January 20, 2018


News and Views


OBAMA SINCE THE WHITE HOUSE – TWO ARTICLES

“SO OBAMA'S APPEARANCE ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL SHOULD SCARE TRUMP AND REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES ACROSS THE BOARD. IN A SEPTEMBER POLL, 52 PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS TO A POLL SAID THEY WISHED THAT OBAMA WERE STILL IN OFFICE. AN ACTIVE ROLE BY THE FORMER PRESIDENT IN THE 2018 ELECTIONS IS LIKELY TO FURTHER FIRE UP AN ALREADY ENERGIZED DEMOCRATIC BASE.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/obama-is-returning-to-politics-in-2018/ar-AAuODn5?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp
Obama Is Returning To Politics in 2018
Newsweek Sam Schwarz January 18, 2018

If President Donald Trump and the Republican Party were already worried about defending their majorities in the House and Senate come November, they will now have another major factor to contend with: Barack Obama.

Related: What Barack Obama has been up to since leaving the White House

The former president enjoyed a busy year since leaving the White House but has largely stayed under the radar. Now Obama is reportedly planning to return to the political stage in 2018, setting the stage for a prominent role in the lead up to the crucial midterm elections.

Close associates to the 44th president predict a politically active year, including campaign stops and other displays of public support. Obama will "continue to be politically active in 2018, with more endorsements and more campaigning," his spokeswoman Katie Hill told The Chicago Tribune.

The president spent part of 2017 jet-setting around the globe and making the most of some time off after eight years of non-stop scrutiny and governing, but he always maintained that he would never leave politics behind. Before leaving office, Obama vowed to remain politically relevant and work with and endorse candidates who sought to preserve his legacy and signature accomplishments.

In 2017, Obama took on President Donald Trump on multiple occasions though he seldom addressed the 45th president by name, instead saying that the Trump presidency has created "an unusual time." More specifically, Obama spoke out against Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare, advocated in favor of protections for so-called Dreamers and criticized Trump for his decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement.

While Trump has recorded record low approval ratings for a president at the end of his first year, Obama has only become more popular in retirement with a favorability rating of over 60 percent. Near the end of 2017, Obama even polled with a higher approval rating than Trump in the ruby-red state of Alabama.

So Obama's appearance on the campaign trail should scare Trump and Republican candidates across the board. In a September poll, 52 percent of respondents to a poll said they wished that Obama were still in office. An active role by the former president in the 2018 elections is likely to further fire up an already energized Democratic base.

In 2017, Obama made just a single campaign appearance, showing up in Virginia to campaign for the ultimately victorious then-candidate Ralph Northam. In 2018, he will trump that number.



http://www.newsweek.com/barack-obama-leaving-white-house-761504
What Barack Obama Has Been Up to since Leaving the White House
By Sam Schwarz On 12/28/17 at 9:29 AM

Since walking out of the White House on January 20 and handing the keys over to Donald Trump, we haven't heard a lot from former President Barack Obama. But don't take that to mean he's just been sitting around his home in Washington, D.C.

Related: What Sasha and Malia have been up to since leaving the White House

For instance, he and Michelle have earned some $60 million for their memoirs. Besides that, let's take a look at what the 44th president has been up to since leaving office:

Jet-setting Around the Globe

Obama has traveled the world since departing the White House, vacationing in no fewer than three continents and hitting at least nine different countries. The Obama tour of the world began immediately on Necker Island, an exclusive island close to the British Virgin Islands that is owned by British entrepreneur Richard Branson. It was on this trip that photos of Obama kitesurfing found their way onto the internet and were quickly turned into popular internet memes.


TERRY JAXSON👨🏾‍⚕️ @TERRY_JAXSON
America: I miss you
Obama: Read 12:07 am
6:00 PM - Feb 7, 2017

Other stops on the Obama world tour included a luxury resort in French Polynesia as well as the highlights of Italy’s Milan and Tuscany. The 44th president also went to London to meet up with good friend Prince Harry. Most recently, there was a family excursion to Indonesia, where the ex-president spent time in Bali, Central Java and Yogyakarta.

Speeches Across the World

Obama made his return to the public sphere in April at an event in his adopted hometown of Chicago, where he addressed a group of young leaders at the University of Chicago. He urged them to follow in his footsteps, seek to make changes in their communities and "help in any way prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton and to take their own crack at changing the world."

Barack Obama
Barack Obama at the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago November 1.
Jim Young/AFP/Getty Images

Perhaps the most personal speech the president has given since leaving office came in late September, when he surprised the crowd at a fundraiser for the Beau Biden foundation. The organization, named after Vice President Joe Biden's late son, who died in 2015 after battling cancer, has a stated goal of "ensuring that all children are free from the threat of abuse."

Obama has come under some fire for making a series of paid speeches since leaving office, giving nine in 2017. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016, called it "distasteful" that Obama made paid speeches to Wall Street companies.

Not Out of Politics and Public Service

The first major announcement Obama made after leaving office came in early May, when he unveiled preliminary plans for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, which will consist of three buildings in Jackson Park. The plans called for a museum; a forum building with a restaurant, auditorium and public garden; and a library. The library will not actually hold Obama's physical records, as he plans to make his presidential library the first to digitize all records.

Since his exit from the spotlight, Obama has been unable to fully detach himself from the political fray. He has been involved with the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, focusing on winning back state legislatures across the country in order to control redistricting processes that will take place across the country following the 2020 elections. Obama's official entrance into that effort came in early July when he hosted a private fundraiser for the organization in Washington, D.C.

Lastly, Obama found his way back to the campaign trail in late October when he made a stop in Virginia to stump for Ralph Northam, who went on to win November's gubernatorial election.



IT’S SO DIFFICULT FOR OUR LEADERS TO BE PERFECT, AS WE DEMAND. NONETHELESS, THE POPE COULD FIND HIMSELF ACCUSED OF THIS SAME UBIQUITOUS CRIME. MOST PEOPLE NOWADAYS BELIEVE THAT IT’S A TRULY WIDESPREAD PROBLEM IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, WHEREAS UNTIL THE LAST 20 YEARS OR SO PRIESTS WERE CONSIDERED ALMOST INVIOLABLE, WHICH IS CERTAINLY NOT TRUE EITHER -- AND IN MY VIEW, IS DAMAGING TO THE PARISHONERS AT LEAST AS MUCH AS APPEARING TAINTED. HAVING RIGID STANDARDS OF HUMAN VIRTUE IS HARMFUL TO THE SELF-IMAGE OF THOSE WHO ARE WELL AWARE THAT CERTAINLY THEY ARE FALLIBLE. THERE WERE AT LEAST FOUR PROTESTANT MINISTERS THAT I CAN BRING TO MIND, WHO WERE IN THE NEWS FOR THE SAME THING INCLUDING HIGH PROFILE TELEVISION PREACHERS. IT’S EMBARRASSING AND VERY DAMAGING WHEN IT HAPPENS, BUT I THINK THE PERCENTAGE OF CHURCH LEADERS WHO ARE IN THIS CATEGORY IS NOT A MUCH LARGER ONE COMPARED TO THE REST OF US HUMANS. THE FACT IS THAT SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION WORLDWIDE IS SHOCKINGLY COMMON, SOME OF WHICH CASES ARE CRIMINAL AND VIOLENT.

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018/01/20/cardinal-rebukes-pope-francis-over-comments-accusing-chilean-sex-abuse-survivors-of-slander.html
Cardinal rebukes Pope Francis over comments accusing Chilean sex abuse survivors of slander
Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston and the pope’s top adviser on clerical sex abuse, said Francis’ words were “a source of great pain for survivors of sexual abuse.”
By NICOLE WINFIELD The Associated Press
Sat., Jan. 20, 2018

Photograph -- Pope Francis set off a national uproar upon leaving Chile on Thursday by accusing victims of the country’s most notorious pedophile priest of having slandered another bishop, Juan Barros. The victims say Barros knew of the abuse but did nothing to stop it — a charge Barros denies. (OSSERVATORE ROMANO/HO / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

LIMA, PERU—Pope Francis’ top adviser on clerical sex abuse implicitly rebuked the pontiff over his accusations of slander against Chilean abuse victims, saying Saturday that his words were “a source of great pain for survivors of sexual abuse.”

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, said he couldn’t explain why Francis “chose the particular words he used” and that such expressions had the effect of abandoning victims and relegating them to “discredited exile.”

In an extraordinary effort at damage control, O’Malley insisted in a statement that Francis “fully recognizes the egregious failures of the church and its clergy who abused children and the devastating impact those crimes have had on survivors and their loved ones.”

Read more:
Pope Francis shocks Chile by accusing sex abuse victims of slandered
Pope Francis tells Indigenous in Peru that Amazon is the ‘heart of the church’
In Chile, Pope acknowledges pain of sex-abuse scandal among victims — and priests

Francis set off a national uproar upon leaving Chile on Thursday when he accused victims of the country’s most notorious pedophile priest of having slandered another bishop, Juan Barros. The victims say Barros knew of the abuse by the Rev. Fernando Karadima but did nothing to stop it — a charge Barros denies.

“The day they bring me proof against Bishop Barros, I’ll speak,” Francis told Chilean journalists in the northern city of Iquique. “There is not one shred of proof against him. It’s all calumny. Is that clear?”

The remarks shocked Chileans, drew immediate rebuke from victims and their advocates and once again raised the question of whether the 81-year-old Argentine Jesuit “gets it” about sex abuse.

The Karadima scandal has devastated the credibility of the Roman Catholic Church in Chile, and Francis’ comments will likely haunt it for the foreseeable future.

O’Malley’s carefully worded critique was remarkable since it is rare for a cardinal to publicly rebuke the pope in such terms. But Francis’ remarks were so potentially toxic to the Vatican’s years-long effort to turn the tide on decades of clerical sex abuse and coverup that he clearly felt he had to respond.

O’Malley headed Francis’ much-touted committee for the protection of minors until it lapsed last month after its initial three-year mandate expired. Francis has not named new members, and the committee’s future remains unclear.

“It is understandable that Pope Francis’ statements ... were a source of great pain for survivors of sexual abuse by clergy or any other perpetrator,” O’Malley said in the statement. “Words that convey the message ‘if you cannot prove your claims then you will not be believed’ abandon those who have suffered reprehensible criminal violations of their human dignity and relegate survivors to discredited exile.”

Francis’ comments were all the more problematic because Karadima’s victims were deemed so credible by the Vatican that it sentenced him to a lifetime of “penance and prayer” in 2011. A Chilean judge also found the victims to be credible, saying that while she had to drop criminal charges against Karadima because too much time had passed, proof of his crimes wasn’t lacking.

Those same victims accused Barros of witnessing the abuse. Yet Francis said he considered their accusations “all calumny” and that he wouldn’t believe them without proof.

Catholic officials for years sought to discredit victims of abuse by accusing them of slandering and attacking the church with their claims. But many in the church and the Vatican have come to reluctantly acknowledge that victims usually told the truth and that the church had wrongly sought to protect its own by demonizing and discrediting the most vulnerable of its flock.

O’Malley said he couldn’t fully address the Barros case because he didn’t know the details and wasn’t involved. But he insisted the pope “gets it” and is committed to “zero tolerance” for abuse.

“Accompanying the Holy Father at numerous meetings with survivors I have witnessed his pain of knowing the depth and breadth of the wounds inflicted on those who were abused and that the process of recovery can take a lifetime,” he said.

Karadima’s victims reported to church authorities as early as 2002 that he would kiss and fondle them in the swank Santiago parish he ran. But only when they went public with their accusations in 2010 did the Vatican launch an investigation that led to Karadima being removed from ministry.

The emeritus archbishop of Santiago subsequently apologized for having refused to believe the victims from the start.

Francis reopened the wounds of the scandal in 2015 when he named Barros, a protege of Karadima, as bishop of the southern diocese of Osorno.

His appointment outraged Chileans, badly divided the Osorno diocese and further undermined the church’s credibility in the country.



“... BUT THEN I REALIZED THAT IF YOU WAIT UNTIL YOU FEEL READY, YOU MAY NEVER TAKE ACTION.” THIS ARTICLE IS GOOD, BUT THE INTERVIEWS WITH ONE WOMAN AFTER ANOTHER ARE MORE POWERFUL. MY ADVICE IS THAT YOU SETTLE DOWN FOR 15 OR 20 MINUTES AND PAY ATTENTION TO IT ALL.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/01/20/womens-march-on-new-york-city/
Tens Of Thousands Take To The Streets For Women’s March On New York City
January 20, 2018 at 9:47 am
Filed Under: Local TV, NYC Women's March

A year after millions of people turned out for the Women’s March and took to the streets en masse to protest President Trump’s inauguration, demonstrators gathered on Saturday in cities across the United States, galvanized by their disdain for Mr. Trump and his administration’s policies.

A deluge of revelations about powerful men abusing women, leading to the #MeToo moment, has pushed activists to demand deeper social and political change. Progressive women are eager to build on the movement and translate their enthusiasm into electoral victories in this year’s midterm elections.

Here are some highlights:

• More than 120,000 protesters attended the march in New York on Saturday, according to a senior adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio, who cited the figure as the official count but did not explain the methodology behind it. Thousands also turned out in Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Rome and hundreds of other cities and towns.

• Several speakers urged women to channel their energy into helping Democrats win races in the upcoming midterm elections. A rally called “Power to the Polls,” organized by the leaders of last year’s Women’s March in Washington, will be held on Sunday in Las Vegas.

• President Trump said in a tweet that it was a “perfect day for all Women to March,” while touting “unprecedented economic success and wealth creation” under his watch.

• Read our analysis of how activists have tried to sustain the energy from last year’s marches — and the challenges they face next.

New York marchers said they felt empowered: ‘I feel like the revolution is now.’

That’s what Vanessa Medina, a 32-year-old nurse, said prompted her to participate this year, even though she didn’t march last January. Ms. Medina, of Clifton, N.J., cited the Time’s Up campaign against sexual harassment and Republicans’ attempts to defund Planned Parenthood as her reasons for protesting.

“I want equal pay,” her 11-year-old daughter, Xenaya, chimed in. “And equal rights.”

Ann Dee Allen of Wauwatosa, Wis., stood by a vendor table on 60th Street and Broadway, holding a T-shirt and a handful of buttons she had just bought for the demonstration.

“I feel differently about it this year,” said Ms. Allen, 61, who works in communications for a health care organization. “Last year, I just felt kind of angry and impassioned. This year, I feel like I’m in it for the long haul.”

Women filled Central Park West from 61st Street north as far as the eye could see. A D.J. spun songs. The wind kicked up.

Desiree Joy Frias, 24, of the Bronx, and her grandmother, Daisy Vanderhorst, wore red capes and curved white hoods — the telltale outfits of the enslaved child-bearers of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which was recently adapted for television from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian science fiction novel.

“We both watch the show,” said Ms. Frias, a law school graduate who said she belongs to an activist group called the “Handmaid Coalition.” “We’re a group of men and women that believe fiction should not become reality.”

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Karen Litzy🎤🏃‍♀️🗽
@karenlitzyNYC
Gearing up for the #womensmarch! Who else is going #womensmarchnyc #womeninPT http://ift.tt/2DrExN1

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Los Angeles women chanted, ‘¡Sí, se puede!’
In the middle of a park surrounded by gleaming downtown skyscrapers, thousands of women assembled. Some hugged strangers. Others were still coloring in their signs.

“I’m done with men feeling like they have some sort of power over women, and I’m definitely done with having a president who believes that he has the power to take things from them, to take things that are provided — like Planned Parenthood — from women, when they deserve the same sort of health care as anybody else,” said Amanda Kowalski, 28, who works in financial services.

Photo -- A group of marchers crowded into a subway car in New York. Credit Andrew Kelly/Reuters
Claudia Grubbs, a 42-year-old high school teacher, returned after marching last year, which she said spurred her into donating to organizations that support women in politics.

“Over the last year, every day when I read the news or watch the news, I’m horrified at the things that Trump and his administration are doing, and I feel like going to the march will help re-center me, refocus me and not make me feel like I don’t know what is happening to our country,” she said. “I feel like it’ll help me gain a sense of balance and a sense of purpose, and help me pursue things that I want to pursue.”

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Lupita Nyong'o
✔
@Lupita_Nyongo
#BlackPower + #TimesUp + #WomensMarch = 2018

4:50 PM - Jan 20, 2018
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Speakers urged women to run for office.
Ashley Bennett, a Democrat from Egg Harbor Township, N.J., unseated a longtime local Republican politician in her first campaign for office last November. She ran for Atlantic County freeholder against John L. Carman after he posted a meme on Facebook during last year’s march asking, “Will the women’s protest be over in time for them to cook dinner?”

Ms. Bennett told the crowd at Saturday’s march in New York that she was scared to run at first, and that she asked herself, “Am I the right person? Can I really do this? But then I realized that if you wait until you feel ready, you may never take action.”

In Washington, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, took the stage with other legislators who arrived from the Capitol. She praised the women who have already launched campaigns, many for the first time.

“They marched, and now they have run for office, and some of them have already won their office,” she said. “We want women to know their power in so many respects — by showing up not only on the day of the march, but in airports, in town halls.”

“It’s women who are holding our democracy together in these dangerous times,” added Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York. “To change the system, we need to change the players and have women at the table.”

President Trump commented on the marches.

On Twitter Saturday afternoon, the president seemed to celebrate the women’s demonstrations, even though the protests across the country had a distinct anti-Trump message.


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Beautiful weather all over our great country, a perfect day for all Women to March. Get out there now to celebrate the historic milestones and unprecedented economic success and wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months. Lowest female unemployment in 18 years!

1:51 PM - Jan 20, 2018
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According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the unemployment rate for women aged 20 and older has been falling steadily since 2012, years before Mr. Trump took office.

On Friday, Mr. Trump addressed the thousands of anti-abortion protesters gathered in Washington for the March for Life.

“We are with you all the way,” he said in remarks broadcast to the National Mall. The president, who once described himself as “very pro-choice,” has used his executive powers to curtail abortion rights.

The government shutdown became a rallying cry.

The federal government shutdown that took effect early Saturday did not dissuade marchers from taking to the streets.

One of the sticking points that led to the shutdown — disagreement over extending legal status to immigrants brought into the country illegally as children — has become a rallying cry for organizers.


Linda Sarsour
✔
@lsarsour
New chant for this weekend’s @womensmarch’s. “Whose shutdown? #TrumpShutDown.” Say it LOUD. Say it CLEAR. #CallAndResponse #PowerToThePolls

12:45 AM - Jan 20, 2018
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The pink hats came back out in Washington.

On the Metro headed to the Smithsonian, participants on their way to the Lincoln Memorial wore the symbolic pink hats that became popular during last year’s march.

Marchers in New York on Saturday. “It’s women who are holding our democracy together in these dangerous times,” said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times

Michelle Bloom, 52, a Washington teacher, held a sign as her daughter, Jenna, 14, repaired hers with duct tape. She had made it in her mother’s classroom Friday, tracing the handprints of her classmates who couldn’t make it to the march.

“It’s inspiring to see young and old coming together like this,” Michelle Bloom said. But, she added, “I thought there would be more.”

Women lined the frozen reflecting pool and slowly filled the grassy areas, but there was still space for kickball games around the Washington Monument. And people jogged and biked around the Mall, which would have been impossible a year ago, when the crowd of marchers was bigger.

The organizers of last year’s march in Washington focused their energy this year on putting together an event Sunday in Las Vegas. The event, Power to the Polls, will serve as an opening rally for a national voter registration campaign.

While the crowds in Washington were not quite as large as they were in 2017, the Mall was still teeming with people.


Brynna Quillin
@brynnaquillin
Mall is packed today for #WomensMarchDC

12:49 PM - Jan 20, 2018
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Garrett Regunberg, 32, pointed to the rallies against President Trump’s travel ban as an example of ongoing activism that has made a difference.

“There was a lot done in the first year to limit the damage that could have been done,” he said. “The resistance is alive.”

Chicago marchers were urged to ‘go to the polls and flip those seats.’
Thousands of marchers packed into downtown Chicago to listen to speakers like billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer, who has urged Democrats to make the ouster of Mr. Trump a central campaign issue this year.

With midterm elections approaching, Mr. Steyer said, “We are going to have to be organized, we are going to have to be engaged and we are going to have to go to the polls and flip those seats.”

Marchers shouted anti-Trump chants and carried signs saying, “Vote” and “Immigrants Make America Great.”

“I’m an activist and an artist and I’m here to fight for women’s equality and equality for all minorities,” said Michelle Hartney, 39, of Chicago, who said she attended the Women’s March in Washington last year.

Some activists decided to sit this one out.

Some women avoided the marches on Saturday because they felt they were too focused on electing Democrats, at the expense of other issues. They wanted the movement to be more inclusive of people of color and other marginalized groups.

Nadya Agrawal, 26, joined the big rally in Washington last year. “But it just wasn’t what I thought it would be,” she said. “It felt more like a commiseration rather than the start of a lot of work.”

Gatherings like these, she added, were no substitute for more focused activism. “I hope that the women who are at this rally are also going to the next Black Lives Matter protest, or marching on behalf of DACA,” she said.

People gathered for a Women’s March in Los Angeles on Saturday. Credit Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

Other gatherings across the country faced similar criticism on social media and in public statements. In Cincinnati, Black Lives Matter activists said on their website, the march was not welcoming to minorities and was “a poorly veiled campaign to elect more Democrats to ‘resist Trump.’” In Philadelphia, activists criticized the rally in an open letter after they learned that the police would be on patrol. (Organizers said the security was normal for a large event and marginalized groups were well represented.)

Deandra Jefferson, 24, who helped write the letter, said in a phone interview on Saturday that the march “caters mostly toward middle class, straight white women,” and was not an effective way to dismantle oppression.

“They should stop organizing these marches until they decide what they’re going to do the other 364 days of the year,” she added.

The president didn’t make it to Palm Beach — but protesters did.

The shutdown kept the president from traveling as planned to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida this weekend.

Despite his absence, several hundred protesters gathered north of the mansion, on the beach in front of Worth Avenue. Many people waved “Impeach Trump” signs.

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joe capozzi
@jcapozzipbpost
PaLm beach police estimate the crowd is about 300 right now and growing #TrumpInPalmBeach

11:55 AM - Jan 20, 2018
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Ian Cohen
@icohenb
17 women in handmaid's dresses standing in the middle of the protest crowd

11:53 AM - Jan 20, 2018
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For a Canadian politician, speaking out was empowering.

Organizers of the second Women’s March in Ottawa shifted the focus to issues directly affecting Canadian women. Many marchers wore red scarves as a gesture of support for the large number of indigenous women whose murders or disappearances have received relatively little attention from the police.

The march, which began at the Parliament buildings, was one of about three dozen across Canada.

Among those who addressed the crowd in Ottawa was Catherine McKenna, the environment minister, who has been one of the leading international voices against President Trump’s climate policies.

Late last year, Ms. McKenna confronted a reporter from a right-wing Canadian news outlet, Rebel Media, over its repeated references to her as Climate Barbie. Earlier, a Conservative member of Parliament apologized for describing her that way on Twitter.

“I realized that when I spoke out in my small case of being called Climate Barbie — when I did it I felt better, but I also saw that so many other people stood up for me and they also felt empowered,” Ms. McKenna said in an interview outside of a concert venue at the end of the march.

Although Ms. McKenna credited Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who regularly describes himself as a feminist, for encouraging women to enter politics, she said their numbers still must increase, and not just in Canada.

“I really believe that we wouldn’t have had an ambitious Paris climate agreement if we didn’t have strong women negotiators,” she said. “That’s one of the untold stories.”

In Rome, a Harvey Weinstein accuser received a hero’s welcome.

The actress and director Asia Argento, one of the first women to publicly accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, has been mostly vilified by Italian commentators. But the several hundred women who congregated in a downtown Rome piazza on Saturday morning gave her a rousing welcome.

Photo -- The Italian actress and director Asia Argento, second from left, at the Rome Resists demonstration on Saturday. Credit Filippo Monteforte/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“I’d like to see how many of you today acknowledge that you have put up with abuse, by raising your hands. And not just sexual. Abuse of power. Because we are women, because we don’t have power,” said Ms. Argento, as numerous hands timidly rose from the crowd.

The women chanted slogans in Italian and English in solidarity with a global sisterhood whose vision “is in sharp contrast with the Donalds of the world and other self-proclaimed geniuses,” said one of the keynote speakers, Loretta Bondi, of Rome’s Casa Internazionale delle Donne, or International Women’s Center.

Women also gathered in other corners of the world, including Frankfurt, Germany; Kampala, Uganda; and Osaka, Japan, where a small group chanted “Time’s up!” in English and Japanese.

Reporting was contributed by Patricia Mazzei, Jacey Fortin and Sean Piccoli in New York; Emily Cochrane in Washington; Ginger Reilly in Chicago; Angela Chen in Los Angeles; Ian Austen in Ottawa; and Elisabetta Povoledo in Rome.


ANOTHER TRUMPIAN SHELL GAME

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-plans-to-gut-drug-prevention-office-eliminate-budgetary-authority/
By JACQUELINE ALEMANY CBS NEWS January 20, 2018, 10:38 AM
Trump administration plans to gut drug prevention office, eliminate budgetary authority

President Trump is planning on gutting the White House Office of National Drug Control and Policy [ONDCP] by slashing more than $340 million from its budget, a Trump administration source confirmed to CBS News.

The cuts proposed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are part of plans to effectively dismantle the office by eliminating its grant-making capabilities. Two grants -- the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) and Drug-Free Communities (DFC) -- would be relocated to, and managed by, the Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services.

A spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget did not deny plans to slash the office, first reported by Politico on Thursday, but said the Trump administration's 2019 budget was not final.

"The president needs ONDCP to be a strong policy council to manage his drug control priorities," an OMB spokesperson told CBS News.

"The Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services are both major grant management organizations that can look holistically at allocations across law enforcement and drug prevention and treatment resources," the spokesperson added.

Trump declares opioid epidemic a public health crisis

An administration official sharply disagreed with OMB's thinking.

"It doesn't make sense to move these programs out of ONDCP," the official said. "DOJ and HHS have a bunch of competing priorities on their plates and keeping these anti-drug programs at the anti-drug agency is a no-brainer."

HIDTA serves as a catalyst for coordination among federal state and local enforcement entities and funds task forces across the country. DFC is the nation's largest drug prevention program. ONDCP, which currently administers those two grants, is charged with outlining and managing the federal government's strategy to reduce drug use -- including the opioid crisis. Former ONDCP Communications Director Rafael Lemaitre called the move to declaw ONDCP at the height of the opioid epidemic "a dereliction of duty."

"It's the only agency in government with the expertise and authority to look at the drug problem holistically and mandate action across the board," he said. "Addressing our national drug problem is complicated and requires a well-resourced team of experts who focus on this epidemic full time. Now is not the time to cut the ground out from the public servants working to save lives."

"It doesn't make sense to move thse programs out of ONDCP," DOJ and HHS have a bunch of competing priorities on their plates and keping these anti-drug programs at the anti-drug agency is a no-brainer," an administration official said.

OMB proposed similar cuts to Mr. Trump's drug office last year, outlined in a leaked memo obtained by CBS News. Funding was ultimately preserved, but the proposal cut nearly half of the office's staff along with intelligence and research functions at the agency. The idea of eliminating ONDCP's grant-making capabilities was also floated. An OMB spokesperson described the move as transitioning ONDCP into an office like the National Security Council or the National Economic Council.

"Just because the NSC doesn't issue grants doesn't mean that the White House doesn't care about national security," the spokesperson argued.

Ex-DEA agent: Opioid crisis fueled by drug industry and Congress

A former ONDCP official said that the OMB has long desired to take away ONDCP's budgetary authority because they see it under their purview.

ONDCP has been hamstrung since Mr. Trump took office as he has yet to nominate a new director, informally known as the nation's drug czar. Mr. Trump has also made some questionable staffing appointments. The Washington Post reported last week that a 24-year-old former campaign staffer was serving as the second in command at ONDCP.

Mr. Trump declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency in October, but the White House has not formally asked Congress for any additional funding towards the crisis. The emergency declaration was set to expire next week. The acting secretary of Health and Human Services renewed the emergency for another 90 days on Friday before the government shut down.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



ALPHABET SOUP FROM THE ARTICLE ABOVE

https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/grants-programs/
Office of National Drug Control Policy
Grants & Programs

ONDCP administers several grant programs to support and efficiently implement the Trump Administration’s drug policy efforts. They include:

High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program
Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program
Community-Based Coalition Enhancement Grants to Address Local Drug Crises (CARA) Program
Drug Courts Program
Model State Drug Laws Initiative
Anti-Doping Activities
National Youth Leadership Initiative

Read more about these programs below!
. . . .



NOTE: THE FOLLOWING NEW FOCUS ON AMERICAN FORCES IS COMING FROM CHINA RATHER THAN NORTH KOREA. WHAT IS GOING ON? NOTHING REALLY DANGEROUS, I HOPE – ‘FRAID IT IS, THOUGH. IT WOULDN’T BE A COMFORTABLE PLACE TO BE IN FOR OUR COUNTRY, IF NORTH KOREA, CHINA, RUSSIA AND MAYBE OTHER ASIAN POWERS AS WELL, WERE TO ALLY TOGETHER AGAINST US. I AM SAYING THIS BECAUSE NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA RECENTLY HAVE BEEN HOLDING EVENTS TOGETHER, RUSSIA HAS BEEN AGGRESSIVE, AND CHINA IS APPARENTLY PRACTICING DROPPING MUNITIONS ON A MOCKUP OF OUR MILITARY BASE IN JAPAN.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/terrorism-no-longer-the-militarys-top-priority-mattis-says/
By DAVID MARTIN CBS NEWS January 19, 2018, 6:40 PM
Terrorism no longer the military's top priority, Mattis says

WASHINGTON - There is a major change in U.S. military strategy. On Friday, more than 16 years after the 9/11 attacks, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said terrorism is no longer the No. 1 priority.

Mock ships the size of American destroyers are laid out in China's missile impact test range on the edge of the Gobi Desert. They are the mirror image of the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Japan, headquarters of the 7th Fleet. An impact crater next to one of the mock ships is close enough to have destroyed all three.

china.png
Mock ships the size of American destroyers are laid out in China's missile impact test range CBS NEWS

Pentagon officials cite analysis by a U.S. Navy officer assigned to a Washington think tank as one of many reasons why China and Russia have replaced terrorism as the primary focus of the new national defense strategy. Maintaining a military advantage over China and Russia is now Defense Secretary Mattis' top priority.

"Our competitive edge has eroded in every domain of warfare," Mattis said. "Air, land, sea, space and cyberspace, and it is continuing to erode."

Modern day Cold War in the Arctic

Modern day Cold War in the Arctic
China tops Eurasia Group's list of 2018 geopolitical risks
spending.png -- Chinese defense spending is up CBS NEWS

According to one official, China has increased its defense spending by 10 percent each year for the past 20 years in an effort to counter U.S. abilities to operate in the Western Pacific. A Pentagon report says China "has modernized its conventionally armed missile force extraordinarily rapidly," and a map lists the types of Chinese missiles in range of U.S. bases in Japan.

The targets erected in China's far west include a parked aircraft similar to an American F-22 at Kadena Air Base in southern Japan, hardened aircraft shelters like those at Misawa Air Base in northern Japan and above ground fuel tanks laid out like those at a U.S. military fuel terminal.

America's military advantage has eroded in part because it has been fighting wars for the past 16 years. But Defense Secretary Mattis said "no enemy in the field has done more to harm the readiness of the U.S. military" than the inability of Congress to agree on a budget.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/serial-stowaway-arrested-again-at-chicagos-ohare-airport/ar-AAuV8AE?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=iehp
Serial stowaway arrested again at Chicago's O'Hare airport
4 / 13
Associated Press
January 20, 2018 15 hrs ago

Photograph -- © The Associated Press DELETES AGE REFERENCE- File-This Feb. 17, 2016 file photo provided by the Chicago Police Department shows Marilyn Hartman. Hartman, who has a history of sneaking aboard

CHICAGO — A woman with a history of sneaking aboard planes slipped past security at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport this week and was flying to London when the airline realized she didn't have a ticket.

Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says Marilyn Hartman was flown back to Chicago on Thursday night and taken into custody once she arrived. She's charged with felony theft and a misdemeanor count of criminal trespassing.

Guglielmi says Hartman this week got through a federal Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at a domestic terminal without a ticket before taking a shuttle to the international terminal. A day later she boarded a British Airways flight.

The 66-year-old Hartman has attempted several times to board planes without a ticket. In 2016, she was sentenced in Chicago to six months of house arrest and placed on two years of mental health probation.



BERNIE SANDERS NEWS – PLAY NICE WITH THE DNC?

https://www.salon.com/2018/01/20/getting-past-bernie-vs-hillary-signs-of-real-hope-for-democrats/
Getting past Bernie vs. Hillary: Signs of real hope for Democrats
If Democrats can finally put their endless 2016 hangover behind them, there’s a massive opportunity just ahead
ANDREW O'HEHIR
01.20.2018•12:00 PM•0 COMMENTS

Photographs -- Hillary Clinton; Bernie Sanders
(Credit: AP/Getty/Salon)

I have encountered an unexpected and perhaps unwarranted sensation lately, with respect to the Democratic Party. I think there are signs of hope. That hope comes with a countless array of qualifications and asterisks: The political landscape is still treacherous, full of pitfalls both obvious and hidden. (I mean, look at the state of the other party, the one that actually won the last election.) No one should underestimate the Democratic capacity for self-sabotage, which is deeply rooted in the party’s recent history as a chaotic coalition of competing interests with no clear ideology or core principles.

Too many liberals still appear to believe or hope that the current administration (and everything that led up to it) can somehow be erased from history by an almost literal deus ex machina. Robert Mueller or the slumbering conscience of the Republican Party (ha ha, I know!) or the blue tsunami on the horizon or some other Jovian intervention will make the entire Trump phenomenon un-happen. Newsweek actually ran an article last week floating a spurious alternate-universe hypothesis under which Hillary Clinton could still become president, which ranks at least an 11 on the 10-point “Hamilton elector” scale of anguished liberal self-trolling. (Here’s how it goes: Trump resigns or is impeached over Russia; same with Mike Pence. Then President Paul Ryan names Clinton as his veep — and OMG resigns himself!)

I’m still not convinced that the “blue wave” this coming November will be the resounding sweep many in the liberal quadrant are now hoping for, or that its consequences will include the impeachment of Donald Trump or the salvation of humanity. (I agree with the consensus that Democrats are now likely to win a House majority, and that I was overly pessimistic about that question.) It is also entirely possible that congressional Democrats have allowed Trump to outmaneuver them in the current DACA/shutdown battle, creating a situation where the correct moral and ethical choice is not the best political strategy. Such optimism as I see requires looking past short-term political damage and past the question of exactly how many seats the party will hold in Washington this time next year.

So where’s the hope? It pretty much boils down to this: The historic unpopularity and massively divisive character of the Trump presidency gives the Democrats some breathing room to get their s***house in order. While it remains true that being the anti-Trump party is not enough — and is not really an identity at all — it appears to be almost enough, at least for now. This is an enormous opportunity not just to win a congressional majority and elect a different president (those are actually the easy parts) but to begin rebuilding a left-liberal party from the ground up. It’s very far from a sure thing, but it might just happen.

No matter what your social media feed may suggest, Democrats are gradually getting over the poisonous Bernie-Hillary feud of 2016, which was never as important to actual voters as it was to highly energized members of the political-media caste. Please note: I am not endorsing the view that the issues that divided the warring “progressive” and “moderate” tribes were insignificant or entirely symbolic. It’s more complicated than that. There are fundamental questions of philosophy, ideology and policy that remain unsettled and may take years or decades to work through.

That latter point is especially true when it comes to foreign policy and “national security,” an area where a near-perfect circle of non-information and disinformation persists. Few voters are motivated by such issues except at moments when they command the headlines (as the Iraq War did in the latter stages of the George W. Bush administration), and still fewer bother to study them in any depth. Nearly everyone in both parties and in the national media, meanwhile, neglects to mention that there is widespread agreement on such issues across the elite political spectrum, based on a set of underlying assumptions about the nature of American power that is almost never discussed. That contradiction was captured in a caustic Onion story about the FISA reauthorization vote that went viral this week: “Pelosi: ‘We Must Fight Even Harder Against Trump’s Authoritarian Impulses Now That We’ve Voted to Enable Them.’”



THE ONION PUTS PROVOCATIVE WORDS IN NANCY PELOSI’S MOUTH, NAMING THE TRUE PROBLEMS THAT THE DEMS HAVE. THEY REALLY DO NEED TO CLEAN HOUSE.

https://politics.theonion.com/pelosi-we-must-fight-even-harder-against-trumps-autho-1822205559
Pelosi: ‘We Must Fight Even Harder Against Trump's Authoritarian Impulses Now That We've Voted To Enable Them’
Thursday January 18, 2018 2:36pm

COMMENTARY
Americans Are Tired Of The Same Old Pandering And Stale Ideas We’re Going To Keep Offering Them
Nancy Pelosi
10/06/17 11:01am

If last year’s election showed us anything, it’s that anger and resentment are on the rise. I hear it from small business owners and working-class families, from millennials and retirees. There’s a sense that we’ve lost our way, and that the blame rests squarely on our nation’s leadership. Simply put, Americans are sick of being patronized and sick of the same old ideas that we, as Democrats, are going to keep offering them over and over and over again.

The frustration is palpable. People are fed up with the status quo. Citizens from all walks of life are sitting around their dinner tables, talking about how they’ve had it with all the usual proposals that, once more, we will be repackaging and spoon-feeding to them in a way that’s entirely transparent and frankly condescending.

That’s something every American can count on.

It’s no wonder voters are furious. Politics-as-usual has failed them, and they desperately want change that the Democratic Party has no plan to bring about in any meaningful way. But let me assure you, when our constituents tell us they’ve had enough broken promises, when they say our actions haven’t addressed their needs, we listen. We hear your concerns—hear them loud and clear—then immediately discard them and revert back to the exact same ineffectual strategies we’ve been rallying behind for years.

Recent Video from The Onion
VIEW MORE >

‘You’re Right’ Viewers Tells Ted He’s Wrong
12/14/2017

It doesn’t take a genius to see what the polls are telling us. Voters by the millions dislike our cozying up to Wall Street, our hopelessly out-of-touch elitism, our support for never-ending military entanglements, our blindness to the plight of rural communities decimated by globalization, and our failure to expand opportunities for American workers. So what are we going to do about it? Well, after taking all this into account, after taking a good hard look at ourselves and doing some serious soul-searching, I’m pleased to announce that during next year’s midterms, Democrats will continue to run on the same set of platitudes we’ve been trotting out since at least the 1990s.

We will also be slapping a brand-new tagline onto our campaign, something that puts a fresh new gloss on our tired old tactics.

In 2018, with the entire House and a third of the Senate up for grabs, Democrats will be holding town hall meetings, conducting polls, and analyzing voter databases to find out what issues are most important to Americans. We’ll then disregard everything we learn, dole out all the usual boilerplate stuff that people are clearly sick of, and try to pass it off as a bold new direction for the country.

We now stand at a crossroads. People are angry, disgusted, and hungry for change. The Democratic Party understands these challenges and sees an opportunity to present the American people with a series of rehashed ideas that do nothing to address their concerns. We’re taking stock of our views on trade, criminal justice, economic inequality, and more. Because the time has come to double down on whatever sounds good to those of us in Washington, even though voter research, election results, and the actual words coming from the mouths of our own base tell us it’s not what anyone else wants.

If you would like to join us in this fight, I encourage you to donate at www.democrats.org.