April 21, 2017
News and Views
THE MEDIA DID IT AGAIN TO MR. TRUMP!
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tweets-about-ridiculous-first-100-days-marker/
By REBECCA SHABAD CBS NEWS April 21, 2017, 8:00 AM
Trump calls 100-day assessment "ridiculous"
President Trump on Friday tweeted about the first 100-day marker for presidential administrations, which he will hit on April 29.
Mr. Trump called the idea of the first 100 days “ridiculous,” but then emphasized that he has accomplished “a lot” during this period so far. He seemed to name the Supreme Court as one major achievement, with the confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the bench.
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Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
No matter how much I accomplish during the ridiculous standard of the first 100 days, & it has been a lot (including S.C.), media will kill!
6:50 AM - 21 Apr 2017
9,133 9,133 Retweets 43,459 43,459 likes
On Fox News, Mr. Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway spoke about his first 100 days.
“I think the president deserves an A for his ability to tackle all the issues and to tackle complex problems and to see what he has inherited here domestically and internationally. And look, we’re making progress on things that don’t change overnight. He’ll be here for eight years.”
The coming days will be critical for the Trump administration. There is chatter, for example, about Republicans reviving the legislation in the House to repeal and replace Obamacare next week. Last month, House GOP leaders failed to secure enough votes to pass the measure and cancelled floor votes for it for two consecutive days.
Congress also must pass a new spending package by next Friday night, or the government will shut down next Saturday, which happens to be Mr. Trump’s 100th day in office. The White House is pushing lawmakers to include funding for construction of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, increased defense spending and $18 billion worth of non-defense cuts.
In October 2016, he tweeted the details of his “100 Day Plan” which included tax reform, repealing and replacing Obamacare, ending illegal immigration, fixing Social Security, cleaning up corruption in Washington, and a slew of other proposed laws.
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Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
My '100 DAY PLAN' will Make America Great Again, but only if we WIN. Donate BIG today! http://bit.ly/2eCNDZX
8:05 PM - 25 Oct 2016
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IMAGE: TRUMP’S 100 DAY PLAN (GO TO WEBSITE)
CBS News’ Jillian Hughes contributed to this report.
http://www.nbcnews.com/card/former-acting-ag-sally-yates-testify-publicly-russia-probe-n749481
Former Acting AG Sally Yates to Testify Publicly in House Russia Probe
by KEN DILANIAN
APR 21 2017, 2:17 PM ET
Former acting attorney general Sally Yates, who is said to have told the White House that then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was vulnerable to blackmail, has been invited to testify publicly before Congress.
The Republican and Democrat leading the House Intelligence Committee probe of Russian election interference announced Friday they are seeking to schedule public testimony sometime after May 2 by Yates, as well as former CIA Director John Brennan and James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence.
All three former officials have insights into what the U.S. intelligence community knows about alleged contacts between Trump associates and Russians. Whether they can discuss any of that in public is another matter.
Shortly after Trump took office in January, Yates informed the White House she believed Flynn had misled senior administration officials about his communications with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., and warned that Flynn was potentially vulnerable to Russian blackmail, current and former U.S. officials told the Washington Post.
Yates was later fired by Trump after she refused to enforce his travel ban directed at Muslim majority countries.
Flynn was ousted after it became clear he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about whether he discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador.
http://www.today.com/food/school-stamped-kids-lunch-money-when-account-was-low-t110073
After backlash, school stops stamping 'lunch money' on kids with low funds
Apr. 6, 2017 at 11:51 AMTracy Saelinger
TODAY
After a child was sent home with "lunch money" stamped on his arm last week — and a photo of it went viral — an Arizona school has ended the practice of stamping reminders on kids when lunch-money accounts run low.
A second grader at Desert Cove Elementary School in Phoenix came home embarrassed and crying after the incident last Thursday, as BuzzFeed initially reported. His mother Tara Chavez said she was surprised about the stamp, as she usually gets a paper slip in his folder when his account runs low. He did receive lunch, and he even still had 75 cents left on his account, she told the website.
'School lunch shaming' is now against the law in New Mexico -- PLAY VIDEO - 2:29
A spokesperson for the Paradise Valley Unified School District told TODAY in an email the "lunch money" stamp had previously been used at the school, but was discontinued long ago. "Unfortunately, the new administrator was unaware that the practice had been discontinued, and decided to give students a choice between a letter and a reminder stamp," the spokesperson said.
1 Apr
TECHNOprah @juanyfbaby
TECHNOprah @juanyfbaby
This is the stamp. On his wrist. pic.twitter.com/I0OCK8VeBa
8:23 AM - 1 Apr 2017
View image on Twitter
753 753 Retweets 1,007 1,007 likes
RELATED: High school journalists' scoop led to principal's resignation
Going forward, Desert Cove Elementary School will send a letter home notifying parents of low lunch balances and discontinue use of the stamp as an option, they said.
"It’s important to know that using a 'lunch money' stamp is not a district policy at PVSchools," the spokesperson added. "It was never the intention of Desert Cove Elementary School administration and staff to embarrass any student by using the stamp."
THIS STORY REALLY IMPRESSES ME. HIGH SCHOOLS SHOULD ENCOURAGE AND ENABLE STUDENTS TO PURSUE GOALS LIKE THIS ONE.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/us/high-school-journalists-principal-quits.html?_r=0
High School Journalists Land a Scoop, and the Principal Resigns
By CHRISTOPHER MELE APRIL 5, 2017
Photograph -- Gina Mathew, Kali Poenitske, Maddie Baden, Trina Paul, Connor Balthazor and Patrick Sullivan at Pittsburg High School in Pittsburg, Kan. Credit Emily Smith/Pittsburg High School
Four days after students at a high school newspaper in Kansas published an article that questioned the credentials of a recently hired principal, she resigned.
The episode, which unfolded at Pittsburg High School in Pittsburg, Kan., about 125 miles south of Kansas City, garnered news coverage and won praise from journalism organizations for investigative reporting by student journalists.
The story began to germinate on March 6, when the Pittsburg Community Schools announced it had hired Amy Robertson as the high school principal.
In a statement, it said her “diverse and extensive experience impressed district staff and leadership and repeatedly propelled her to the top” of the list of candidates. She had “decades of experience in education” and was the chief executive of a consulting firm that advised companies on education, the statement said.
<b>Maddie Baden, a 17-year-old junior and a staff member of the student-run newspaper The Booster Redux, set out to write a profile. Emily Smith, a teacher and adviser to The Redux, said on Wednesday that she had not expected the reporting to lead to questions about Ms. Robertston’s credentials.
“We’re Midwesterners,” she said. “As soon as somebody puts something on paper, we think they’re honest about what they’re saying.”
But in multiple interviews over several days, Ms. Robertson provided details of her background that did not hold up, Ms. Smith said.
Then Ms. Robertson became increasingly evasive.
“She was asked direct questions,” Ms. Smith said. “She couldn’t give direct answers.”
Ms. Smith coached the students to press for clearer responses, pushing them to be more assertive with an adult in authority than they were accustomed.
The students questioned the legitimacy of Corllins University, an institution where Ms. Robertson said she got her master’s and doctorate degrees. It lists no physical address on its website and has been the subject of consumer complaints and warnings about its lack of accreditation. Her profile on LinkedIn, the professional networking site, did not identify where she had earned her master’s degree and Ph.D., listing only “N/A.”
Smaller details also aroused the students’ curiosity. For instance, Ms. Robertson said she had earned a bachelor’s of fine arts degree from the University of Tulsa, but when the students checked, they learned it does not confer that kind of degree, Ms. Smith said.
The students and Ms. Smith met with the school superintendent, Destry Brown, about their concerns, and he was “supportive and open,” she said. They kept reporting and “continued to write up to five minutes before it went to print,” she said.
On Friday, The Redux, a monthly broadsheet published 10 times a year, hit the newsstands with a front-page story, headlined “District Hires New Principal” and with the subheading, “Background called into question after discrepancies arise.”
On Tuesday night, the board of education met and announced that Ms. Robertson had resigned. “In light of the issues that arose” she felt it was in the district’s best interest, a board statement said.
Ms. Robertson, who was to assume the $93,000-a-year position starting on July 1, could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.
Ms. Robertson, who lived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was the principal of the Dubai American Scientific School, and recently had her license temporarily suspended by education authorities there, The Gulf News reported. Immigration issues prevented her from getting needed permits, The News reported.
Mr. Brown praised the students for their persistence but acknowledged he felt a twinge of disappointment about how it unfolded. He said Ms. Robertson’s hiring was contingent on passing a background check and producing needed documentation. He said the details would have come out eventually, but the students’ work sped thing up.
“I believe strongly in our kids questioning things and not believing things just because an adult told them,” he said. “I have a little bit of heartburn over the whole article. I wasn’t going to stop that because I believe in that whole First Amendment thing.”
Journalism groups were also full of praise.
>Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, a journalism research and training group, said his organization has seen outstanding work from college students working with professional journalists on investigations but said that what the high school students did “really stands out.”
At a time of shrinking resources in newsrooms, students are helping to fill gaps in coverage, he said, adding, “There’s a sense that significant journalistic investigations can come from anywhere now.”
Student journalists are routinely underestimated by those in positions of authority, Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, said on Wednesday. The students consulted with him about their reporting on the article.
The article might never have appeared had it not been for the Kansas Student Publications Act, which grants students independent control over their editorial content, including material that might paint a school in an unflattering light, he said. A 1988 Supreme Court ruling gave administrators the authority to censor the content of student journalists.
Ten states, including Kansas, passed laws giving students independent control, although administrators can still remove material that is obscene, defamatory or poses a danger to the school. Similar bills are pending in nine other states, Mr. LoMonte said.
“If that same situation happened in Texas, New York or Florida, that story would not have seen the light of day,” he said.
He credited school administrators for taking a hands-off approach and letting the students pursue the reporting.
“I hope it really emboldens young people to take on substantive news stories even if they are afraid of administrative censorship,” he said. “This story proves you can make positive changes in your community through journalism.”
Susan C. Beachy and Elisa Cho contributed research.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ahead-of-earth-day-most-americans-pessimistic-about-environments-future/
CBS NEWS April 21, 2017, 7:00 AM
Ahead of Earth Day, most Americans pessimistic about environment’s future
By Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus, Kabir Khanna and Anthony Salvanto
Few Americans expect the environment to be better for the next generation, a pessimism that has lingered for over a decade in this poll. Most (57 percent) say it’ll get worse.
And while protecting the environment is important to most Americans (89 percent), many feel doing so costs money and time – which some (39 percent) say they simply don’t have.
Photograph -- view-environ-poll-0421.jpg, So it’s wealthier Americans who are more likely to report personally taking those steps.
In depth: Climate change
There’s disagreement over recent actions by the Trump administration. Fifty-one percent say it’s bad for the Trump administration to have lifted Obama-era environmental regulations, fearing that will cause more environmental harm, while 38 percent say lifting those restrictions is good, because it will make it easier for business to create jobs.
Photograph -- protecting-poll-0421.jpg, President Trump guts Obama-era climate policies
Play VIDEO -- President Trump guts Obama-era climate policies
Two-thirds of Americans rate the quality of the air and water where they live as at least somewhat clean, and almost no one feels theirs is very polluted, but few – 28 percent - call it very clean. There are differences by where people live. Americans in rural areas -- 42 percent -- are more likely to say the quality of their air and water is very clean, compared to those in urban (25 percent) and suburban areas.
Global Warming
Most Americans continue to believe that global warming exists, whatever the cause, and most believe that cause is mainly human activity. But partisanship dramatically affects these responses.
Democrats are more than twice as likely as Republicans to say human activity is the main cause; most independents also cite human activity. Republicans are more divided over whether it is that or just natural patterns.
Photograph -- gw-due-to-poll-0421.jpg, Sixty-five percent of younger Americans say it is human activity. Fewer than half of seniors (42 percent) hold that view.
Those who believe global warming is caused by human activity are more likely to say the environment will be worse for the next generation, and to think the recent rollback of regulations is a bad thing. Americans who say it’s the earth’s natural patterns are less pessimistic about the environment and support the recent lifting of environmental regulations.
This poll was conducted by telephone April 11-15, 2017 among a random sample of 1,011 adults nationwide. Data collection was conducted on behalf of CBS News by SSRS of Media, PA. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones.
The poll employed a random digit dial methodology. For the landline sample, a respondent was randomly selected from all adults in the household. For the cell sample, interviews were conducted with the person who answered the phone.
Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish using live interviewers.
The data have been weighted to reflect U.S. Census figures on demographic variables.
The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus four percentage points. The error for subgroups may be higher and is available by request. The margin of error includes the effects of standard weighting procedures which enlarge sampling error slightly.
This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
Chart: global warming is due to … (Breakdown by age groups)
Toplines - CBS News poll
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-senator-frank-artiles-resigns-over-racist-remarks/
CBS NEWS April 21, 2017, 11:28 AM
Florida senator resigns amid outcry over racist remarks
Photograph -- Senator Frank Artiles CBS MIAMI
TALLAHASSEE – An alcohol-fueled obscenity and racial slur-laced tirade have cost a Miami senator his job.
CBS Miami reports Republican Sen. Frank Artiles officially submitted his letter of resignation on Friday.
In his resignation letter Artiles wrote:
“I apologize to my family and friends and I apologize to all of my fellow Senators and lawmakers. To the people of my district and all of Miami-Dade, I am sorry I have let you down and ask for your forgiveness.
My actions and my presence in government is now a distraction to my colleagues, the legislative process, and the citizens of our great State.
I am responsible and I am accountable and effective immediately, I am resigning from the Florida State Senate.”
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Jim DeFede ✔ @DeFede
In last 48 hours it became clear to @Artiles40 closest colleagues that he could not survive racist scandal and urged him to resign @CBSMiami
11:04 AM - 21 Apr 2017
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Jim DeFede ✔ @DeFede
Initially @Artiles40 angrily refused to resign."His head's not in the right place," colleague told me. But reality finally sunk in @CBSMiami
11:07 AM - 21 Apr 2017
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Artiles was chastised for using a form of the “n-word” during an exchange with two African-American colleagues Monday night. It happened when he was out with fellow Senators Audrey Gibson from Jacksonville and Perry Thurston from Fort Lauderdale.
Gibson and Thurston said he used the “n-word” word while describing senators who supported Senate President Joe Negron’s rise to power. He also reportedly called Gibson a “bitch.”
Artiles apologized on the Senate floor on Wednesday saying his intention in using those words were benign.
“I extend a heartfelt apology to my colleagues and all those I have offended,” said Artiles. “I am sorry for the words and the tone I used with you regretfully Monday night.”
The apology was not good enough for Democrats who rallied Thursday morning at Artile’s empty district office on SW 128th Street. They called for him to resign from his position because it was “the only appropriate measure for an elected official who has deeply wounded the diverse community in his district.”
“What state senator or what elected official goes up there uses the “n-word,” calls people “bitches,” hits people at bars. He got a record of this. It ain’t like he just started this. He’s been doing this for years,” said protester Deltravis Williams.
In a second rally community leaders and residents from District 40, which Artiles represents, gathered at the Bethel Church to “share their disgust” over Artiles comments and “call for him to be held accountable for his reprehensible words and actions.”
Former state senator Dwight Bullard had that seat before Artiles. He was joined by pastors and community leaders in Richmond Heights in South West Miami-Dade.
“You called a sitting black woman in the Florida Senate the equivalent of a female dog,” said Bullard.
They vowed that if Artiles did not resign, they would prompt a recall vote.
Artiles has tried to explain his behavior as cultural, he’s said that’s the way people speak in Hialeah, where he grew up.
Republican Sen. Rene Garcia, who represents Hialeah also took offense.
“My constituents and I would agree that this language is simply unacceptable. Senator Artiles owes the residents of Hialeah an apology for unfairly associating them with this kind of behavior,” he said in a written statement.
WHAT A GOOD WAY TO PASS THE TIME. THE OLD NATURALISTS LIKE AUDUBON WEREN'T COLLEGE PROFESSORS. DATA COLLECTING THAT IS PRECISE, AND ESPECIALLY IN THIS QUANTITY, WOULD REALLY HELP SCIENCE. NOAA USES NON-PROFESSIONAL WEATHER SPOTTERS TO DO THAT SAME THING TO REPORT TORNADOES, FOR INSTANCE.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/colorado-billy-barr-climate-diarist-snow-wildlife-records/
CBS NEWS April 21, 2017, 12:23 PM
Climate diarist "wasn’t out to prove anything"
GOTHIC, Colo. -- A springtime visit to Billy Barr’s place in the Colorado Rockies is no simple journey. To avoid a three-mile cross country ski from the nearest paved road, first you need a forest service permit. Then you hitch a ride like ours, courtesy Dave Ochs and his Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association.
Ahead of Earth Day, most Americans pessimistic about environment’s future
But it’s all worth it when you discover a remote cabin deep in the woods is home to one of the world’s most valuable – and unexpected – troves of scientific data.
ctm-0421-billy-barr-cabin-colorado.jpg
Billy Barr’s cabin CBS NEWS
“So I came out late May, summer of ‘72,” Barr said. “It was such a mental relief just to have peace and quiet in my life.”
He lived in a shack that was 8 by 10 feet, he said.
“The wind would literally blow snow through the cracks,” Barr told CBS News correspondent John Blackstone.
“You came for the solitude, but you started to get a little bored?” Blackstone asked.
“A bit of boredom, but a lot of it was just… making my own activity,” Barr said.
Since 1974, he’s taken measurements twice a day, but it wasn’t just the snow depth and when it melted. Using a hand-operated system he built himself, he also calculated how much groundwater that snow would produce when it melted.
ctm-0421-billy-barr-cabin-colorado-snow.jpg Billy Barr CBS NEWS
When that wasn’t enough to keep Barr busy, he started tracking wildlife and recorded it all by hand in a series of now-tattered notebooks.
“You’ve gotta be a little obsessive though,” Blackstone said.
“Oh yeah!” Barr responded.
In the early ‘90s, scientist David Inouye from the neighboring Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory needed data for his research on wildflowers. He had heard about Barr’s notebooks, but was shocked when he saw how comprehensive they were.
0421-ctm-climatesciencecollector-blackstone-1296872-640x360.jpg
Billy Barr CBS NEWS
“I said, ‘Billy! You know those data are really relevant to how the climate is changing, and how animals are responding to the changing climate,” Inouye said.
Barr said he had no idea his measurements would have any kind of long-term significance.
“Remember this was mid-’70s, early-mid-’70s,” Barr said. “If you asked me about climate change, I would’ve said, yeah, it got warm, I took my sweater off. I mean, it meant nothing to me!”
But now it means everything to the global scientific community, which has published his numbers in dozens of scientific papers.
“One of these days, I’ll read ‘em! Yeah,” Barr said. “I wasn’t out to prove anything. I just recorded the numbers.”
“This winter we’ve had 21 record highs, last winter 17, the winter before, 36!” Barr said at his weather station.
Like most climate scientists, Barr is concerned by what his numbers show: temperatures are rising and snow is melting earlier each year.
“It’s worrisome, obviously, it’s not a good trend,” Barr said. “Will we lose water storage? Will drought increase? Will floods and famine increase?”
But Barr leaves the answers to big questions like those to others. He’s content to do his part and head out into the wilderness, where there’s an infinite amount of data waiting to be collected.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-alex-kozinski-9th-circuit-court-of-appeals/
Judge Alex Kozinski thinks lethal drugs sugarcoat death penalty
Federal judge suggests guillotine or firing squad for death penalty, says lethal injection is just a lie to hide the brutality of capital punishment
Apr 20, 2017
Play – CBS News Video
Photograph -- Ninth Circuit Appeals Court Judge Alex Kozinski CBS NEWS
As Arkansas fights in court to execute several inmates before a key drug in its lethal injection protocol expires, a prominent federal judge says the use of such drugs in capital punishment is just a lie that masks a brutal practice. Ninth Circuit Appeals Court Judge Alex Kozinski tells Lesley Stahl the guillotine or firing squad may be more appropriate, so citizens aren’t lulled into seeing the death penalty as a humane and peaceful practice. Stahl profiles the conservative and controversial judge on the next edition of 60 Minutes Sunday, April 23 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Judge Kozinski, whose court is not involved in the Arkansas matter and was not commenting on the specific case, says lethal injections sugarcoat the truth. “The use of lethal injection is the way of lying to ourselves, to make it look like executions are peaceful, benign...like going to sleep,” he says. “And they’re not. They’re brutal things.” He proposes firing squads. “Never fails,” he tells Stahl. And the guillotine? “Well, you know, its 100 percent effective and it leaves no doubt that what we are doing is a violent thing. If we as a society are willing to take away human life, we should be willing to watch it.”
Judge Kozinski has spent over three decades ruling on appeals cases from the bench of the 9th Circuit. In February, the court famously upheld a lower court’s blocking of President Trump’s controversial travel ban. The court is scheduled to take up the matter of the revised ban next month. In their discussion, one of the issues the judges raised was the fact Mr. Trump had made numerous statements while campaigning advocating a “Muslim ban.” This would be unconstitutional. But in a dissenting opinion, Judge Kozinski wrote that reading too much motive into candidates’ every statement would “chill campaign speech.” And he tells Stahl campaign speech is at the core of the First Amendment. “We want to be sure that candidates for office are free to express their views...we don’t want them holding back... concealing their views and then disclosing them afterward,” he says.
But he does have a word of advice for the president, who’s gone after judges in the past, when he’s disagreed with them. “I think that litigants before the court should be very careful about insulting the people who make the decisions,” Kozinski advises. “It’s not going to help anything. All it’s going to do is emphasize the weakness of your position.”
WHAT CHAFFETZ SAYS – CBSNEWS, AND WHAT WIKIPEDIA SAYS: TWO ARTICLES
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rep-jason-chaffetz-says-no-scandal-would-force-him-out-early/
By REBECCA SHABAD CBS NEWS April 21, 2017, 8:46 AM
Rep. Jason Chaffetz says no scandal would force him out early
Photograph -- In this Feb. 9, 2017, file photo, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah speaks during a town hall meeting at Brighton High School in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Chaffetz, a Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, says he won’t for re-election or any other office in 2018. Chaffetz, who has been rumored as a possible candidate for Senate or governor, says that after consulting with his family and “prayerful consideration, I have decided I will not be a candidate for any office in 2018.” AP PHOTO/RICK BOWMER
Rep. Jason Chaffetz said Thursday that he might resign from Congress “in the months to come” and insists that he wouldn’t leave because of any sort of scandal.
The Utah Republican, and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, was asked by Politico if he would resign because of a yet-to-be-revealed scandal and he said, “Absolutely, positively not” and “not in any way shape or form.”
“I might depart early,” he told Politico. “It’s not tomorrow, it’s not next week. If it is, it’s going to be in the months to come.”
Chaffetz, 50, added if his opponents had “something really scandalous,” then “it would’ve come out a long, long time ago.”
The Politico interview came after KSL Newsradio’s host Doug Wright said that Chaffetz told him that he may not finish his current term.
“I will continue to weigh the options, but I might depart early,” Chaffetz said.
Chaffetz had announced on Wednesday that he won’t seek reelection to Congress in 2018. He has served in the House since 2009 and has chaired the Oversight panel since 2015.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Chaffetz
Jason Chaffetz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jason E. Chaffetz (/ˈtʃeɪfᵻts/; born March 26, 1967) is the U.S. representative for Utah's 3rd congressional district, first elected in 2008. He is a member of the Republican Party. He has been the chairman of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform since 2015.
Some of his political positions include opposition to the Affordable Care Act, same-sex marriage, the scientific consensus on climate change, and privacy[1]. He has expressed skepticism over mandatory vaccinations and pledged to hold hearings to determine their safety. He has been a vocal critic of the Obama administration's conduct in the 2012 Benghazi attack. He has also been critical of Planned Parenthood. He opposes net neutrality and has held hearings to investigate the FCC's decision to adopt net neutrality rules in 2015.
Chaffetz came to prominence in 2015 for his extensive investigations into Hillary Clinton. He rescinded his endorsement of Donald Trump in early October 2016 but expressed his intent to vote for him three weeks later. Having investigated Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration extensively, Chaffetz drew criticism after the 2016 election for not investigating certain potential financial conflicts of interest relating to President Trump. He drew criticism again in January–February 2017 for downplaying calls to investigate White House National Security Adviser Michael T. Flynn's ties to Russia after it was revealed that U.S. counterintelligence agents were investigating him for his communications with Russian officials.
On April 19, 2017 Chaffetz has announced he will not seek re-election in 2018.[2][3]
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/karim-cheurfi-had-criminal-record-carried-note-defending-isis/
CBS/AP April 21, 2017, 1:35 PM
Paris gunman had criminal record, carried note defending ISIS
The Paris prosecutor says the Champs-Elysees attacker had a note defending the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) with him when he opened fire on police officers.
Anti-terrorism prosecutor Francois Molins said during a news conference Friday that the note apparently fell out of the pocket of Karim Cheurfi, a 39-year-old with a criminal record.
Molins says the note praised ISIS and listed the addresses of security sites.
The extremist group claimed Thursday’s attack in which one police officer was killed. Cheurfi was shot and killed by officers.
Molins said Cheurfi had a long police record, notably for trying to attack police in the past. The prosecutor said Cheurfi was arrested in February, but later released for lack of evidence of a threat.
Cheurfi’s former lawyer says his client most likely had “psychological” problems that he didn’t get proper help for.
Speaking Friday on BFM-TV, lawyer Jean-Laurent Panier described Cheurfi as an “extremely isolated” individual, one who passed near unnoticed while in detention. Panier said Cheurfi never spoke about religion, adding “his only conversations were about how to fill his daily life with video games.”
U.S. authorities told CBS News that Cheurfi has not shown up in any U.S. databases of terrorists and overnight data scrubs had not revealed any links between Cheurfi and people in the U.S.
As customary, U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies are in touch with French authorities and will assist as needed.
Eye Opener: ISIS claims responsibility for deadly Paris shooting
Play VIDEO
Eye Opener: ISIS claims responsibility for deadly Paris shooting
The policeman killed on Paris’ most famous boulevard has been identified as Xavier Jugele by Flag!, a French association of LGBT police officers.
The group’s president, Mickael Bucheron, told the Associated Press the slain officer would have celebrated his 38th birthday at the beginning of May.
Jugele was among the officers who responded to the gun and bomb attack on Paris’ Bataclan concert hall in November 2015, part of a wave of assaults in the French capital that killed 130 people, he told People.com when the venue reopened a year later with a concert by Sting.
People quoted him as saying how happy he was to be at the “symbolic” reopening, “here to defend our civic values.”
“This concert’s to celebrate life. To say ‘No’ to terrorists,” it quoted Jugele as saying.
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