November 21, 2017


News and Views


NOT ONLY DOES SHAUB SAY THAT CONWAY IS IN VIOLATION, SO DOES A BUSH ETHICS EXPERT, WHO HAS ALSO CRITICIZED TRUMP IN A LAWSUIT AS A MEMBER OF CREW OVER THE EMOLUMENTS ISSUES. SEE WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE BELOW.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-ethics-chief-suggests-kellyanne-conway-may-have-violated-hatch-act/
By REBECCA SHABAD CBS NEWS November 22, 2017, 5:27 AM
Former ethics chief suggests Kellyanne Conway may have violated Hatch Act

Photograph -- Walter Shaub Jr., former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS

The former director of the Office of Government Ethics is suggesting that Kellyanne Conway, the counselor to the president, likely violated the Hatch Act by attacking Roy Moore's Democratic opponent in a TV interview.

Walter Shaub tweeted Wednesday that he has filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which he said investigates Hatch Act violations. Under the Hatch Act, federal government employees may not use their official title "while engaged in political activity."


Walter Shaub
✔
@waltshaub
I have filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which investigates Hatch Act violations. https://twitter.com/christinawilkie/status/933319442141995008 …
9:19 AM - Nov 22, 2017
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A day earlier, Shaub wondered if Conway was identified by her official White House title in a Fox News interview earlier this week and whether the special counsel's office has commented on what she said. He posted a letter from July 2016 to then-President Obama that said that Julian Castro, as secretary of Housing and Urban Development, violated the Hatch Act by "advocating for and against Presidential candidates while giving a media interview" in April of last year.

Shaub resigned as the head of the ethics office in July.

21 Nov

Kaitlan Collins
✔
@kaitlancollins
I’m told Kellyanne Conway spoke with Trump about the Alabama Senate race before she went on Fox yesterday. During that interview, she said a vote for Jones was a vote against tax reform & stopped short of endorsing Moore.

Walter Shaub
✔
@waltshaub
Was she identified by her official title while advocating against that candidate? Has OSC commented on what she did? (e.g., “violated the Hatch Act by advocating for and against . . . candidates while giving a media interview”) pic.twitter.com/qYpa0eXxFZ
12:57 PM - Nov 21, 2017
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In an interview on Fox News earlier this week, Conway attacked Moore's Democratic opponent, Doug Jones and was asked by Fox News' "Fox & Friends" whether she was saying Alabamans should vote for Moore.

"Folks, don't be fooled. He'll be a vote against tax cuts. He is weak on crime. Weak on borders. He's strong on raising your taxes. He is terrible for property owners," Conway told Fox & Friends. "And Doug Jones is a doctrinaire liberal, which is why he's not saying anything and why the media are trying to boost him."

Co-host Brian Kilmeade asked her, "So, vote Roy Moore?"

"I'm telling you, we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through," Conway responded, and she went on to say that if the media were really concerned about the allegations, then Sens. Al Franken and Bob Menendez, both Democrats, would be out of office.

The chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, Richard Painter, also tweeted that Conway violated the Hatch Act.

Richard W. Painter*
@RWPUSA
This is an official interview. She has violated the Hatch Act by using her position to take sides in a partisan election. That is a firing offense. And for her this is strike two. https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/933034252215734272 …
9:44 AM - Nov 22, 2017
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Conway came under fire in March for promoting Ivanka Trump's clothing brand in a TV interview but a White House ethics lawyer said she was cleared and said she had "acted inadvertently."

Trump's team
Trump's team
© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/donald-trumps-team/
55 Photographs


GEORGE W PAINTER*
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Painter

Richard W. Painter (born October 3, 1961) is an American lawyer and the S. Walter Richey Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He is the vice-chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).[1]

Painter was the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration from 2005–2007. Since January 2017, he has been involved in the CREW lawsuit against President Donald Trump (CREW v. Trump). The suit alleges that Trump is in violation of the U.S. Constitution's emoluments clause, due to his refusal to sell assets and put others in a blind trust.[2]


I REMEMBER THIS STORY WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT, AND THEN I DIDN’T SEE ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT IT. I WONDER IF THERE WERE DISAGREEMENTS OVER POLICY PRECIPITATING TRAUB’S LATERAL TRANSFER? I HOPE HIS SPEAKING OUT NOW WON’T MAKE HIM TRUMP’S FAVORITE SCAPEGOAT FROM NOW ON.

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/21/david-apol-acting-director-office-government-ethics-240810
Trump names acting director for Office of Government Ethics
By NEGASSI TESFAMICHAEL 07/21/2017 01:40 PM EDT Updated 07/21/2017 03:47 PM EDT

Photograph -- President Donald Trump's pick for acting director of the Office of Government Ethics has worked as the office's general counsel for more than three years. | Olivier Douliery/Getty Images

President Donald Trump designated a long-time ethics expert as acting director for the Office of Government Ethics Thursday following the resignation of former director Walter Shaub.

David Apol, who worked as the ethics office's general counsel since January 2014, will lead the White House office designed to prevent conflicts of interest, OGE said in a Friday statement.

Apol "is honored to continue his 30 years of service to the ethics community" in the new job, the statement said.

A permanent director, who would have to be confirmed by the Senate, has not been announced by the White House yet.

Shaub, who took a job as senior director at the Campaign Legal Center after he resigned, criticized Trump's decision not to nominate a long-term replacement — and he said by elevating the general counsel instead of the office's chief of staff, the president inappropriately interfered at the agency.

“It’s unfortunate that the White House decided to play politics with the interim director role," Shaub said. "If they have someone they like, they should formally nominate that person to be permanent director. This sort of political interference creates the appearance that the White House may be hoping to engineer looser oversight by reaching down and leapfrogging a career employee over his own supervisor temporarily."

Corey Goldstone, a spokesman for the Campaign Legal Center, told POLITICO in an email that an acting director can lead the office for 210 days. If the White House nominates a permanent leader, the 210-day clock starts over.



“A STARTLING INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF WEAPONS THAT STUDENTS ARE GETTING INSIDE OF SCHOOLS IN NEW YORK CITY.” QUESTION: WHAT IS BEHIND A CHANGE OF THIS NATURE? GANG ACTIVITY IN THE SCHOOL OR IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD AROUND IT? ARE THEY CARRYING WEAPONS MORE BECAUSE THEY ARE UNDER THREAT? THIS IS ODD TO ME: BOX CUTTERS ARE EXEMPTED? NOBODY FOR NORMAL REASONS CARRIES A BOX CUTTER AROUND WITH THEM; AND THEY WERE THE PRIMARY WEAPON IN THE 9/11 TERRORIST ATTACK.

THE LENGTH OF THE BLADE IS IMPORTANT, BUT A BLADE WITH A RAZORS’ EDGE LIKE THAT OF A BOXCUTTER IS QUITE DANGEROUS. BESIDES, NO KID NEEDS ONE. I THINK ALL WEAPONS -- BLADES, GUNS, BRASS KNUCKLES, ICE PICKS, A BAG FULL OF MARBLES, ETC. CAN BE HARMFUL IF USED AGAINST ANYONE. I AM TOLD THAT PROSTITUTES IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND USED THE LONG HATPIN FROM THEIR LARGE AND SHOWY HATS TO STAB PEOPLE IN SELF DEFENSE.

THE IMPORTANT THING TO ME WOULD BE WHO THE KID IS AND WHAT HIS PERSONALITY IS LIKE, WHAT HE DRESSES LIKE (GANG COLORS, FOR INSTANCE), HOW WELL HE STUDIES FOR HIS CLASSES, HOW MUCH ANGER OR TIMIDITY HE EVINCES, WHO HIS PALS ARE, WHETHER OR NOT HE IS “A LONER,” ANY SIGN OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY – CAN’T MEET ANOTHER’S EYE, FOR INSTANCE – ANY SIGN OF HIS BEING BULLIED. THIS ARTICLE SAID THE BOY “SNAPPED,” AND FORMERLY INTIMIDATED KIDS OR ADULTS MAY DO THAT. IT’S A MATTER OF HAVING JUST TOO MUCH TO TAKE, AT WHICH POINT THEY FIGHT BACK, AND POSSIBLY WITH FURY.

TEENS AND PRETEENS ARE EMOTIONALLY MORE ON EDGE THAN A HEALTHY ADULT; AND THOSE WHO SEEM TO HAVE PROBLEMS IN THEIR DAILY LIFE, SHOULD BE COUNSELED WITH AN EYE TO HELPING THEM RATHER THAN PUNISHING THEM OR, JUST AS BAD, IGNORING THEM UNTIL THEY “SNAP.” ANY KID WHO IS BEING BULLIED, FOR INSTANCE, MAY START TO CARRY A WEAPON BECAUSE HE FEELS THAT HE NEEDS ONE, AND HE IS VERY LIKELY CORRECT. WE NEED TO LOOK AT THE PROBLEMS BEFORE THE VIOLENCE STARTS. ONE BIG PROBLEM WITH MODERN SCHOOLS IS THAT THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF KIDS THERE RATHER THAN A FEW HUNDRED AS WHEN I WAS GOING THROUGH AND PEOPLE JUST GET LOST, AND WORSE, BECOME INVISIBLE. BAD THINGS CAN HAPPEN IN THAT SITUATION.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nyc-weapons-in-schools-safety/
CBS NEWS November 22, 2017, 7:47 PM
City presses NYPD for solutions after teenager killed in NYC classroom

NEW YORK -- There has been a startling increase in the number of weapons that students are getting inside of schools in New York City.

CBS New York reports the City Council is pressing NYPD officers for solutions in wake of a teenager's death inside of a classroom.

"We have seen an increase in weapons and we certainly acknowledge that," NYPD School Safety Chief Brian Conroy said at a hearing on Tuesday.

Weapons in the city's schools have always been a concern. But Conroy's testimony took on added significance after two students were stabbed, one fatally, at the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation.

Abel Cedeno allegedly stabbed 15-year-old Matthew McCree to death and critically injured 16-year-old Ariane Laboy on Sept. 27. Cedeno faces manslaughter, assault and criminal possession of a weapon charges. Defense attorneys say Cedeno snapped after years of alleged bullying.

knife.jpg
One New York City school has seen a dramatic 35 percent increase in the number of weapons seized by safety officers. CBS NEW YORK

"The ball was dropped in the case of the Wildlife Conservation school, and I wonder if the ball is being dropped elsewhere," Bronx City Councilman James Vacca said.

Metal detectors were wheeled into the school the day after the stabbings occurred.

Conroy was forced to admit that this school year has seen a dramatic 35 percent increase in the number of weapons seized by safety officers – 746 from July 1 to Nov. 12, compared with 552 for the same period last year.

"We obviously take the recovery of weapons seriously," he said.

Conroy admitted that not all weapons seizures resulted in students being arrested. Box cutters, for instance, did not. He told CBS New York a student's outcome depends "on the type of knife" that is found in their possession.

Vacca said the city should be more proactive, not reactive.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


ONE MORE PERSON IS FED UP, I SEE. PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN THE KIND OF SOCIETY THAT WE HAVE BEEN BUILDING – THOUGH NOT WITH FULL SUCCESS, OF COURSE – NOT ONLY DO NOT THINK THAT WHERE TRUMP AND HIS TEAM ARE HEADING IS AN IMPROVEMENT, BUT THEY ARE HORRIFIED AND FRIGHTENED. THAT’S WHY PEOPLE SAY STRONG SOUNDING THINGS, AS THIS MAYOR DID. OH, WELL, TRUMP CAN’T SEND OUT SOME GOONS AND KILL US ALL. THERE’LL BE MORE LEFT TO CARRY ON THE STRUGGLE.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/philadelphia-mayor-says-trump-is-a-punk-and-bully-over-immigration-policies/
By KATHRYN WATSON CBS NEWS November 22, 2017, 7:01 PM
Philadelphia mayor says Trump is a "punk" and "bully" over immigration policies

Photograph -- Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney addresses reporters at a press conference on Jan. 8, 2016, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. MARK MAKELA/GETTY IMAGES

Philadelphia's Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney called President Trump a "bully" and a "punk" on Wednesday after the administration announced it is giving Haitians and other immigrants affected by natural disasters 18 months to leave the U.S.

"There's no compassion whatsoever in the White House," Kenney said during an address he gave to City Hall that Philadelphia's local NBC affiliate captured on camera. "And I'm just beside myself with sadness because our president is a bully, our president is a punk, and he just doesn't get it."

"I don't know where he was raised, but his family didn't do a good job raising that guy, I tell you the truth," Kenney continued. "And I just can't express any more deeply my disappointment with where our country is headed, and where we've been. And it's only been a year of this nonsense and chaos."

Kenney's comments came after the Trump administration announced it is allowing a Temporary Protected Status to expire, giving Haitians until July 2019 to return home. The U.S. gave the status in the wake of the Caribbean's 2010 earthquake that devastated the island, and it affects about 60,000 Haitians. The Department of Homeland Security says conditions in Haiti have improved greatly in the last seven years.

The Temporary Protected Status was set to expire in two months, but many had hoped it would be extended.

Kenney has been a frequent critic of Mr. Trump's. On a visit to Philadelphia in January, Mr. Trump said the murder rate is on the rise in the City of Brotherly Love. Kenney disputed that statement, saying that it was "false" and "an insult to the men and women of the Philadelphia police force — the very same men and women who are working long hours today to ensure his safety." In August, Kenney said the president seemed "unhinged," after Mr. Trump blamed "both sides" for the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


WATCH THIS NEWS VIDEO. THE BAD THING IS THAT THIS ISN’T FICTION.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-korean-defector-soldier-conscious-dramatic-video/
CBS NEWS November 22, 2017, 7:34 AM
Dramatic new video captures North Korean soldier's daring defection

Doctors in South Korea say a wounded North Korean soldier whose dramatic defection was caught on video is now conscious.

The United Nations released new video from several security cameras that show the daring escape.

This is the first time in a decade that a North Korean soldier has defected by crossing the heavily armed border with the South, and his escape looked like a scene right out of a Hollywood movie, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.

The extraordinary video begins with an Army Jeep racing down an empty road inside the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. North Korean soldiers, aware something is wrong, run from their checkpoints and begin to chase their fleeing comrade.

The defector's truck gets stuck and he then literally runs for his life. The other soldiers follow and open fire, shooting at him approximately 40 times. The defector was racing to cross the military demarcation line, the official boundary between the two countries inside the DMZ.

The U.N. Command said North Korea's army violated the 1953 Korean War Armistice in their pursuit of the fleeing soldier.

"The KPA violated the armistice agreement by one, firing weapons across the MDL and two, by actually crossing the MDL temporarily," U.N. Command spokesperson Chad Carroll said.

You can see the North Korean soldier briefly crosses the line and then hurries back. A heat-seeking video then shows South Korean soldiers dragging the lifeless body of the defector to safety.

He was flown by helicopter to a South Korean hospital where doctors removed at least five bullets from his body. Doctors said they also found dozens of parasites in his body, which gives a sense of how bad conditions are in North Korea. Since he woke up in the hospital, the 24-year-old soldier has been riveted by action movies and American TV shows including CSI.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



THE WHITE HOUSE DENIES CARPER'S VERSION OF EVENTS. NO SURPRISE THERE.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gary-cohn-faked-a-bad-connection-to-get-trump-off-the-phone-senator-says/
By KATHRYN WATSON CBS NEWS November 22, 2017, 12:09 PM
Gary Cohn faked a bad connection to get Trump off the phone, senator says

Photograph -- Gary Cohn, U.S. President Donald Trump's top economic adviser, steps from Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., August 30, 2017. KEVIN LAMARQUE / REUTERS

During a meeting with a Democratic senator, Chief White House economic adviser Gary Cohn recently faked a bad connection to get off the phone with President Trump, at the suggestion of Delaware Sen. Tom Carper, who told him that the group would have a more productive conversation about taxes without him.

Carper says he told Cohn they weren't going to be able to have a real discussion after Mr. Trump joined a conversation they were having on taxes, and he asked him to tell the president that he is brilliant, but he was losing the connection would have to hang up, the senator confirmed in a Wednesday interview with CNN. That's what Cohn did, Carper said.

"So you're saying Gary Cohn faked a bad connection to get the president off the phone?" CNN host John Berman asked.

"Well, I wouldn't — I don't want to throw him under the bus, but yes," Carper responded.

The White House denies Carper's version of events.

Carper said he had been talking for about 30 minutes with Cohn, White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short, and Shahira Knight, special assistant to the president for tax and retirement policy, and the around-the-table conversation was going well as the administration officials asked questions about whether there might be a way to find middle ground on tax reform with more moderate Democrats. About half an hour into that discussion, Cohn got up to take a call from the president, who was in Asia at the time. It was nice of the president to do that Carper said. But fifteen minutes later, the president was still talking, Carper said. That's when Carper suggested to Cohn that he take the phone back, tell the president he is brilliant, but politely say goodbye, citing a poor connection.

"And that's what he did and he hung up. And then we went back to having the kind of conversation that we needed to..." Carper said.

Carper said he believes they identified potential common ground and consensus among moderate Democrats.

The White House called Carper's account "completely false."

"Senator Carper's claim is completely false," said Raj Shah, Principal Deputy Press Secretary, in a statement to CBS News. "Gary Cohn took the phone off speaker and continued to speak with the president privately for several minutes before they concluded the call."

Mr. Trump has made it clear that he wants to sign a tax bill by Christmas, and the House GOP passed its version last week. The Senate expects to vote next week, and the tax bill's fate is unclear in that chamber.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



THIS CBS STORY ISN’T ANOTHER STORY ON GREED, HATRED, OR GENERAL ANGST. IT’S MORE LIKE A LOVE FEST WITH AN ISLAND AND ITS’ PEOPLE. DO WATCH THE VIDEOS. TAKE A QUICK FREE TRIP TO SCOTLAND. SO, YOU CAN TALK LIKE THE LOCALS, GO TO THE WIKIPEDIA SITE AND LISTEN TO THEIR PRONUNCIATION OF EIGG. I’VE HEARD THREE DIFFERENT ONES NOW. ONE IS VERY DEFINITELY “EGG” JUST LIKE WHAT YOU HAD FOR BREAKFAST. ANOTHER WAS “EGK” AND THEN ANOTHER “IGK.” HOWEVER IT’S PRONOUNCED, THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO BY “CAUSELESS REBEL” IS BLISSFULLY LOVELY, BOTH THE VISUALS AND THE SOUNDS.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=croK-uBYgOs
Eigg Scotland
Causeless Rebel
Published on Sep 18, 2013
Eigg Scotland
Category -- Music
License -- Standard YouTube License




https://www.cbsnews.com/news/an-island-you-have-to-see-to-believe/
60 MINUTES
An island you have to see to believe
Just off the Scottish Coast is a unique island that's one-of-a-kind and a light year from the hustle of modern life. Steve Kroft reports on the Isle of Eigg
Nov 21, 2017

The island off the Scottish Coast is unique, you could say a one-of-a-kind place. There's one grocery store. One pub. There's one taxi, that drives down a tiny one lane road. And there's one doctor, but he's only there one day a week. Welcome to the Isle of Eigg. Steve Kroft reports from the tiny island in Scotland's Inner Hebrides on the next edition of 60 Minutes, Sunday, Nov. 26, at 7:30 p.m. ET and 7:00 p.m. PT.

"You basically have to be sick on a Tuesday," says Charlie Galli, Eigg resident and the driver of its lone public conveyance -- his aging Volvo. "The doctor comes from Syke on a Tuesday and spends the day here. And that's sometimes, weather permitting. It's really rough in the wintertime."

It's only 10 miles from the Scottish coast, but a light year away from the hustle and bustle of modern life. The islanders, who number about a hundred, are different says Galli. "The people on Eigg, I'd have to say, are more evolved," he tells Kroft. "[Mainlanders] are all doing their hamster wheel thing. You get a mortgage, you get a car, you get a job…this, the next thing and they all get so involved, they forget to look about them and see what's actually going on in life you know?"

sheep-farm-ws.jpg
CBS NEWS

So what goes on on Eigg? Sheep graze. Sheep dogs work. Cows do what they want. "The cows like to go down and lie on the beach…all trail down the road," Galli says. "You cannot argue with a cow you know. It wants to do what it wants to do."

Since Johnny Jobson first saw Eigg, as a young scallop diver, the island has gotten electricity. So living there became an option for a wife and family and a chance for Jobson to live a dream. "You'll look at the scenery or you'll see a pod of dolphins come through and you just remind yourself how lucky you are," says Jobson.

Eigg's natural beauty is characterized by windswept grass, imposing cliffs and sea vistas. It's a magical place for Sarah Boden. She grew up on the island and left, only to return with her partner to run her father's sheep farm. "It's one of those places that really gets into your soul, I think. It's quite enchanting."

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigg

Eigg (/ɛɡ/; Scottish Gaelic: Eige, [ˈekʲə] (About this sound listen)) is one of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It lies to the south of the Skye and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Eigg is 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) long from north to south, and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) east to west. With an area of 12 square miles (31 km2), it is the second largest of the Small Isles after Rùm. Eigg generates virtually 100% of its electricity using renewable energy.[citation needed]