330. Anyone with information about his location call 1-800-CALL-FBI," the city said in a statement. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups, tweeted a photograph of the suspect sporting a jacket with what appears to be the flag for "white-rule Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe." Another patch on the jacket, the SPLC says, shows a South African apartheid era flag. Update at 9:35 a.m. ET. A 'Beloved Senator': The President Pro Tempore of South Carolina Senate, Hugh Leatherman, said Sen. Pinckney was a "beloved" public servant. "Senator Clementa C. Pinckney was a leader in the Senate of South Carolina, a strong advocate for his constituents, a great pastor and community leader, but most importantly, a cherished and loved husband, father and son," Leatherman said in a statement. "The entire Senate of South Carolina extends our love and sympathy to Jennifer, Eliana, Malana, and to the rest of his family." Update at 9:05 a.m. ET. State Senator Among Those Killed: State Sen. Clementa C. Pinckney, who was also the senior pastor at Emanuel AME Church, was one of the people killed during the attack, according to multiple news outlets as well as the chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party. Update at 8:43 a.m. ET. Federal Hate Crime Investigation: Update at 7:17 a.m. ET. Suspect Sat With Congregation For An Hour: During a press conference just minutes ago, Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen said the suspect sat with the congregation in prayer for about an hour before opening fire. The suspect ultimately killed 9 people — six females and three males. Three others survived. Mullen said that law enforcement from all along the East Coast are helping in the investigation and the FBI and the ATF have come in from D.C. "This tragedy that we're addressing right now is indescribable," Mullen said. "No one in this community will ever forget this night ... and because of the pain and the hurt this individual has caused this community ... the law enforcement officials working on this are committed and we will catch this individual." Mullen called on anyone with information about the suspect to call 1-800-Call-FBI, but said that they should not approach the suspect because he is "very dangerous." Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley Jr. said that last night that he and the police chief "hugged as many" of the victims' families as they could. He said they saw weeping mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers. Riley said this attack has ripped a part of the community's fabric forever. "But we will work to heal them, to love them and support them in that church as long as we live," Riley said. Update at 6:50 a.m. ET. What Happened? According to The Post and Courier of Charleston, a gunman entered the church on Wednesday evening, as members of the church gathered for a prayer meeting. The Emanuel AME Church website says that church is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the South. "Emanuel has one of the largest and oldest black congregations south of Baltimore, Maryland," the website says.