February 26, 2017


News and Views


PEREZ DOES SEEM TO BE A GOOD DEMOCRAT, IN REGARD TO CIVIL RIGHTS AND LABOR, PLUS HE SELECTED ELLISON AS HIS SECOND IN COMMAND. THAT’S MUCH BETTER THAN THE DEBACLE AT 2016 DNC NOMINEE SELECTION PROCESS. GOOD GOING, FOLKS!

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-is-tom-perez-dnc-chairman/

Who is Tom Perez?
By REBECCA SHABAD CBS NEWS
February 25, 2017, 4:48 PM

Tom Perez was elected Saturday as chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) after a competitive race against Rep. Keith Ellison, becoming the first Latino to lead the party.

Perez, 55, left the Obama administration last month after serving as labor secretary since July 2013. In that job, he helped push for new overtime rules to ensure workers get overtime pay, extended overtime protections for home care workers and extended minimum wage protections.

Tom Perez elected DNC chair, appoints Keith Ellison deputy chair
Play VIDEO
Tom Perez elected DNC chair, appoints Keith Ellison deputy chair

He also helped establish worker safety rules, and under his leadership the department provided paid sick leave and ensured employment protections for federal contractor employees, according to his biography on the department’s website.

He was elected Saturday in Atlanta, receiving 235 votes and surpassing the 218-vote threshold to win. Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat and the first Muslim elected to Congress, received 200 votes. Perez appointed Ellison as deputy chairman immediately after the results were announced.

“We are united as a party,” Perez said after his election, with Ellison standing by his side. “We have so much work ahead of us because across America, people are fearful. People are fearful for our future. Democrats united are the hope for our future.”

Will Democrats rally around Tom Perez?
Play VIDEO
Will Democrats rally around Tom Perez?

Perez is a native of Buffalo, New York, and received a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, a law degree from Harvard Law School and a master’s of public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

His parents were immigrants from the Dominican Republic. His dad died when Perez was only 12 years old, according to his biography on his campaign website, and he later put himself through college by working on the back of a garbage truck.

Larry Sabato: Democrats seem willing to reunify
Play VIDEO
Larry Sabato: Democrats seem willing to reunify

He started his career as a civil rights attorney at the Department of Justice and later served as special counselor to Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Massachusetts. Under Attorney General Janet Reno, Perez served as deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights, and toward the end of the Clinton administration, he was the head of the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Before President Obama nominated Perez to his Cabinet, succeeding Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, he returned to the Justice Department in 2009 to serve as assistant attorney general for civil rights.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-governor-john-kasich-says-house-conservatives-will-be-a-problem-obamacare/

Ohio Gov. Kasich says House conservatives may cause "problem" passing Obamacare replacement
By EMILY SCHULTHEIS CBS NEWS
February 26, 2017, 11:09 AM

As Republicans try to figure out how to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Ohio Gov. John Kasich says they’ll encounter “a problem” passing replacement legislation with some House conservatives if it still includes any vestiges of the original law. Because of that, he said, the GOP will need to reach out to Democrats to be successful.

Kasich was asked whether he agreed with former House Speaker John Boehner’s recent characterization of the issue: “Most of the Affordable Care Act, in the framework, is going to stay there,” Boehner said, adding that Republicans are “basically going to fix the flaws and put a more conservative box around it.”

But that won’t necessarily work given the hardline position of some House conservatives who want to throw out the entire law, Kasich said, regardless of what the plan for replacement is.

“There’s going to be a problem in the House of getting anything out of there that still provides coverage to people,” Kasich told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “That’s why the Republicans have to reach out to some of the Democrats. I don’t know whether this is going to happen.”

Kasich said it will be very difficult to get some conservative GOP House members to vote for a replacement plan if it includes any of the key components of Obamacare.

“I think there are some very conservative Republicans in the House who are going to say, ‘just get rid of the whole thing’... and that’s not acceptable when you have 20 million people, or 700,000 people in my state, because where do the mentally ill go? Where do the drug addicted go?”

Kasich said it’s a “political impossibility” for Republicans to repeal the law without a replacement.

“The fact of the matter is you can’t just repeal without repealing and replacing at the same time,” he said. “It just becomes a political impossibility and there’s no reason to do it any other way than that.”

He said the voter anger and frustration at recent town hall meetings across the country is proof that citizens are paying attention to what Congress does on the issue.

“I think it’s having an impact from the standpoint of, ‘hey, people are watching,’” Kasich said. “I don’t think they mind reform, but don’t take everything away.”

Asked about recent intelligence leaks, a topic on which President Trump has been vocal, Kasich said leaks from the House and Senate Intelligence Committees are “not acceptable.”

“When people take an oath to be secret in the Intelligence Committee, which is the committee that doesn’t get any publicity, thank goodness -- but it’s the committee that’s at the root of the security of our country,” he said. “When people leak there, they need to really be held accountable... leaks are not acceptable out of the Intelligence Committee.”

Kasich, who met Mr. Trump on Friday, said he was pleased that the president “responded very positively to a number of the ideas” he presented. Kasich said he wants Mr. Trump to succeed, despite his past criticism of the president.

“I’m on a plane and he’s the pilot and, you know, the fact is I want the pilot to be successful,” he said. “But you know what, every once in a while -- I was thinking about this last night, you need to yell into the cockpit.”

“My job is when you do a good job, praise you,” Kasich continued, “and when do something I don’t agree with -- and I feel compelled, I’m going to speak out.”



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-cia-director-john-brennan-trump-travel-ban-wont-help-significant-way/

Ex-CIA Director John Brennan says Trump travel ban won't "help in any significant way"
By EMILY SCHULTHEIS CBS NEWS
February 26, 2017, 12:00 PM

With President Donald Trump expected to release his revised travel ban this week, former CIA Director John Brennan said Sunday that he doesn’t believe it will make the country significantly safer.

“I don’t think the travel ban is going to help in any significant way,” Brennan told CBS’ “Face the Nation” in his first media interview since leaving the CIA.

Referring to the Department of Homeland Security’s report released last week, which found that citizens of the seven countries included in the travel ban are “rarely implicated” in U.S.-based terrorism, Brennan said the White House needs to consider more than just a person’s country of origin when crafting plans to prevent terrorists from entering the U.S.

“I do think that report puts its finger on it by saying that citizenship is not the indicator of a potential terrorist action,” he said, adding that “the vetting process that needs to go on has to take into account multiple factors, not just countries of origin or where they may be departing from.”

Brennan said there are also downsides to the travel ban, including what it signals to the rest of the world.

“It sends a very bad message to individuals that are being singled out because of their nationality,” he said, adding that it gives a “clear impression” that the Trump administration is placing its focus on Muslims.

Asked about reports that White House chief of staff Reince Priebus asked FBI Director James Comey to publicly dispute reports about Trump campaign staffers’ contact with Russia, Brennan said such requests were “verboten” in previous administrations.

Fmr. CIA Director says new head of NSA, Gen. McMaster has a "stellar reputation"
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Fmr. CIA Director says new head of NSA, Gen. McMaster has a "stellar reputation"

“The White House needs to understand that the interaction with the FBI on criminal investigations is something that really they need to steer clear of,” he said, both because of the “impropriety of doing it, but also the appearance... that there might be some unwarranted interference.”

In his work across previous administrations, both Republican and Democratic, Brennan said no one ever made such a request of him in his capacity as CIA director.

“I never did that on behalf of the White House request,” he said. “And the White House never made a request of me in that regard.”

President Trump has dismissed as “fake news” the reports suggesting his top aids asked the FBI to dispute the Russian contacts, without addressing the allegations specifically.

With regard to recent intelligence leaks, Brennan said it’s important to differentiate between classified and unclassified leaks -- and that classified leaks are “appalling and they need to be investigated, they need to stop.”

Still, he said it’s “premature to be pointing fingers at anybody” for recent leaks, noting that many people had access to the information in question -- including the leaks about ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s contact with Russia.

“I do think it’s important to be able to stop those leaks, but the information could be coming from any number of quarters whether it be the intelligence community, White House, Congress,” he said.

Brennan said this interview was his first time speaking with the media -- on or off the record -- since he left the CIA, and that he is not responsible for any of the recent intelligence leaks.

“Anybody who thinks I’m responsible for that is dead wrong,” he said.

He also offered praise for incoming National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, saying he has a “stellar” reputation in the national security community.

“General McMaster has a stellar reputation not just as a military officer and leader but also as a very, very thoughtful national security specialist,” he said.

Brennan added that McMaster’s suggestion that the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism” is not helpful -- despite it being a favorite phrase of Mr. Trump -- gives him hope in McMaster’s ability to have a positive influence on the president.

McMaster’s position on the issue, “gives me even greater confidence that he is going to do what he needs to do as national security adviser and hopefully be able to sway the thoughts and ideas and inclinations of some of the individuals who work with him in the White House complex.”



REPUBLICANS TEND TO THINK THAT ANYTHING THAT DOES NOT FURTHER THE ENRICHING OF BIG BUSINESS AND BILLIONAIRES TO BE “UNNECESSARY.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-signs-executive-order-targeting-regulations-that-are-deemed-unnecessary/

Trump signs executive order targeting regulations that are deemed unnecessary
By REBECCA SHABAD CBS NEWS
February 24, 2017, 3:08 PM

Photograph -- U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded by business leaders as he delivers remarks before signing an executive order on regulatory reform at his desk in the Oval Office at the White House, U.S. February 24, 2017. REUTERS/JONATHAN ERNST

President Trump on Friday signed an executive order that calls on all executive agencies to evaluate federal regulations and identify any that are unnecessary, according to the White House pool report.

“Excessive regulations are killing jobs, driving companies out of our country like never before,’’ Mr. Trump said with a dozen or more CEOs standing behind him in the Oval Office.

“Today, this executive order directs each agency to establish a regulatory reform task force. It will ensure that every agency has a team of dedicated people to research all regulations that are unnecessary, burdensome and harmful to the economy, and harmful to the creation of jobs and business.’’

The language of the order is not yet posted on the White House’s website.

“Every regulation should have to pass a simple test: Does it make life better or safer for American workers or consumers. If the answer is “no,’ we will be getting rid of it and getting rid of it quickly.’’

Mr. Trump added that his administration is working on rolling back the regulatory burden on business owners, factory workers and coal miners.

The executive order comes after the president’s speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday morning in which he discussed how he’s executing on his campaign promises, including getting rid of regulations that he said are crushing the economy and jobs.

“We are going to put the regulations industry out of business,” he said.



MOST OF US WHO DON’T WANT PIPELINES ARE AFRAID OF LEAKS, SO WHAT LOGIC IS THERE TO SHOOTING HOLES IN IT?? HOPEFULLY ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS WON’T BE PLANNING SABOTAGE THAT IS DANGEROUS TO THE EARTH AND THE PEOPLE ON IT. THE WAY THIS MAN IS DESCRIBED, HOWEVER, HE SEEMS TO BE DERANGED, SO I SHOULDN’T EXPECT LOGIC.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-shoot-man-citrus-county-florida-seen-shooting-natural-gas-pipeline/

CBS NEWS February 26, 2017, 1:34 PM
Police kill man reportedly seen shooting at gas pipeline

Photograph -- Deputies at the scene of a crash on U.S. Highway 41, south of Floral Park Drive, Floral City, after which the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office says a male suspect was fatally shot by officers, Feb. 26, 2017. CITRUS COUNTY SHERIFF

Police in Citrus County, Florida said Sunday that a man reportedly seen shooting at a natural gas pipeline had been fatally shot by officers after a vehicle chase.

Citrus County Sheriff Mike Prendergast was quoted in a statement on his office’s Facebook page as saying no police were injured. He said officers from Citrus County, Marion County and the Florida Highway Patrol were involved. The chase began in Marion County and ended with a “crash” near Floral City in Citrus County, according to the statement.

“This is where the suspect engaged the deputies and was subsequently shot and killed,” it said.

“We know that the suspect was armed and extremely dangerous, and pending the examination of the evidence at the scene, we will be able to determine what other weapons he had in his possession at the time of the shooting,” Prendergast was quoted as saying.

The sheriff’s office did not identify the slain man, pending notification of his next of kin, nor the officers involved in the shooting, who were to be “placed on administrative leave while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement actively investigates this incident.”

The initial call to police came into Marion County, where, according to the statement, witnesses said a man was shooting at the Sabal Pipeline natural gas pipeline and associated equipment, with what they believed to be a “high power rifle.”



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-announces-he-wont-attend-annual-white-house-correspondents-dinner/

Trump announces he won't attend annual White House correspondents' dinner
By REBECCA SHABAD CBS NEWS
February 25, 2017, 5:24 PM

President Trump announced on Twitter Saturday that he doesn’t plan to attend the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at the end of April.

Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!
4:53 PM - 25 Feb 2017
21,922 21,922 Retweets 102,736 102,736 likes

Despite his decision, the dinner will go on without him, according to Jeff Mason, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association.

“The White House Correspondents’ Association looks forward to having its annual dinner on April 29. The WHCA takes note of President Donald Trump’s announcement on Twitter that he does not plan to attend the dinner, which has been and will continue to be a celebration of the First Amendment and the important role played by an independent news media in a healthy republic. We look forward to shining a spotlight at the dinner on some of the best political journalism of the past year and recognizing the promising students who represent the next generation of our profession,” Mason said in a statement.

The president’s move comes after the White House barred journalists from a slew of top news organizations Friday from attending an off-camera briefing with press secretary Sean Spicer.

Earlier in the day Friday, Mr. Trump delivered a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where he bashed what he called “the dishonest press” and said that “fake news” is “the enemy of the people.”

“They have no sources, they just make it up,” Mr. Trump said, adding that he’s “not against” the media or the press and that he doesn’t mind bad stories about him.

“The fake news doesn’t tell the truth,” he said. “It doesn’t represent the people. It never will represent the people. We’re going to do something about it.”

Mr. Trump’s announcement also comes after reports that Bloomberg had decided to not host an afterparty event after the dinner this year and CNN was reportedly debating whether to attend the dinner.

The correspondents’ dinner began in 1920 and has usually included an appearance each year from the sitting president, including President Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The first president to attend the dinner was Calvin Coolidge in 1924.



BERNIE AND THE QUEEN (SEPARATELY)


BERNIE’S NOT EASILY FOOLED

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/26/politics/sanders-dnc-election/
Sanders: Not 'impressed' with DNC election process
Eric Bradner
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 5:30 PM ET, Sun February 26, 2017

(CNN)Bernie Sanders said on "State of the Union" Sunday that he doesn't believe his candidate for Democratic National Committee chairman, Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, was defeated Saturday because the election was rigged, but the system could use some retooling.

The Vermont senator was responding to a question from CNN's Jake Tapper about whether President Donald Trump had a point when he tweeted early Sunday: "Bernie's guy, like Bernie himself, never had a chance."

Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who has just been named Chairman of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party!
5:02 PM - 25 Feb 2017
25,928 25,928 Retweets 108,657 108,657 likes

"No, he doesn't have a point," Sanders said, before offering a criticism of an election process that put the party leadership decision in the hands of the mere 447 voting members of the DNC. "That's what the system is -- and one of the things [new DNC Chairman Tom Perez] is going to have to change is to figure out how we elect national Democratic leaders. I'm not quite impressed with the process that exists."

The race for DNC chair had come to be seen as a proxy war between Sanders' progressive wing of the party and the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton centrist supporters, who backed Perez.

Perez wins DNC chairmanship

Sanders also implied in response to Tapper's questioning that he would not give the DNC his presidential campaign's massive email list, which shattered previous records by raising $218 million online from 2.8 million donors.

The list will be used "to transform the Democratic Party into a party that stands for working families," he said, implying that he wants his new group, Our Revolution, to decide which candidates will get access to that list and reap its benefits.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-just-shut-down-trump-in-the-most-hilarious-way_us_58b1c462e4b060480e0879c5

Bernie Sanders Just Shut Down Trump With A Brutal Reality Check
By Nina Golgowski
POLITICS 02/25/2017 02:52 pm ET

If President Donald Trump is in need of an ego boost on Saturday, Twitter may not be the place to find it.

The president was slapped with a scalding reality check, compliments of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), after suggesting his supporters have their own rally.

“It would be the biggest of them all!” Trump proclaimed on Twitter Saturday.

Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Maybe the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN should have their own rally. It would be the biggest of them all!
7:25 AM - 25 Feb 2017
32,139 32,139 Retweets 142,160 142,160 likes
Exciting idea, except that Trump had a rally just last month, for Inauguration Day, as Sanders reminded him.

“They did. It wasn’t,” Sanders smartly snapped.

View image on TwitterView image on Twitter
Follow
Bernie Sanders ✔ @SenSanders
.@realDonaldTrump They did. It wasn't.
8:56 AM - 25 Feb 2017
197,920 197,920 Retweets 491,889 491,889 likes

Sanders, backing up his pointed statement, shared side-by-side photos showing Trump’s patchy inauguration crowd compared with what appears to be the Women’s March on Washington, which took place a day later.

Crowd-counting experts have said the women’s march drew three times more people than Trump’s swearing-in.

Adding some sizzle to Sanders’ burn, Trump’s tweet got 83,000 likes and 19,000 retweets as of Saturday afternoon, which may seem “yuge,” but not compared with Sanders, whose tweet earned 152,000 likes and 61,000 retweets.

Ouch.

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https://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/democrats-must-overhaul-party-and-attack-big-business-bernie-sanders/

Democrats must overhaul party and attack big business: Bernie Sanders
REUTERS
26 FEB 2017 AT 14:56 ET

Bernie Sanders on The View (Photo: Screen capture)

Former U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Sunday urged a major overhaul of his party, calling for more aggressive efforts to court working-class voters and fight big businesses from Wall Street to the pharmaceutical sector.

Sanders, who spoke a day after Democrats chose Tom Perez, a veteran of former President Barack Obama’s administration, as their new party chairman, said it was also crucial for progressives to do more to mobilize grassroots supporters to take on Republican President Donald Trump.

“We need a total transformation,” the 75-year-old U.S. senator from Vermont said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“We need to open up the party to working people, to young people and make it crystal clear that the Democratic Party is going to take on Wall Street, it’s going to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry, it’s going to take on corporate America that is shutting down plants in this country and moving our jobs abroad,” he added.

Democrats are struggling to recover from an electoral rout in November in which they lost not only the White House, but both chambers of the U.S. Congress. Republicans won the governor’s office in 33 states, up from 31, and increased their dominance in state legislatures.

The unexpectedly strong challenge from Sanders, a Democratic socialist, to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary laid bare the fissures within the party.

Sanders’ calls to rein in big businesses echoed a campaign theme that energized his supporters during the Democratic primary.

Sanders had backed U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, a liberal from Minnesota, to lead the Democrats but threw his support behind Perez after Saturday’s vote. Perez promptly made Ellison his deputy after the election.

Trump seized on the result to reprise a favorite phrase from the presidential campaign, calling the race for Democratic National Committee chairman “totally rigged.”

“Bernie’s guy, like Bernie himself, never had a chance. Clinton demanded Perez!” he said in a Twitter post on Sunday.

Perez, who was labor secretary under Obama, promised to rebuild the Democratic Party and redefine its mission from the grassroots up.

“That’s what we have to do as Democrats, help elect people in statehouses, presidency, local government and everywhere in between,” Perez said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Democrats did not invest enough in their party infrastructure and grassroots organizing and ignored large swathes of rural America, Perez said in a round of television appearances.

Trump swept those areas and the Rust Belt region in the Midwest with his talk of bringing jobs back to America and renegotiating the trade deals many blamed for their loss.

Perez cited the angry town halls some Republican lawmakers have faced recently and said it was important for Democrats to harness that energy into the ballot booth.

(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Caren Bohan)



QUEEN ELIZABETH NEWS TODAY

http://royalcentral.co.uk/uk/thequeen/queen-elizabeth-ii-appoints-first-woman-in-history-to-head-scotland-yard-76981
BRITISH ROYALS 24TH FEBRUARY 2017 Queen Elizabeth II appoints first woman in history to head Scotland Yard
Laura McCallen LAURA MCCALLEN
CHIEF REPORTER

Photograph – The Queen waving to crowd, POLIZEIBERLIN - SARILING GAWA (OWN WORK) CC BY-SA 4.0

On Wednesday, 22nd February 2017, Cressida Dick was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II as the first woman in its 187-year history to head London’s Metropolitan Police Service as Commissioner. The appointment followed a recommendation by British Home Secretary, Amber Rudd.

Also known as Scotland Yard and the Met, the Metropolitan Police Service is the largest police force in the United Kingdom with approximately 43,000 employees.

The current head of the Met – Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe – is due to retire next year, when the post will be taken up by Dick, who is currently a director general at the Foreign Office. Commissioner Hogan-Howard publicly shared congratulations with his replacement via the Metropolitan Police Twitter feed where he said: ‘My warmest congratulations to Cressida Dick. She’s achieved an incredible amount & deserves the post – a very talented person.’

Formerly an assistant commissioner of the force Dick said she was ‘thrilled and humbled’ to have been chosen for the role and that ‘this is a great responsibility and an amazing opportunity.’

In a statement, British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said that ‘Cressida Dick is an exceptional leader, and has a clear vision for the future of the Metropolitan Police and an understanding of the diverse range of communities it serves…she now takes on one of the most demanding, high-profile and important jobs in U.K. policing, against the backdrop of a heightened terror alert and evolving threats from fraud and cyber crime.’

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan – whose opinion on the appointment was also sought by Rudd – said in a post on Twitter: ‘On behalf of all Londoners, I warmly welcome Cressida to the role and I very much look forward to working with her to keep our capital safe and protected.’

Dick first joined the Met in 1983 and then went on to join Thames Valley Police in southeastern England. She returned to the Met in 2001 in the role of commander and has since held a number of senior roles including assistant commissioner responsible for fighting terrorism, assistant commissioner for specialist crime and deputy commissioner.


ACCORDING TO HIS BIOGRAPHY BELOW, BACHCHAN IS DEDICATED TO INCLUSIVENESS AND FREEDOM OF WORSHIP IN INDIA. HIS BRIEF LEGISLATIVE CAREER WAS AS A MEMBER OF A CENTER LEFT PARTY, BUT HE WAS DISAPPOINTED IN HIS ABILITY TO PERFORM ALL HIS PROMISES, AND RESIGNED. HIS NAME WAS MENTIONED A POLITICAL SCANDAL, BUT HE WAS CLEARED OF ANY WRONGDOING. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE IN HIS BIOGRAPHY OF ANY MALICE TOWARD THE UK OR THE QUEEN. I SUPPOSE, SOMETIMES, PEOPLE REALLY DO HAVE PRIOR PLANS. SEE BELOW:


Amitabh Bachchan says no to rare invitation from Queen Elizabeth II
Amitabh Bachchan has turned down an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to the Buckingham Palace.
IANS | Edited by Ananya Bhattacharya
New Delhi, February 24, 2017 | UPDATED 17:45 IST

Amitabh Bachchan has turned down an invitation from the Buckingham Palace

Amitabh Bachchan will not be able to attend the reception of UK-India Year of Culture, a "rare invitation", which was sent to the megastar by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Amitabh was invited by the royals for a special reception to launch the UK-India Year of Culture later this month.

His publicist said in a statement, "Yes, Mr Bachchan has been given a rare invitation by Queen Elizabeth and Buckingham Palace to grace the UK-India Year Of Culture reception, but unfortunately due to prior commitments, he will be unable to attend."

Currently, the actor is gearing up for the launch of Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar 3 trailer, scheduled for the first week of March.

His upcoming projects include Ayan Mukerji's tentatively-titled film Dragon that will see him alongside Ranbir Kapoor, Kabir Khan's production Thugs Of Hindostan where he is working with Aamir Khan and Aankhen 2, that will see him working with Arjun Rampal and Anil Kapoor.


Amitabh Bachchan

http://hollowverse.com/amitabh-bachchan/
The Hollowverse
The religions and political views of the influentials.

Amitabh Bachchan was born and raised in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Bachchan has been described as “one of the most secular human beings in the Indian film industry.”1 But that statement does not mean what us anglophiles might think: a lack of religion. Rather it refers to his dedication to religious and social tolerance.

And in fact, Bachchan is quite spiritual, but not in a traditional way. Although most sites list his religion as Hindu,2 it seems as though he throws some other faiths into the mix.

On his blog he described a morning in which he visited two Mosques and two Hindu temples. He went on to describe the portraits of the Sikh Guru Nanak that line the walls of the temple in his house. He then he meditated on the grand benefit of religion–all religion:

“But here it is the supreme power, one that beckons without calling, dictates without telling, listens without letting us know that it hears. When you look at the edicts that they prepared for us – the Ramayan, the Geeta, the Bible, the Quran, the Granth Saheb Ji, you wonder at these feats of godliness. . . . It is the marvel of their existence, it is the marvel of their thought and belief that subjects us into awe and reverence.3”

And when he received a threat on his cell phone about his inclusive religious practices, Bachchan shot back an angry and defiant reply saying he “abhorred the existence of such elements in society” that would criticize religious freedom and tolerance.4

Politics of Unity

Bachchan’s involvement in politics was brief and intense. He was handily elected to the Parliament in the 1980s through the Nationalist Congress Party, a center-left political party emphasizing secularism, federalism, and social justice among other things. But the political life didn’t suit him too well; he resigned after only a few years.5

Many point to his alleged involvement in the Bofors Corruption Scandal, of which he was later cleared of all charges, as the reason for his resignation, but on his blog he claims it was with respect to his Bollywood devotees that he quit. After a fan told him that he was being criticized by fellow partisans for supporting the actor even though he belonged to a different political party, Bachchan decided he couldn’t continue on his political path:

“I felt for 25 years I had tried to woo my audience to love me as an artist as an actor. And once I had accomplished that I was now telling them to love my politics as well. . . . It was wrong. I was wrong. . . . My reticence from politics is ruled and governed by that incident and it is the reason why I shall never ever go in that domain again.6”

These days Bachchan prefers to preach unity and encourage Indians to overcome divisions of race, caste, and religion.7 Sounds like a good plan to me.