Historic Magnolia Tree Outside White House to Be Cut Down, and Melania Trump Is Being Blamed

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First lady Melania Trump is fighting back this week against what she believes was a misleading headline and accompanying tweet by Newsweek.

According to Fox News, the magazine drew widespread criticism in response to its report on the impending removal of a historically significant magnolia tree on the grounds of the White House.

In its headline, Newsweek cited Melania Trump as the individual who ordered the tree’s removal. While that is a technically true statement, critics have since argued it leaves out important context.

Namely, experts have long warned that the tree, which is the oldest on the property, is in need of removal. It has reportedly been supported by beams and wires, though those safety measures have failed in the past and specialists note its presence at the White House poses a safety concern.

Reports indicate it was Melania Trump who gave the order to remove the tree, but a spokesperson slammed Newsweek for its take on the story.

“Newsweek’s bias and disdain for the First Lady and our administration was on full display when they actively chose to use a false headline instead of practicing responsible journalism,” said Stephanie Grisham.

Others in the administration and conservative news media claimed the headline was off base. Dan Scavino Jr., the director of social media for the White House, called the claim “100% misleading.”

In an interview with Fox News, one conservative media critic called the Newsweek piece evidence of the “usual war on Trump” he believes exists across the industry.

Dan Gainor, vice president of the Media Research Center, went on to mock the magazine’s recent sale, in which a buyer paid a nominal sum for the publication while accepting all of its debt.

“Remember, Newsweek sold several years ago for $1,” he said. “It appears the buyers were cheated.”

Several reporters at mainstream outlets, including NBC’s Tom Winter, similarly rebuked the headline. He added that the assertion was “grossly misleading” in a tweet this week.

Newsweek has since updated its initial report to include details about the tree’s condition, including the fact that “the cabling system is failing on the east trunk, as a cable has pulled through the very thin layer of wood that remains.”

For 70 years during the 20th century, the magnolia tree appeared on the back of U.S. $20 bills. Legend suggests President Andrew Jackson wanted the tree planted as a memorial to his deceased wife.

The tree is scheduled to be removed within the next few days. (For more from the author of “Historic Magnolia Tree Outside White House to Be Cut Down, and Melania Trump Is Being Blamed” please click HERE)

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North Korea’s Other Weapons: Nukes Aren’t Biggest Concern

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By Fox News. North Korea’s nuclear program has long triggered condemnation – including the U.N. Security Council’s recent decision to apply some of the toughest sanctions in history – but is something far more lethal lurking in the Hermit Kingdom’s arsenal?

“They have a large stockpile of chemical weapons, but the one that gets the least attention, and that I worry most about, is their biological weapons program,” said Andrew Weber, the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Chemical and Biological Defense Programs from 2009-2014.

When it comes to biological weapons, Weber said, just a tiny amount can bring incredibly lethal results. “Ounces or pounds would be enough. You can have millions of lethal doses of anthrax in a several-pound quantity… With smallpox, maybe just a few grams.”

One of the biggest concerns when it comes to chemical or biological warfare – a concern that Weber and the White House seem to share – is the fact that these incredibly lethal attacks can easily be “cloaked in deniability,” and difficult to trace back to the perpetrator. Weber pointed out that “it takes just one or two people to covertly deliver a strategic biological weapons attack.”

North Korea has been accused of using chemical weapons in an apparent assassination earlier this year, one that unfolded beyond its borders. Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was killed with the use of the nerve agent VX in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport last February 13. (Read more from “North Korea’s Other Weapons: Nukes Aren’t Biggest Concern” HERE)

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Ralph Peters on North Korea: Kim ‘Betting It All on One Hand of Poker’

By Fox News Insider. Colonel Ralph Peters [Ret.] said North Korea is suffering from a “degenerative disease of state” and predicted the Kim regime’s insistence on strengthening its nuclear capability is their All-In “poker hand” as a standing government.

North Korean state television ripped the recent unanimous U.N. vote to deliver stronger sanctions against Kim Jong Un as “rigged up by the U.S. and its followers [and a] grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our republic.”

The North Koreans also called western hopes of an end to Pyongyang’s nuclear program a “pipe dream.” . . .

He said the country is suffering from a “degenerative disease of state” – in that their standing military is “rotting away” and pointed to increased defections to South Korea.

“The North Korean regime and Kim Jong Un have bet everything on one hand of poker… [their] intertwined nuclear and strategic missile program,” he said. (Read more from “Ralph Peters on North Korea: Kim ‘Betting It All on One Hand of Poker'” HERE)

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This Is the ‘Meanest’ Member of Congress

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Years before she was accused of receiving preferential treatment and costing a passenger her seat on a United Airlines flight, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee was named the “meanest” member of Congress.

Jackson Lee, D-Tex., appeared on Washingtonian magazine’s “best and worst of Congress” list in 2014. The biennial survey polls congressional staffers on what they really think of their Capitol Hill bosses.

At the time, the Texas congresswoman “won” the titles of “meanest” and “show horse,” with her employees citing heavy workloads and harsh criticism.

Former aides detailed Lee’s allegedly abrasive behavior, telling the Houston Chronicle she would hurl personal insults and demand menial errands be run . . .

Other ex-staffers said Lee called them “stupid” or “idiots.” Some claimed they were forced to do her laundry, go on late-night food runs and hold her handbag for her. (Read more from “This Is the ‘Meanest’ Member of Congress” HERE)

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China Caught Illegally Selling Oil to North Korea

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U.S. spy satellites reportedly captured photos of Chinese ships illegally selling oil to North Korean boats some 30 times since October.

Satellite images released by the U.S. Department of Treasury appeared to show vessels from both countries illegally trading oil in the West Sea, The Chosun Ilbo reported Tuesday, citing South Korean government sources.

North Korea was barred in September by the United Nations Security Council from importing natural gas and had its crude oil imports capped in response to Kim Jong Un’s nuclear missile program.

The U.S. Treasury in November also sanctioned North Korea’s Maritime Administration and its transport ministry, in addition to six North Korean shipping and trading companies and 20 of their vessels, in an effort to block the rogue regime’s transportation networks.

The satellite images appear to identify the ships. One of them — Rye Song Gang 1, seen “connected to a Chinese vessel” — was included in the Nov. 21 sanctions as a vessel of Korea Kumbyol Trading Company possibly transferring oil to evade sanctions. (Read more from “China Caught Illegally Selling Oil to North Korea” HERE)

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Amazon, Microsoft Bosses in Sex-Trafficking Sting

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“High-level Amazon and Microsoft directors” face charges following a sex trafficking sting that was based on emails sent to brothels.

According to Engadget, Newsweek “got its hands on a slew of emails sent to brothels and pimps between 2014 and 2016 that document the industry’s patronage of brothels and purchasing of services from trafficked sex workers.”

“Among the emails, which were obtained through a public records request to the King County Prosecutor’s Office, were 67 sent from Microsoft employee email accounts, 63 from Amazon accounts and dozens more from companies like Boeing, T-Mobile, Oracle and local Seattle tech firms,” the report claims. “Some of the emails were collected during a 2015 sting operation that targeted sex worker review boards and resulted in the arrest of 18 individuals, including high-level Amazon and Microsoft directors. Two opted for a trial, which is currently set to begin in March.”

The revelation that Amazon and Microsoft directors were implicated in the sting prompted the two companies to release statements condemning sex trafficking.

“Microsoft has a long history of cooperating with law enforcement and other agencies on combating sex trafficking and related topics, and we have employees who volunteer their time and money specifically to combat this issue as well. The personal conduct of a tiny fraction of our 125,000 employees does not in any way represent our culture,” declared Microsoft. “No organization is immune to the unfortunate situation when employees act unethically or illegally. When that happens, we look into the conduct and take appropriate action. Microsoft makes it clear to our employees they have a responsibility to act with integrity and conduct themselves in a legal and ethical manner at all times. If they don’t, they risk losing their jobs.” (Read more from “Amazon, Microsoft Bosses in Sex-Trafficking Sting” HERE)

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Anti-Trump, Brexit Doomsayers: We Were Wrong

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Historically, it seems, the prospect of a freer economy in which business owners have fewer restrictions and workers keep more of their wages brings out the harbingers of doom.

It was no different when British voters chose to leave the increasingly suffocating European Union and Americans elected businessman Donald Trump. Out came the predictions of a “post-Brexit recession” in the U.K. and a “Trump recession” in the U.S.

As it dawned on America’s stunned punditry the night of Nov. 8, 2016, that Donald Trump was going to be the next president, famed New York Times economist Paul Krugman wrote that the markets were “plunging” in response and Krugman’s answer to when they might recover was “never.”

“Under any circumstances, putting an irresponsible, ignorant man who takes his advice from all the wrong people in charge of the nation with the world’s most important economy would be very bad news,” the Times columnist wrote. “What makes it especially bad right now, however, is the fundamentally fragile state much of the world is still in, eight years after the great financial crisis.” . . .

Yahoo Finance columnist Rick Newman confessed in a column Wednesday that he was wrong about his prediction of economic “gloom” after Trump won in November 2016. (Read more from “Anti-Trump, Brexit Doomsayers: We Were Wrong” HERE)

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‘Collusion’ Author Stumbles When Asked for Evidence

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The author of a book alleging “collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia admits it’s really unknown whether the Russians exerted inappropriate influence over the candidate.

The revelation comes from Luke Harding, a foreign correspondent with the Guardian newspaper of London, who wrote “Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win.” . . .

However, while he talked about the tradition of Russia trying to compromise foreign leaders, he was unable to provide Maté with evidence of that happening with Trump.

The interviewer immediately asked the key question: “Luke, welcome. Let’s start with the book’s title. Do you think there actually was collusion?”

Harding said “we’re already across the line in terms of collusion” and cited Trump’s “first trip to Soviet Moscow in 1987 paid for by the Soviet Union where he was discussing hotel deals.” (Read more from “‘Collusion’ Author Stumbles When Asked for Evidence” HERE)

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France OKs Muslim Prayers in Street, Bans Christmas Movie

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France is a secular Republic, because it separates religion and state and it mostly sees religion as a private matter; restricted to the home and places of worship.

But for years, France has allowed Muslim street prayers and to heavily criticise them was simply not done. Sometimes even roads were blocked and cars were being redirected to make room for Muslim street prayers. It looks like when Islam is involved, France’s secular principles have suddenly disappeared.

For Christianity in France it’s a totally different story. According to the European Post, a Christmas movie in the French city of Langon was banned, because it was “too Christian”, or “not secular enough”. The European Post writes:

A Christmas movie was judged by teachers as “not secular enough” and was therefore banned from schools in the French city of Langon in the department of Gironde on 13 December.

83 students of a French school started to watch the movie “The Star“, a computer animated adventure comedy based on the history of Jesus, a movie produced by Columbia Pictures.

(Read more from “France OKs Muslim Prayers in Street, Bans Christmas Movie” HERE)

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Trump Branded Hitler Over Recent Announcement

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By Bob Unruh. The Palestinians, who reacted with outrage and violence when President Trump allowed a U.S. law recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel to take effect, now are declaring there is no difference between the U.S. president and Adolf Hitler.

The Fatah movement, run by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, tweeted a statement with Trump’s image above a photo of the German dictator who ordered the deaths of millions in the Holocaust.

“I dont (sic) see any different, do you?” the tweet said. “#HandsOffAlQuds.”

Al Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem.

The tweet was spotlighted by Palestinian Media Watch, which called it “another demonization of U.S. President Trump because of his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.” (Read more from “Trump Branded Hitler Over Recent Announcement” HERE)

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New Western Wall Train Station to Be Named After Trump

By Jerusalem Post. A train station that will be built next to the Western Wall will be named after US President Donald Trump.

The decision was made by Transportation Minister Israel Katz, who said: “The Western Wall is the holiest place for the Jewish people, and I decided to name the train station that leads to it after president Trump – following his historic and brave decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel.” . . .

Katz said that he sees the project of extending the length of the railway from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the most important national project, and ordered officials in the Transportation Ministry to define it as a top priority mission. (Read more from “New Western Wall Train Station to Be Named After Trump” HERE)

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MORE Chain Migration Islamic Terrorism; More Media Blackout

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While Americans were celebrating this long Christmas weekend, another chain migrant from an Islamic country was arrested for plotting a terror attack against the very country that admitted him. It’s part of a growing wave, almost daily, of Islamic immigrants arrested on terrorism-related charges, yet there is a complete blackout in the media about the existence of this troubling pattern and about the growing problem with imported terrorism.

Meanwhile, as we gear up for a new legislative year in Congress, the focus is all about more amnesty for illegal aliens rather than protecting Americans from the autopilote chain migration from the Middle East. The only one who cares about protecting our sovereignty is President Trump, but the runaway courts and their status as supreme arbiter of national security are rendering his actions moot.

On Friday, Ahmed Aminamin El-Mofty, an immigrant from Egypt who later became a naturalized citizen, targeted Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, police in a series of shootings in three separate locations on Friday, one of which injured a local officer.

Acting DHS press secretary Tyler Houlton confirmed that El-Mofty was a beneficiary of chain migration. “The long chain of migration that led to the suspect’s admission to the United States was initiated years ago by a distant relative of the suspect. One of the most recent links in that chain was an extended family member admitted into the United States from Egypt on an F24 visa,” said Houlton in a statement from DHS.

As PJ Media’s national security correspondent, Patrick Poole, observes, “The terror attack happened on the same day that Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz was being sentenced in federal court in Harrisburg for material support for ISIS. Aziz received a 12-year prison sentence.” Aziz also threatened to behead President Obama in 2015. Thus, we now have an American capital city beleaguered by Islamic terrorists imported from the Middle East. Thanks to chain migration from the Middle East, the cancer has spread to all corners of this country.

But this is not all. Houlton also confirmed on the same day that a Pakistan-born woman, Zoobia Shahnaz, who was charged earlier this month with laundering Bitcoin in a scheme to raise money for ISIS, was also a beneficiary of chain migration. How was she admitted? On an F43 visa, an adult child of an F41 visa holder who was initially brought in by another relative. This is a similar visa to the one used by Akayed Ullah, the recent New York bomber from Bangladesh.

Almost every day since the New York bombing, I’ve seen stories of Islamic migrants or children of Islamic migrants in cities and towns across this great nation arrested on terrorism charges, yet it is buried by mainstream media publications. It’s no longer newsworthy that America is becoming like Europe, with ubiquitous Islamic terrorism activities imported to our shores through immigration. Much as in France, our prisons are filling up with Islamic terrorists arrested here at home. The New York Times reported last week that Ahamed Khan Rahimi, the convicted Chelsea bomber from last year who injured 30 people in a terror attack, is already radicalizing fellow inmates in a Manhattan prison.

Egypt, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are all countries that have benefited from both the diversity visa lottery and chain migration, which create a self-fulfilling momentum of mass migration from the Middle East with no regard for the security concerns of Americans. All the existing migrants from these countries who have already obtained citizenship can bring in an unlimited number of like-minded family members, irrespective of their political beliefs or their hate for our values.

The numbers of those already in the pipeline from these countries due to chain migration are staggering and will flood us with more Islamic radicalism unless Congress acts. As of this writing, there were roughly 300,000 more chain migrants on the visa waiting list just from Bangladesh and Pakistan alone. Most of them are distant relatives, known as “fourth preference” visas, such as the F43 visa of the Pakistani alleged Bitcoin criminal.

Overall, 97 percent of the four million individuals on the visa waiting list are chain migrants whose sole claim to an immigrant visa is family ties. There is no regard for skills, values, or security in the existing broken system. Sadly and ironically, most of them will be admitted based on ties to the two million or so Middle Easterners we admitted after 9/11. It’s truly scary to see more Islamic immigrants arrested on terrorism charges who came to this country after some of us were already raising awareness of the problems with mass migration.

Is anyone in the political system other than the president willing to ask why we should turn America into Europe? Jews in Sweden are now under attack from endless anti-Semitism wrought by Islamic migrants. How can anyone think it’s a good idea to bring this dynamic to our shores without any filtering, vetting, or adjustments to our cracked immigration system?

Yet Congress is planning to focus solely on amnesty in January. Mitch McConnell promised open-borders fanatic Jeff Flake a vote on “Dream” amnesty, yet there is no such promise to vote on Tom Cotton’s Raise Act, which would end chain migration and the diversity lottery. The Raise Act is not just an economic issue; it’s a national security issue.

Meanwhile, Judge Robart, yes, that Judge Robart, just issued another judicial legislative proclamation to force Trump to bring in more refugees, despite being slapped down twice by the Supreme Court. He ordered the administration to suspend its stricter vetting of relatives who are brought in by refugees from a number of trouble spots and general vetting procedures of those from 11 targeted countries. Shockingly, Robart said he agreed with plaintiffs that Trump’s policies “will harm the United States’ national security and foreign policy interests.” Yes, we now have a district judge determining national security and foreign policy, while telling us that turning America into Europe will enhance our national security.

Lower courts are still preventing this president from using his existing plenary authority to act.

I’m not sure what it’s going to take for Congress to get serious about immigration reform, the importation of Sharia supremacism to our shores, and fighting back against the hubris-filled lower courts. Sadly, the more pervasive Islamic terrorism grows on our shores, the more acclimated our political system becomes to its existence as the new normal. Just look across the pond to Europe. We seem to always follow in lockstep the terrible examples before us. (For more from the author of “MORE Chain Migration Islamic Terrorism; More Media Blackout” please click HERE)

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