monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently issued a decision that affords employers more flexibility for their handbook policies. The decision overturned NLRB precedent that facially neutral handbook policies or workplace rules were unlawful if employees could "reasonably construe" them to interfere with their right to engage in protected concerted activity under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Under the prior standard, the NLRB deemed many policies, including confidentiality, civility and social media policies, that were not intended to limit employees’ rights under Section 7, unlawful even if an employer had a legitimate justification for the rule.

MSNBC's Joy Reid walks back comments after bipartisan Twitter beatdown

MSNBC star Joy Reid was forced to backtrack racially charged comments on a conservative commentary after they were mocked on Twitter by users across the political spectrum.

“We have truly entered the age of insanity when the conservative argument in favor of risking nuclear war is, ‘don't worry, it will only kill Democrats and minorities.’ Shame on you @DavidAFrench,’” Reid wrote.

Reid apparently failed to read French’s actual story that was published in the National Review, instead opting for watered-down, misleading pickups that were published by Newsweek and Raw Story that focused on Trump supporters living in rural areas.

Reid immediately was mocked across Twitter for her take. French responded himself, calling Reid’s tweet “misleading and ridiculous.”

French responded: "Earlier tonight @JoyAnnReid smeared me. She made things up. She claimed I said things I never said and never would say."

HuffPost reporter Yasher Ali called Reid’s tweet “a totally unfair characterization,” while National Review reporter Jim Geraghty asked, “Does anyone around Joy Reid have the courage to say to her, ‘that was dishonest, and you shouldn't have done that?’”

“The bit that Joy Reid puts in quotes is not taken from David French’s story or even from the Newsweek story. She just made that up,” Hot Air’s John Sexton pointed out.

In recent memory, Reid has referred to Trump supporters as “deplorables,” apologized for old blog posts in which she made homophobic comments while speculating about the sexuality of former Florida governor Charlie Crist and even said the Trump presidency is the “worst time to be a human” without mentioning things such as slavery, Black Death, or the Holocaust.

Politics sucks porcupine quills . .

The US will maintain an open-ended military presence in Syria to ensure the enduring defeat of the jihadist group Islamic State, counter Iranian influence, and help end the civil war.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said President Donald Trump did not want to "make the same mistakes" that were made in 2011, when US forces left Iraq.

The US has about 2,000 troops in Syria.

Mr Tillerson denied the US was training a Kurdish-led border force, but Turkey accused it of sending mixed signals.

"US officials have made statements that refute one another," said Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, whose country fiercely opposes such a move.

"One day it was said that a new border force had been set up, another day they said they are setting up a unit with local forces in order to maintain security in the region after eliminating Daesh [Islamic State group, or IS] in the region. These are all confusing statements."

The US secretary of state said officials had "misspoke[n]" when they said the US was planning to set up a 30,000 strong "border security force" in northern Syria underpinned by the allied Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia.

Mr Tillerson said the US was not creating a new force, but rather trying to ensure that local fighters were able to protect liberated areas from attacks by IS remnants.

Turkey's president branded it a "terror army" and warned of imminent assaults on the Kurdish-controlled border areas of Afrin and Manbij.

The Turkish army opened gaps in the border fence west of Afrin on Thursday, as the state-run Anadolu news agency reported that troops had been put on high alert.

Trump Lawyer Used Private Company, Pseudonyms to Pay Porn Star ‘Stormy Daniels’
Michael Cohen created limited liability company just before $130,000 payment

Brian Klaas
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Donald Trump has torched America's international reputation. The world now approves of China's leadership more than America's. (Gallup)

Trump appointee Carl Higbie resigns as public face of agency that runs AmeriCorps after KFile review of racist, sexist, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBT comments on the radio

During one appearance on the radio, Trump appointee Carl Higbie said "the black race" had "lax morals" and black people thought "breeding is a form of employment."

During another appearance, Trump official Higbie said "I don't like Muslim" and "go back to your Muslim shithole and go crap in your hands and bang little boys on Thursday nights."

On another show, Higbie said American gun owners should be allowed to shoot undocumented immigrants on the border without consequences.

Higbie frequently called Obama "the Muslim who was born in Kenya -- don't even get me started on that"

On another show, Higbie said 75% with PTSD were either lying or milking it for money and he said PTSD was a sign of a "weak mind."

he wanted isolation

'Steele dossier' firm suspected Trump-Russia money laundering

In more than 150 pages of testimony released by the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday, Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of the firm behind the so-called “Steele dossier,” alleged a constellation of business deals that he said suggested the Russians could be laundering money through then-candidate Donald Trump.

Simpson stopped short of saying the firm had found definitive proof of such dealings, telling investigators that, “evidence, I think, is a strong word.”

Some of Trump’s dealings, Simpson told lawmakers, showed “patterns of buying and selling that we thought were suggestive of money laundering.”

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/369654-steele-dossier-firm-suspected-trump-russia-money-laundering

FBI investigating whether Russian money went to NRA to help Trump

WASHINGTON
The FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency, two sources familiar with the matter have told McClatchy.

FBI counterintelligence investigators have focused on the activities of Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who is known for his close relationships with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the NRA, the sources said.

It is illegal to use foreign money to influence federal elections.

It’s unclear how long the Torshin inquiry has been ongoing, but the news comes as Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s sweeping investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, including whether the Kremlin colluded with Trump’s campaign, has been heating up.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article195231139.html

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.@MarkSteynOnline on DACA: "In Arizona, a majority of the grade school children now are Hispanic. That means Arizona's future is as a Hispanic society. That means in effect, the border has moved north."

Simpson stopped short of saying the firm had found definitive proof of such dealings, telling investigators that, “evidence, I think, is a strong word.”

Quote:

Fox News‏Verified account
@FoxNews
.@MarkSteynOnline on DACA: "In Arizona, a majority of the grade school children now are Hispanic. That means Arizona's future is as a Hispanic society. That means in effect, the border has moved north."

Get that? If you are Hispanic, you are not a real American.