The Author of the Explosive New Trump Book Admits There Are False Claims

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By Business Insider. The author of the explosive new book about Donald Trump’s presidency acknowledged in an author’s note that he wasn’t certain all of its content was true.

Michael Wolff, the author of “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” included a note at the start that casts significant doubt on the reliability of the specifics contained in the rest of its pages.

Several of his sources, he says, were definitely lying to him, while some offered accounts that flatly contradicted those of others.

But some were nonetheless included in the vivid account of the West Wing’s workings, in a process Wolff describes as “allowing the reader to judge” whether the sources’ claims are true.

In other cases, the media columnist said, he did use his journalistic judgment and research to arrive at what he describes “a version of events I believe to be true.” (Read more from “The Author of the Explosive New Trump Book Admits There Are False Claims” HERE)

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Trump World Frustrated, Angry Over New Book

By Jordan Fabian. Allies of President Trump are aghast at the damage caused by a new book that paints a picture of a chaotic, dysfunctional and incompetent early months of the Trump administration.

Current and former Trump aides believe many of the juiciest stories in “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” are exaggerated or wholly fictional and don’t think the book is resonating outside the Beltway among the president’s core supporters.

But they are shocked that the author, Michael Wolff, was given access to the White House for months to work on the project and stunned at the seemingly low regard some staffers have for the president as described in the book.

“The biggest political mistake in American history was to allow a reporter, whose integrity has been impugned across the spectrum, into the White House and give him free rein,” said one source close to the White House.

The source blamed former chief White House strategist Stephen Bannon for Wolff’s frequent presence in the West Wing. Bannon is quoted extensively in the book and offered blistering criticism of the president and his family. (Read more from “Trump World Frustrated, Angry Over New Book” HERE)

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This Gym Just Banned Something You’d Never Guess From Their TV – Says It ‘Doesn’t Fit Healthy Lifestyles’

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Life Time has scrubbed all-news cable channels from the screens at its fitness centers, saying a growing number of customers think they don’t fit a healthy lifestyle.

The Chanhassen-based company this week dropped CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and CNBC from TVs in front of various workout machines.

While the screens were in view of all in fitness areas, audio could only be heard through earphones.

With a few exceptions, TV screens built into treadmills and other cardio machines also “currently do not have the ability to display these channels,” Life Time spokeswoman Natalie Bushaw said Thursday. However, a second phase in this viewing shift, to be completed by the end of February, will have all stations available, Bushaw added.

USA, A&E, Discovery, HGTV, the local over-the-air stations and ESPN are all that remain on the visual menu of distractions while sweating off the caloric consequences of the holidays. (Read more from “This Gym Just Banned Something You’d Never Guess From Their TV – Says It ‘Doesn’t Fit Healthy Lifestyles'” HERE)

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New England’s Absurd Energy Policy

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The cold blast hitting the U.S. is exposing the absurdity of left-wing energy policies in New England. Natural gas prices are skyrocketing in the region as the gas demand for both heating and electricity exceeds supply.

ISO New England — the non-profit that runs the region’s power grid — issued a “cold weather watch” for January 5 to alert the wholesale power market to a surge in demand for the weekend, as temperatures are expected to plummet. The grid operator believes it has enough power, but the demand could exceed supply.

Don’t blame the weather for soaring energy prices and possible electricity shortages; blame the left-wing politicians and radical environmentalists for engineering a system certain to fail. Instead of promoting an energy policy focused on reliability with a diverse array of power sources for electricity generation, New England adopted a command-and-control energy policy built on feeling good, not reality.

Left-wing politicians concerned about global warming and an aggressive EPA regulatory agenda combined to reduce use of coal in New England from almost 20 percent in 2000 to about 2 percent in 2016. Natural gas is now the primary source of power, providing about 50 percent of electricity, up from about 15 percent in 2000. Burning natural gas emits about half the carbon dioxide emitted by coal.

The dependence on natural gas is a problem in New England because radical environmental activists are blocking construction of new natural gas pipelines needed to keep up with the increase in demand. Predictably, the law of supply and demand kicked in, resulting in an explosion of natural gas prices with plummeting temperatures.

During the first round of severe winter weather at the end of December, the surge in demand made New England “the world’s priciest” natural gas market, where the energy commodity jumped threefold on the spot market.

The so-called “bomb cyclone” storm that hit the East coast is pushing natural gas futures prices up significantly in New England. The Wall Street Journal reported the price for natural gas on January 3 rose almost 90 percent from the prior day and was about 1,200 percent higher than in early December.

The sharp rise in natural gas prices will eventually be passed on to consumers and businesses in New England, which already has the highest electricity prices in the nation. The problems in New England will get worse. Power companies switched to burning heating oil in order to keep the limited supply of natural gas for heating homes and businesses.

The loss of natural gas is forcing electricity providers to change the energy mix to generate power. Recently (based on real-time data January 4), oil-fueled power plants are providing about 30 percent of New England’s electricity, up from less than 1 percent, while natural gas is down to about 25 percent from almost 50 percent. Nuclear energy remains at about 30 percent, and renewable and coal provide a minor amount at 13 and 6 percent, respectively.

However, the use of oil for electricity will likely run into a problem in Massachusetts, where the state issued stricter carbon dioxide limits that came into effect on January 1. In 2008, Massachusetts passed The Global Warming Solutions Act, mandating a total reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors to 25 percent below the 1990 level in 2020 and at least an 80 percent reduction in 2050.

To avoid breaking the limits set for the power sector, the oil-fired units in Massachusetts could shut down, placing more stress on other states to supply electricity for the regional power grid. Relying on other states may also run into problems, because all New England states participate in The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — a program designed to reduce emissions from power plants.

Compounding the energy supply challenge, a number of power plants including nuclear, oil, and coal have closed or are set to close, reducing the availability of energy in the region, and renewable energy is unable to adequately fill the energy void.

Left-wing politicians and their radical environmentalist activist allies designed an energy policy that makes them feel good, but it comes at financial cost for the residents of New England. The impact on the carbon dioxide emission reductions for the entire country from the EPA’s Clean Power Plan under former President Obama was found to have no meaningful impact on global temperatures, so New England’s global warming regulations are meaningless except for political feel-good rhetoric.

Ignoring the reality of supply and demand and the importance of a diverse energy mix, including nuclear energy and fossil fuels such as coal, has consequences. (For more from the author of “New England’s Absurd Energy Policy” please click HERE)

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Illegal Alien Who Shot Kate Steinle Avoids Prison Over Firearm Conviction

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The illegal immigrant who discharged a firearm and killed 32-year-old Kate Steinle was sentenced to three years in prison Friday, but he won’t be spending any more time in state jail.

Jose Ines Garcia Zarate was acquitted of Steinle’s murder in December, but a jury convicted him of the lesser charge of a felon in possession of a firearm.

Since he has been detained in the San Francisco jail since his arrest on July 1, 2015, he was credited for time served.

Garcia Zarate will be on state parole for 48 months and will be transferred to federal custody.

He faces federal weapons charges under a Dec. 5 indictment.

The Steinle shooting touched off a nationwide debate over sanctuary cities after it was revealed that San Francisco authorities had released Garcia Zarate despite an outstanding detention request by immigration authorities.

Then-candidate Donald Trump pointed to the incident as a tragic consequence of San Francisco’s refusal to cooperate with immigration authorities.

At trial, defense attorneys conceded that Garcia Zarate fired the shot that killed Steinle, but asserted that he had accidentally discharged the pistol, which he found under a bench on the San Francisco pier.

That argument swayed the jury, which acquitted Garcia Zarate of murder, manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon. (For more from the author of “Illegal Alien Who Shot Kate Steinle Avoids Prison Over Firearm Conviction” please click HERE)

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Black Unemployment Rate Hits Historic Low

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In the month of December, the unemployment rate for black Americans dropped to just 6.8 percent, which is the lowest ever recorded. Prior to this month, the previous record was 7.4 percent in 2000.
The government has been tracking unemployment by race for 45 years, since 1972.

The Hispanic unemployment rate remains at a near record low of just 4.9 percent, up just a bit from the record of 4.7 percent in November of last year.

White unemployment sits at 3.7 percent, while only 2.5 percent of Asians are unemployed . . .

The number of jobs created in December was 148,000, which is lower than expected. Jobs are the lagging indicator in any economy, so with all the other numbers moving up, hopefully job creation will soon follow. (Read more from “Black Unemployment Rate Hits Historic Low” HERE)

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Tobacco Giant Says It Wants to Give up Cigarettes

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Philip Morris International has made a dramatic New Year’s resolution: “We’re trying to give up cigarettes.”

The company, which makes Marlboro, L&M and Chesterfield brands among others, took out ads in newspapers in the United Kingdom that said its ambition for the new year is to build a smoke-free future and eventually stop selling cigarettes.

The ambition described on the company’s website is to help people quit smoking traditional cigarettes and replace them with alternatives like e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. (Read more from “Tobacco Giant Says It Wants to Give up Cigarettes” HERE)

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Roy Moore Accuser’s Home Burns; Arson Investigation Underway

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Roy Moore accuser Tina Johnson lost her home Wednesday in a fire that is now under investigation by the Etowah County Arson Task Force.

Tina Johnson, who first came to public notice for accusing Senate candidate Roy Moore of grabbing her in his office in the early 1990s, said her home on Lake Mary Louise Road in Gadsden caught fire Tuesday morning.

After neighbors and some utility workers called 911 shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday, the Lookout Mountain Fire Department responded to the scene. By the time the flames were extinguished, Johnson and her family had lost everything they owned.

“I am devastated, just devastated,” said Johnson on Friday morning. “We have just the clothes on our backs.”

Nobody appears to have been harmed in the blaze; Johnson and her husband were at work, and her grandson was at school. (Read more from “Roy Moore Accuser’s Home Burns; Arson Investigation Underway” HERE)

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Obamacare Mandate ‘Irony’: It’s Tax Repealed in Tax Reform

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Republicans succeeded in repealing the individual mandate in the 2010 Affordable Care Act as part of the recent tax reform package, but a leading health care expert urges President Trump and members of Congress to do even more this year to bring financial relief to Americans saddled by high premiums and deductibles.

Galen Institute President Grace-Marie Turner has been on the front lines of the health care debate since before the Clinton administration attempted to give government a greater role in the sector in the 1990s. A fierce critic of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, Turner is relishing how the individual mandate was sent to the scrap heap starting in 2019.

“The lovely irony is that the least popular provision of Obamacare was repealed in the tax bill. It’s a bit of a touché to the Supreme Court,” said Turner, noting that the court upheld the individual mandate as constitutional only if it was considered a tax.

Beyond the political and legal drama, Turner says the mandate improved nothing and was a major burden on people.

“It was ineffective. It was not doing what it needed to do. Health insurance was so expensive that it was driving people away from policies. Even with the tax penalties, people still found it was cheaper to pay the penalties than to buy this expensive coverage,” said Turner. (Read more from “Obamacare Mandate ‘Irony’: It’s Tax Repealed in Tax Reform” HERE)

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Anti-Trump Dossier Author Referred to FBI for Criminal Investigation

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On Friday, top Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee referred the author of the unverified anti-Trump dossier to the FBI and DOJ for criminal investigation.

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) referred former British spy Christopher Steele, who was hired by Fusion GPS to compile the anti-Trump dossier, to the FBI and DOJ to be investigated for possible crimes after they said that he may have made false statements to investigators about his communications with journalists in the U.S. about the dossier. The letter states:

Based on the information contained therein, we are respectfully referring Mr. Steele to you for investigation of potential violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, for statements the Committee has reason to believe Mr. Steele made regarding his distribution of information contained in the dossier.

In a statement, Grassley wrote, “I don’t take lightly making a referral for criminal investigation. But, as I would with any credible evidence of a crime unearthed in the course of our investigations, I feel obliged to pass that information along to the Justice Department for appropriate review.”

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Violent Crime Is Surging in Germany – Their Solution Will Leave You Speechless

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Refugees are causing a major problem in Germany; the situation is getting so bad that mainstream media outlets can no longer ignore it. Now a new report shows that migrants are almost solely responsible for the country’s rise in violent crime . . .

The most insane part of the German government’s report was the solution that they offered to fix the problem. According to Reuters:

The study said reuniting refugees with their families by allowing them to come to Germany too could help to reduce violence. Such reunions look set to be a particularly contentious issue in talks about a new coalition government.

. . .

It is not difficult to understand why women avoid these young male migrants as Germany had to install rape-free zones for the most recent New Year’s Eve celebrations after a series of horrifying sexual attacks by migrants occurred a couple of years ago. Documents that were leaked in 2016 showed that “approximately 2,000 men, many of whom were newly-arrived migrants from the Middle East and North Africa, sexually assaulted more than 1,200 women during the celebrations in several German cities.” (Read more from “Violent Crime Is Surging in Germany – Their Solution Will Leave You Speechless” HERE)

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