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President Barack Obama said in an interview published Wednesday that reparations payments for black Americans could be a good idea but simply aren’t politically feasible. Speaking with The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates, Obama said that it’s easy to make an argument for reparations for black Americans because of past sins like slavery and Jim Crow laws. . . . A report released by the United Nations’ Working Group of Experts on African Descent accused the U.S. of having a racist history. The country’s history of slavery and current police shootings, the report argued, meant that America owes the black community reparations.

President-elect Trump's pledge to "drain the swamp" in Washington struck a chord with millions of Americans ... Clean Power Plan: After failing to pass cap-and-trade legislation through Congress, Obama had his political appointees at the EPA slap coal-fired power plants with greenhouse-gas-emission limits they knew the industry couldn't meet ... In doing so, EPA usurped the states' role in regulating electricity markets within their boundaries, and even commandeered the states to enforce its new policy. ... Paris Climate Change Agreement .. entails a substantial transfer of wealth from American taxpayers into the waiting hands of Third World potentates ... Waters...

The Obama administration has finalized rules designed to reduce the environmental impact of coal mining on the nation’s streams, a long-anticipated move that met quick resistance from Republicans who vowed to overturn it under President-elect Donald Trump. The Interior Department said Monday the rule will protect 6,000 miles of streams and 52,000 acres of forests, preventing debris from coal mining from being dumped into nearby waters. …

A new congressional investigation has determined that the Obama administration fired a top scientist and intimidated staff at the Department of Energy in order to further its climate change agenda, according to a new report that alleges the administration ordered top officials to obstruct Congress in order to forward this agenda. Rep. Lamar Smith (R., Texas), chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, released a wide-ranging report on Tuesday that shows how senior Obama administration officials retaliated against a leading scientist and plotted ways to block a congressional inquiry surrounding key research into the impact of radiation....

The following article was published on December 7th on the Washington Examiner website By Byron York There's no shortage of people telling Donald Trump he can't build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. And maybe, in the end, he won't do it. But at the moment Trump takes office, he will have the legal authority and the money he needs to get started on the wall. Yes, there will be obstacles — what's the over/under on the number of lawsuits that will be filed trying to stop it? — but the fact is, the law is already in place that...

Four senators, including Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham, called for a select committee to investigate Russian hacking of the American election process. Robert Gates said the Russian hacking was designed to hurt Hillary Clinton. John Podesta said the F.B.I. had contacted him only once about the hacking of his emails.

It’s been more than a few months since we first began discussing the obvious internal conflict between White Hats and Black Hats within the Obama intelligence and national security agencies. Today, we see exactly how bad the fracture has become.

After the Republican avalanche of a victory in last month's elections, there was still more good news for the Grand Old Brand New Party courtesy of Nancy Pelosi. It seems she's eked out a narrow victory over a Democratic insurgency against her stultified leadership of the party in the House, a leadership that has been rusting for the past 14 years. If everything isn't coming up roses for the GOP, at least there are tulips covering the horizon the way daffodils do Wye Mountain every spring. And all Nancy Pelosi could say about her aforementioned "leadership" was the same thing...

Republican lawmakers are increasingly at odds with Donald Trump across a range of ­high-profile domestic and national security issues, an early sign that the GOP-led Congress might resist some elements of the ­president-elect’s un­or­tho­dox agenda. Although Trump maintains enthusiastic backing in many corners of the party, key members of the Senate and House have been outspoken in challenging his views of Russia and its interference in the U.S. election, warning of potential conflicts of interest arising from Trump’s far-flung business interests if he does not fully divest from his company, and criticizing the tough approach that he has taken to some...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01) released the following statement on his decision to vote against H.R. 4919, Kevin and Avonte's Law, which establishes a federal program to chip individuals with autism and developmental disabilities: “While this initiative may have noble intentions, ‘small and temporary’ programs in the name of safety and security often evolve into permanent and enlarged bureaucracies that infringe on the American people’s freedoms. That is exactly what we have here. A safety problem exists for people with Alzheimer’s, autism and other mental health issues, so the fix, we are told, is to have the Department...

It's time for congress to demonstrate just how serious they are about electoral integrity. Elections matter and no State should be allowed to undermine the public confidence in it's accuracy. We need to reject any state who fails to meet a shared common standard including Voter Identification and participation in a nationwide database crosscheck to verify if a voter has already cast a ballot. 1. Photo ID : if the party wants your support they should furnish you with a registration card with your photo on it. 2. National Voter Status Database : record includes 3 entries A) Registered :...

County leaders are hopeful that the $1 trillion infrastructure investment promised by Republican president-elect Donald Trump will have a big impact on the region. Trump has promised to prioritize infrastructure spending in his first 100 days in office. The move is one that Democrats, now in minority positions in both houses of Congress, have said they're willing to support. The plan, which is not yet fully fleshed out, looks to rely heavily on billions of dollars of infrastructure tax credits to private entities. And while Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen warned recently that weighing down the national debt with...

Regulations: Donald Trump will have a busy first day if he plans to undo much of the damage inflicted on the economy by President Obama. Nevertheless, here's one more item to add to his list: Overturn $1.7 billion in Dodd-Frank rules. The Dodd-Frank financial "reform," passed by Democrats and signed into law by President Obama in 2010, is arguably the most misguided and economically harmful piece of legislation ever imposed on the country (the second, arguably, is ObamaCare). As we've noted in this space before, one of the main reasons the economy has been stuck in neutral for the past...

“Repeal and delay” is the sequel to “repeal and replace,” which isn’t viable because after seven years of opposing ObamaCare the congressional GOP still has yet to coalesce around a replacement plan. They can’t repeal and replace the law in January because there’s nothing to replace it with. If, however, they wait to repeal the law until they do have a replacement ready, things could go haywire — the Republican base could become angry and demoralized at having to wait, Democrats could come roaring back and take back Congress in 2018, and suddenly the votes aren’t there for repeal...

WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress plan to move almost immediately next month to repeal the Affordable Care Act, as President-elect Donald J. Trump promised. But they also are likely to delay the effective date so that they have several years to phase out President Obama’s signature achievement. This emerging “repeal and delay” strategy, which Speaker Paul D. Ryan discussed this week with Vice President-elect Mike Pence, underscores a growing recognition that replacing the health care law will be technically complicated and could be politically explosive. Since the law was signed by Mr. Obama in March 2010, 20 million uninsured people...

Congressman Keith Ellison argued Friday at a gathering of Democrats that he could take over as chairman of the Democratic National Committee and keep his job in congress because, “All there is to do is to vote ‘no’.”The Friday gathering in Denver was viewed as a try out for the various contenders for the DNC post being vacated by interim chairwoman Donna Brazile. Appearing by video, Howard Dean made a surprise announcement that he would no longer be seeking the DNC chairmanship. That was good news for Ellison who is considered the leading contender for the job. However, one thing...

Earmarks again are a topic in Congress, and people in this part of Pennsylvania shouldn’t condemn them. Back in the 1970s, when highway construction was booming around the biggest population centers of the Keystone State, places like Altoona, Johnstown, Ebensburg and Bedford were told that once those projects were completed, work would begin on their roadway needs.But as the large-scale projects around Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Erie were completed, the promises that had been made to Blair County and other smaller-population areas, didn’t materialize because of alleged money shortages.The message seemed to be: “We’ll get to you sometime, but for...

“ He’s having fun with it,” said the aide, who recalled how much the House “Trump caucus” has grown from five or six members when Collins first launched it to another meeting this week where 50 members appeared who had never been there before. (Snip) A few Democrats have also slipped Collins their resumes as well. “I think there are a handful of Democrats that are interested in working in the administration. As we’ve seen Donald Trump is being very strategic with whom those Democrats are. They’re senators in very Republican states...”

Complicated transitions I don’t like the sound of this, but I’m somewhat hopeful the worst possible interpretation of it is not accurate. Plus, it does come from the Worst Web Site in the World (at least until Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei complete the task of outdoing themselves), so maybe it’s all made up: Congressional Republicans are setting up their own, self-imposed deadline to make good on their vow to replace the Affordable Care Act. With buy-in from Donald Trump’s transition team, GOP leaders on both sides of the Capitol are coalescing around a plan to vote to repeal the...

Washington, DC – The House Select Panel on Infant Lives has released a list of nine criminal and regulatory referrals against abortion providers and/or fetal tissue procurement companies made as a result of their investigation into the illegal practice of selling aborted baby remains for profit. The list was released in advance of an expected vote today on H. Res. 933, which would cover the expenses of the Select Panel’s work through the end of the year. Floor debate is currently scheduled to begin around 2:30pm ET, with 30 minutes for debate allotted to each of the two sides. The...