This Is What Donald Trump’s Children Say Was ‘Family Time’

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Donald Trump has said managing a multibillion-dollar real estate company meant he was often away from his children as they were growing up, but his kids told Barbara Walters they all have fond memories of spending time with their father on the job.

“We grew up walking construction sites,” Ivanka Trump, 34, told Walters in an interview for ABC News “20/20.” “He found a way that was true to him to connect with us that maybe is a little less traditional because he was working so hard…and we are so comfortable in our relationship with our father.”

“He would always sneak me down to get a candy bar in the lobby,” added Tiffany Trump, 22. “Our times together were learning, playing in his office.”

Donald Trump’s four eldest children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric and Tiffany, spoke with Walters about what it was like growing up with their dad and what they think about his presidential run. Trump’s youngest, his 9-year-old son Barron, did not attend the interview because he was at school.

Trump’s three adult children, Donald Jr, Ivanka, and Eric, all work in their father’s company, The Trump Organization, as Executive Vice Presidents. His eldest son said he remembers their father stopping whatever he was doing to take phone calls from them. (Read more from “This Is What Donald Trump’s Children Say Was ‘Family Time'” HERE)

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Captagon: The Amphetamine Fueling Syria’s Civil War

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As Syria sinks ever deeper into civil war, evidence is starting to emerge that a brutal and bloody conflict that has left more than 100,000 people dead and displaced as many as two million is now also being fuelled by both the export and consumption of rapidly increasing quantities of illegal drugs.

Separate investigations by the news agency Reuters and Time magazine have found that the growing trade in Syrian-made Captagon – an amphetamine widely consumed in the Middle East but almost unknown elsewhere – generated revenues of millions of dollars inside the country last year, some of which was almost certainly used to fund weapons, while combatants on both sides are reportedly turning to the stimulant to help them keep fighting.

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Syria has long been a transit point for drugs coming from Europe, Turkey and Lebanon and destined for the wealthy Gulf states. But the breakdown of law and order, collapse of the country’s infrastructure and proliferation of armed groups have now turned it into a major producer, Reuters says. Production in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley – a traditional centre for the drug – fell 90% last year from 2011, with the decline largely attributed to production inside Syria.

Neither investigation found conclusive evidence that the warring sides were using profits from the drug directly to buy weapons, but both quoted experts and officials as saying this was highly likely. A former US Treasury official, Matthew Levitt, pointed out that the Iranian-funded, Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, which is robustly backing Syria’s Assad regime, “has a long history of dabbling in the drug trade to help with funding”. (Read more from “Captagon: The Amphetamine Fueling Syria’s Civil War” HERE)

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HHS: Bailing out Obamacare Insurers an ‘Obligation’ of the Federal Government

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The Department of Health and Human Services attempted to reassure private insurers on Thursday that they’ll be able to recover losses from participating in Obamacare by claiming it was an “obligation” of the U.S. government to bail them out.

At issue is a provision within the law known as the risk corridors program. Under the program, which runs from 2014 through 2016, the federal government is to collect money from health insurers doing better than expected and use those funds to provide a federal backstop to other insurers who incur larger than expected losses from rising medical claims. The idea was to provide training wheels to insurers in the first years of Obamacare’s implementation, and to take away any incentive for insurers to cherry pick only the healthiest customers.

Republicans, fearing that this could turn into an open-ended government bailout in the event of industry-wide losses, included a provision in last year’s spending bill that limited the program, requiring HHS to pay out only from the pool of money collected, rather than supplementing it with other sources of government funding. President Obama signed that bill.

Now that insurers have been able to look at medical claims, what they’ve found is that enrollees in Obamacare are disproportionately sicker, and losses are piling up. For the 2014 benefit year, insurers losing more than expected asked for $2.87 billion in government payments through the risk corridors program, but HHS only collected $362 million from insurers performing better than expected. Thus, the funds available to the federal government only amounts to 12.6 percent of what insurers argue that they’re owed.

So insurers are not happy. And now the industry lobbying group America’s Health Insurance Plans — which happens to be helmed by Marilyn Tavenner, who previously oversaw the implementation of Obamacare as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — is aggressively fighting for more money. (Read more from “HHS: Bailing out Obamacare Insurers an ‘Obligation’ of the Federal Government” HERE)

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Mcdonald’s Sued After Costumers Exposed to Disease

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A customer sued the operator of a McDonald’s restaurant in Waterloo, New York, on Wednesday after diners were exposed to food and drinks prepared by a worker with hepatitis A, the virus that causes contagious liver infections.

The lawsuit was filed in New York state court in Seneca County against Jascor Inc. It seeks class-action status for potentially affected customers, who plaintiffs said could number more than 1,000.

Representatives from Jascor could not immediately be reached for comment. Most McDonald’s restaurants are operated by franchisees rather than McDonald’s Corp . . .

Public health officials said diners had a low risk of contracting the illness, but urged those who had consumed food and/or drinks from the restaurant on Nov. 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8 to consider treatments if they were not previously vaccinated against hepatitis A.

Christopher Welch, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, purchased and consumed products from the restaurant on at least one day when the infected worker was on duty, according to the lawsuit. (Read more from “Mcdonald’s Sued After Costumers Exposed to Disease” HERE)

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Democrat Declared Winner in Runoff Election for La. Governor

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Democratic state lawmaker John Bel Edwards defeated Republican Sen. David Vitter in Saturday’s runoff election for Louisiana governor.

Edwards will take over the office from former 2016 Republican presidential candidate Gov. Bobby Jindal in January . . .

Vitter entered the race as the early favorite amid a field of lesser known and lesser funded candidates, including state Democratic Rep. Edwards. However, after months of attacks, include those about his 2007 prostitution scandal, Vitter barely defeated his two Republican challengers in last month’s open primary and finished second behind Edwards by roughly 14 percentage points . . .

To be sure, Democrats didn’t expect to win the Louisiana governorship, considering Republicans now control every governorship and state legislature in the Deep South.

And when Vitter entered the race in January 2014 as the frontrunner, he was pulling in tremendous sums of campaign cash and firing up a dominant political machine that he’s used to get himself and his allies regularly elected to Louisiana offices. (Read more from “Democrat Declared Winner in Runoff Election for La. Governor” HERE)

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Minneapolis Shooting: Witness Says Man Was in Handcuffs When Shot by Police

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Smoke tumbled from several small bonfires surrounded by protesters warming their hands outside the 4th Police Precinct in North Minneapolis on Saturday.

The demonstrators are a mixed crowd of black, white, and brown people who say they will not leave until justice is done. At the very least, they want any video that police have to be released in the officer-involved fatal shooting of 24-year-old Jamar Clark . . .

Several witnesses to the shooting or immediate aftermath told CNN the public needs to understand why the protesters are so angry. The witnesses are adamant that there was no reason for police to shoot Clark — they say he was restrained.

One told CNN he is sure Clark was handcuffed. Another said he was unable to move . . .

Wilson said he had just walked out of the Elks Lodge as it was closing when he saw the officers with Clark on the ground. The lodge is across the street, about 35 feet from where the incident happened. It was dark, about 10 minutes before 1 a.m. (Read more from “Minneapolis Shooting: Witness Says Man Was in Handcuffs When Shot by Police” HERE)

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France’s Most-Wanted Man

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Salah Abdeslam — the only one of the suspected Paris attackers known to have survived — is still at large and still very much at the center of a mystery.

Nine days after the terror attacks that killed 130 people, a clearer picture is emerging of his movements — and it seems Abdeslam fled the city late on the night of November 13 in a state of panic.

Information from sources close to the investigation draw a picture of a man on the run, and how that run began. On the evening of the attacks, Abdeslam, 26, was thought to have been the driver of a black Renaut Clio that dropped off three suicide bombers near the Stade de France . . .

Four days later, last Tuesday, the Clio was found abandoned in the Place Albert Kahn in Paris’ 18th arrondissement. It appeared to have been parked hurriedly on a pedestrian crossing.

This is where the mystery begins. Was Abdeslam meant to carry out a separate attack? Or join the men who had already burst into the Bataclan theater? Or return to Brussels, where he lived, to plan another attack? (Read more from “France’s Most-Wanted Man” HERE)

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Secretive GOP Group Targets Trump for Destruction

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Top Republican establishment forces are joining up to eliminate Donald Trump from the presidential race through a “guerrilla campaign,” backed by secret donors, The Wall Street Journal reports Saturday.

In a page-one story, the paper reported that anti-Trump efforts are being spearheaded by a one-time Republican National Party online communications director who worked briefly for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s failed bid for the GOP nomination.

The group, called Trump Card LLC , is headed by former RNC employee Liz Mair. A detailed memo of their plans, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, says without efforts from GOP establishment, “Trump is exceedingly unlikely to implode or be forced out of the race.”

Further, Mair asserts in the memo, “the stark reality is that unless something dramatic and unconventional is done, Trump will be the Republican nominee and Hillary Clinton will become president.”

Trump Card’s plan is to expose Trump’s policy positions as not being conservative. In the past, Trump has advocated higher taxes, supported affirmative action, called for a government-run, single-payer healthcare system used by Canada and Britain, and backed the Supreme Court’s Lowe decision that gives government the right to easily seize private property for private businesses. (Read more from “Secretive GOP Group Targets Trump for Destruction” HERE)

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House Just Stuck It to Obama With Hugely Defiant Vote – 47 Dems Joined In

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By Jack Davis. The House of Representatives Thursday defied President Obama’s threat of a veto and voted, 289-137, to impose new screening requirements on Syrian and Iraqi refugees trying to enter the United States.

The bill was supported by 47 Democrats. Only two Republicans opposed it. The House plan would bar any refugees from Syria or Iraq from entering the United States until the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and Director of National Intelligence certify that each one is not dangerous.

“If our law enforcement and our intelligence community cannot verify that each and every person is not a security threat, then they shouldn’t be allowed in,” said Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

“The status quo is not acceptable,” said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas. “The American people want us to act in light of what’s happened.”

Other lawmakers agreed . . .

The bill comes after Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 129 people. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks. At least one attacker posed as a Syrian refugee, officials have disclosed. These events created new opposition to Obama’s plan to bring 10,000 Syrian refugees to the United States. (Read more from “House Just Stuck It to Obama With Hugely Defiant Vote – 47 Dems Joined In” HERE)

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House Passes Bill That Could Limit Syrian Refugees

By Deirdre Walsh and Ted Barrett. The House easily passed a bill Thursday that would suspend the program allowing Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the U.S. until key national security agencies certify they don’t pose a security risk.

The vote was 289-137, with 47 Democrats joining 242 Republicans in favor of the bill, creating a majority that could override President Barack Obama’s promised veto. It also faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where Minority Leader Harry Reid said he will try to block the bill.

The high number of Democrats voting against the White House is a clear sign Obama is increasingly isolated in his position on refugees in light of the ISIS terrorist attacks on Paris.

During his trip abroad this week, Obama has offered a forceful defense of the program and derided Republican opponents as being scared of “widows and orphans.”

“We are not well served when, in response to a terrorist attack, we descend into fear and panic,” Obama said in the Philippines on Wednesday. “We don’t make good decisions if it’s based on hysteria or an exaggeration of risks.” (Read more from “House Passes Bill That Could Limit Syrian Refugees” HERE)

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Donald Trump Has Big Plans for ‘Radical Islamic’ Terrorists, 2016 and ‘That Communist’ Bernie Sanders; Muslims in US Must Have Special ID

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By Hunter Walker. Trump has brought his trademark swagger to his presidential campaign. He shocked the political establishment and liberals around the country by becoming a frontrunner after barging into the Republican primary in June with over-the-top insults for his opponents and controversial policy pronouncements for the public at large.

This no-holds-barred approach was on full display in a wide-ranging interview with Yahoo News on Tuesday. During the discussion, Trump weighed in on the presidential race, calling Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., “a communist” and hinting at his plans to go after Hillary Clinton, should he win the nomination. He also discussed the “unthinkable” security measures he believes will be necessary to monitor America’s Muslims in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, the “safe space” and racism controversies on college campuses, and his favorite parts of Latino culture. The conversation concluded with Trump playing a word association game where he shared his opinions on Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian and Charlie Sheen, among others.

Though he stayed true to his ostentatious brand, Trump initially tried to strike a humble note when he assessed his chance of victory.

“I always want to think of myself as an underdog. I never want to think of myself as even leading,” Trump said, before breaking his momentarily modest stride a breath later. “I am leading. I’m leading substantially.”

Trump pointed to a pair of new polls that were released Tuesday. Morning Consult showed him with a 19-point lead in the GOP primary nationwide. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that, in the wake of last week’s Paris attacks, voters were split between Trump and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton as the candidates best prepared to deal with terrorism (though Clinton had the edge). These numbers come after a brief spell in which Trump saw his average standing in Republican primary polls dip, as former neurosurgeon Ben Carson rose in the ranks. (Read more from “Donald Trump Has Big Plans for ‘Radical Islamic’ Terrorists, 2016 and ‘That Communist’ Bernie Sanders” HERE)

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Trump: Muslims in US Must Have Special ID

By Mark Hensch. GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump believes that the war on terror will require unprecedented surveillance of America’s Muslims.

“We’re going to have to do thing that we never did before,” he said during a Yahoo interview.

“Some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule,” Trump said.

“Certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy,” he added. “We’re going to have to do things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago” . . .

He also remained open toward registering U.S. Muslims in a database or giving them special identification identifying their faith, the news outlet added. (Read more from “Trump: Muslims in US Must Have Special ID” HERE)

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