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Poll: Americans Reveal How They Feel About Anonymous Op-Ed Writer

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Just over half of Americans say the author of the anonymous New York Times op-ed slamming President Trump’s leadership should have signed the piece and resigned in protest, according to a new American Barometer poll.

The survey, conducted by Hill.TV and the HarrisX polling company, found that 53 percent of respondents said the author, who was identified as a senior administration official, should have signed the op-ed and resigned in protest. . .

A majority of Republican respondents said the official did not handle the situation correctly, with 77 percent saying they should have signed the op-ed and stepped down in protest, while 23 percent of Republicans said the piece should have been published anonymously. . .

“I think this question simply shows us that the public is divided. You put a question like that in front of them and they’ve been hearing arguments either way,” Newport told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on “What America’s Thinking.”

“It sounds kind of nice, I think, to say that somebody should resign in protest. That sounds like a ‘Jimmy Stewart comes to Washington’ kind of thing so that’s probably why it gets majority support. But we’ll see where this goes, moving forward,” he continued. (Read more from “Poll: Americans Reveal How They Feel About Anonymous Op-Ed Writer” HERE)

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Red Hen Nightmare: Restaurant That Refused to Serve Sarah Sanders Is Torpedoing the Town’s Tourism Business

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In June, Trump White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders decided to eat at The Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia. They were refused service. Yes, in the great fight against the Trump White House, some liberals decided that they would take their stand here. It was so brave (sarc.). . .

Wilkinson has no regrets telling Sanders to leave. It’s her business. She can refuse service, even if the reason is immensely stupid. As liberals continue their campaign to bully people and destroy livelihoods of people whose politics they hate, the Right has responded in kind: circle the wagons and don’t apologize. It’s the natural reaction to the Left’s boycott, demonize, and harass strategy. Is this the optimal way of living and doing business? No—but the Left forced us into this arena. Since this Red Hen fiasco, which was also an entirely avoidable, the town’s tourism has suffered. The regional governing boards recently decided to spend some of their emergency funds to improve the image of the area, which has taken a hit (via Roanoke Times):

Rockbridge Regional Tourism approved a recovery plan to boost its marketing after The Red Hen restaurant controversy brought a slew of negative national media coverage this summer.

The regional tourism board, with members from Lexington, Buena Vista and Rockbridge County, met with the Lexington City Council on Thursday for an update on tourism initiatives and numbers.

The board had initially approved the recovery plan soon after news of The Red Hen controversy was spreading across the country. At the end of June, the restaurant’s owner declined to serve presidential press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders when she visited the restaurant.

(Read more from “Red Hen Nightmare: Restaurant That Refused to Serve Sarah Sanders Is Torpedoing the Town’s Tourism Business” HERE)

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U.S. Sanctions Turkish Officials Over Pastor’s Detention

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White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced on Wednesday that the United States will impose sanctions on Turkish officials in response to the imprisonment of American pastor Andrew Brunson in Turkey.

“At the president’s direction, the Department of Treasury is sanctioning Turkey’s Minister of Justice and Minister of Interior, both of whom played leading roles in the arrest and detention of pastor Brunson,” Sanders said. “As a result, any property or interest in property of both ministers within U.S. jurisdiction is blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.”

“We’ve seen no evidence that Pastor Brunson has done anything wrong and we believe he is a victim of unfair and unjust detention by the government of Turkey,” Sanders stated.

The sanctions are directed at Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gul and Minister of Interior Suleyman Soylu. A U.S. Treasury Department press release said the officials “serve as leaders of Turkish government organizations responsible for implementing Turkey’s serious human rights abuses.” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin called Brunson’s detention “simply unacceptable.”

Brunson is an evangelical pastor from North Carolina who was arrested by Turkish authorities in 2016 after the failed coup attempt. He was accused of having ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party and U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is alleged by the Turkish government to have been behind much of the unrest. (Read more from “U.S. Sanctions Turkish Officials Over Pastor’s Detention” HERE)

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CNN Host Pretty Much Told to Get the H**l out of the Oval Office (Again)

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It seems CNN’s Jim Acosta just loves being trashed by the Trump White House. It does get him to complain on live television, as if he’s some martyr, a beleaguered journalist under the crushing regime of some authoritarian country. He’s not, but here was another instance where White House staffers had to more or less tell Acosta to get the hell out of the Oval Office. It was a press spray event. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte visited President Trump yesterday.

“This audio is a pretty good example of how the WH aides also known as press wranglers are almost screaming as reporters try to ask questions of Trump in our ‘pool sprays,’” he tweeted after the incident.

The press has been complaining about how Trump treats them. It’s a new world for them; we have a man who actually punches back—and his supporters love it. Even here they’ve overreached, claiming his attacks against the media is somehow dangerous to the country. Spoiler: it’s not. And a friendly reminder: it was Hillary Clinton who first coined the phrase “fake news,” not Trump. The New York Times’ publisher, A. G. Sulzberger, recently relayed his concerns to the president:

President Trump and the publisher of The New York Times, A. G. Sulzberger, engaged in a fierce public clash on Sunday over Mr. Trump’s threats against journalism, after Mr. Sulzberger said the president misrepresented a private meeting and Mr. Trump accused The Times and other papers of putting lives at risk with irresponsible reporting.

[…]

“I told the president directly that I thought that his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous,” said Mr. Sulzberger, who became publisher of The Times on Jan. 1.

(Read more from “CNN Host Pretty Much Told to Get the Hell out of the Oval Office (Again)” HERE)

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White House Bans CNN Reporter From Press Event – Here’s Why

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White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded in a statement Wednesday evening.

“At the conclusion of a press event in the Oval Office a reporter shouted questions and refused to leave despite repeatedly being asked to do so,” Sanders said. “Subsequently, our staff informed her she was not welcome to participate in the next event, but made clear that any other journalist from her network could attend.” . . .

Collins was serving as the pool reporter that day, a role that reporters from major networks take turns doing, during a meeting between Trump and Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission. She shouted some questions along with other members of the press following the photo-op.

“Did Michael Cohen betray you, Mr. President?” Kaitlan Collins asked, repeated the question, and then asked “Mr. President, are you worried about what Michael Cohen is about to say to the prosecutors? Are you worried about what is on the other tapes, Mr. President?” . . .

[Prior to the next press event:]

“They said ‘You are dis-invited from the press availability in the Rose Garden today,'” Collins said. “They said that the questions I asked were inappropriate for that venue. And they said I was shouting.” (Read more from “White House Bans CNN Reporter From Press Event – Here’s Why” HERE)

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House Democrat Wants to Run for President With the Yoga Vote

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Can the “yoga vote” carry Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, to the White House?

The midwestern Democrat, best known for unsuccessfully challenging Nancy Pelosi for leadership in the House of Representatives after the 2016 election, is reportedly preparing to run for president in 2020. Relatively young at 45 and representing “Trump country” in the Rust Belt near Youngstown, Ohio, the former college football star sounds like an ideal candidate to attract some of the Trump voters Democrats need to defeat President Trump. But in a potential field that is expected to be enormous, with Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and various blue-state governors and mayors all indicating a desire to run, how could Ryan differentiate himself?

The Intercept reports that he wants to do it with “yoga.”

Ryan has long been a champion of mindfulness, meditation, and similar pursuits, and has even created a “Quiet Time Caucus” in the House of Representatives. James Gimian, the publisher of Mindful magazine who knows Ryan, said he isn’t sure whether Ryan will run for president, but that the yoga vote has gone mainstream in recent years. “The so-called yoga voters are the kind of folks who realize that while they grew up with their mom saying, ‘Pay attention,’ nobody trained them in how to pay attention and use their mind to focus on what’s important,” he said. “That’s a growing population — it’s no longer just Lululemon yoga women.” He said that anybody who is negotiating the “emotional land mine of modern day living” could be someone Ryan’s message would resonate with.

Ryan, who was elected to Congress at age 29, is the author of the 2012 book “A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit.”

“It gets marginalized by calling it the yoga vote. I think it’s much bigger than that,” Gimian said. “His aspiration is to bring this kind of conversation to a wider office.”

The group Yoga Votes (“One body united for change”) puts the total number of people who do yoga in the U.S. at 20 million, and Ryan has done work with the group.

Asked about his chances, Ryan is said to have told one political operative, “I’m going to win.”

Well, at least he’s confident. The problem for Ryan, though, is that he’s probably not crazy-far-left enough for the Democratic base to win anything in the 2020 Democratic primary. He didn’t have the confidence of the Democratic caucus when he challenged Pelosi, and although he’s urged Democrats to focus on the middle of the country instead of the coasts, that is not the Democratic Party. (For more from the author of “House Democrat Wants to Run for President With the Yoga Vote” please click HERE)

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Watch as Trump’s Intel Director Is Stunned by News From the White House

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By The Blaze. At a forum Thursday, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats registered his shock when he was told the breaking news from the White House about Russian President Vladimir Putin. . .

Coats was being interviewed by NBC’s Andrea Mitchell when she asked him if he knew that President Donald Trump had invited Putin to the White House.

“We have some breaking news,” Mitchell said, “the White House has announced on Twitter that Vladimir Putin is coming to the White House in the Fall.”

“Say that again?” Coats said to laughter from the audience.

“You,” Mitchell added, “Vladimir Putin coming to the…”

(Read more from “Watch as Trump’s Intel Director Is Stunned by News From the White House” HERE)

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Trump: I’ll Be Vladimir Putin’s ‘Worst Enemy’ If Us-Russia Relationship ‘Doesn’t Work out’

By CNBC. President Donald Trump vowed Thursday that if his dealings with Russian leader Vladimir Putin don’t “work out, I’ll be the worst enemy he’s ever had.”

Trump made the statement during an interview at the White House with CNBC’s Joe Kernen that will air in full Friday at 6 a.m. ET on “Squawk Box.”

In the same interview, Trump blasted his predecessor, President Barack Obama, for having been a “total patsy” for Russia — while claiming he has been “far tougher on Russia than any president in many, many years.”

“Maybe ever,” Trump added.

But Trump also said he valued the opportunity to improve the United States’ relationship to Russia, even after American intelligence agencies have said that Russia repeatedly tried to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (Read more from “Trump: I’ll Be Vladimir Putin’s ‘Worst Enemy’ If Us-Russia Relationship ‘Doesn’t Work out'” HERE)

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Report Claims Sarah Huckabee Sanders Is Leaving White House, Press Secretary Responds

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By CBS News. Two of the most visible members of the Trump administration are planning their departures, the latest sign of upheaval in a White House marked by turmoil.

Press secretary Sarah Sanders and principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah are both heading for the exits, according to sources inside the White House and close to the administration. Sanders, who has become a confidante of President Trump since the departure of former communications director Hope Hicks, has told friends that she plans to leave the administration at the end of the year.

Shah is also considering his exit, but he has not yet settled on an exact date. Neither Sanders nor Shah responded to repeated requests for comment before this story was published. When reached Wednesday evening, both declined to comment on the record, and Sanders tweeted that she is “honored to work for @POTUS.” (Read more from “Report Claims Sarah Huckabee Is Leaving White House, Press Secretary Responds” HERE)

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Sarah Huckabee Sanders Denies Report She’s Leaving White House

By Washington Times. . .The network said Mr. Shah also is considering an exit, though he hasn’t settled on a date.

Mrs. Sanders denied the report in a tweet Wednesday night.

“Does @CBSNews know something I don’t about my plans and my future?” she said. “I was at my daughter’s year-end Kindergarten event and they ran a story about my ‘plans to leave the WH’ without even talking to me. I love my job and am honored to work for @POTUS.”

Mr. Shah also told people close to them that the report is fake news, a source told The Washington Times. (Read more from “Sarah Huckabee Sanders Denies Report She’s Leaving White House” HERE)

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White House Dinner ‘Entertainment’ Burned by Right and Left After Attacking Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ Appearance

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Many reporters — even those typically associated with left-leaning media outlets — were left shocked and aghast at comedian Michelle Wolf’s bizarre and mean-spirited White House Correspondents’ Dinner monologue, after the feminist joked about abortion, CNN’s Jake Tapper, and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ weight and appearance as Sanders looked on from her seat at the head table.

Wolf told the Daily Beast ahead of the program that she was “excited” that Sanders “was finally able to go to prom,” and once on the dias excoriated the press secretary for her makeup, choice of outfit, and weight. “She burns facts & then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. ‘Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies.’ It’s probably lies,” Wolf said as Sanders looked on.

“I’m never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders, you know?” Wolf went on. “Is it Sarah Sanders? Is it Sarah Huckabee Sander? Is it Cousin Huckabee? Is it Auntie Huckabee Sanders? Like, what is Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women? I know… Aunt Coulter.” . . .

Although the joke appeared to earn Wolf the respect of figures like CNN’s Brian Stelter, and progressive icon Joan Walsh — who compared the incident to Stephen Colbert’s 2005 “roast” of then-President George W. Bush without understanding that to be a “roast” the subject has to be in on the joke — most WHCD attendees were turned off by Wolf’s nastiness, even those reporters for whom Trump is a top target.

(Read more from “White House Dinner ‘Entertainment’ Burned by Right and Left After Attacking Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ Appearance” HERE)

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Democrats’ IT Staffer Just Made a Terrifying Claim of the Power He Has over the White House

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The father of a Pakistani tech aide to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and other House Democrats transferred a USB drive to a Pakistani senator and former head of a Pakistani intelligence agency, according to the father’s former business partner, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported.

Investigators already have concluded the congressional IT aide, Imran Awan, and other family members made “unauthorized access” to House servers while working as highly paid IT administrators for House Democrats until Capitol Police began probing them in early 2017.

In the latest development, the former business partner, Rashid Minhas, said Imran Awan’s father, Haji Ashraf Awan, was giving data to Pakistani official Rehman Malik, reported TheDCNF, which traveled to Faisalabad, Pakistan, for the story.

Minhas said Imran Awan bragged he had the power to “change the U.S. president.” . . .

Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence, the ISI, often has been accused of supporting al-Qaida while also being a target of jihadists. When the U.S. closed in on Osama bin-Laden, the CIA director at the time, Leon Panetta, said he didn’t warn the ISI about the raid because he feared word might leak to the al-Qaida leader. (Read more from “Democrats’ It Staffer Just Made a Terrifying Claim of the Power He Has over the White House” HERE)

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