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Ten generals signed the open letter written by General Antoine Martinez. The signatories include top level figures, such as an admiral, a colonel, as well as the former French Minister of Defense Charles Millon. They are from the network of the Volontaires pour la France (VPF) The generals warned Macron that the deal will mean less sovereignty for France, providing yet another reason for “an already battered people” to “revolt”. They accuse Macron of being “guilty of a denial of democracy or treason against the nation” for signing the Compact without allowing a public debate on the issue, or consulting...

Fridays at the DC federal courthouse are typically days of high alert for the press corps trying to discern what special counsel Robert Mueller's next legal action will be. But this Friday, court officials went to extreme measures to ensure it was as difficult as possible to figure out what Mueller's team was doing as the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held a secret and mysterious argument about a grand jury subpoena challenge. An entire floor of the courthouse was closed to the public and press for more than an hour. During that time, attorneys...

The search for President Trump's next chief-of-staff continues, but we're getting closer to a decision. Speaking at the White House Thursday afternoon, President Trump said he has narrowed down his choices.  Pres Trump says he's down to 5 candidates for WH Chief of Staff. Calls them "really good ones. Terrific people. Mostly well known." Says they're undergoing interviews. pic.twitter.com/hZIFA8eNx0— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) December 13, 2018 During an interview with Fox News, President Trump said he is still open to ideas about who should replace General John Kelly, but that he's looking for someone who "thinks like him.""I want someone that's...

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether President Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee misspent some of the record $107 million it raised from donations, people familiar with the matter said. The criminal probe by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which is in its early stages, also is examining whether some of the committee’s top donors gave money in exchange for access to the incoming Trump administration, policy concessions or to influence official administration positions, some of the people said. Giving money in exchange for political favors could run afoul of federal corruption laws. Diverting funds from the organization, which was registered...

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether President Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee misspent some of the record $107 million it raised from donations, people familiar with the matter said. The criminal probe by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which is in its early stages, also is examining whether some of the committee’s top donors gave money in exchange for access to the incoming Trump administration, policy concessions or to influence official administration positions, some of the people said. Giving money in exchange for political favors could run afoul of federal corruption laws. Diverting funds from the organization, which was registered...

Cherif Chekatt, France gunman who opened fire at Christmas market, is dead, reports say By Elizabeth Zwirz | Fox News Cherif Chekatt, the gunman who killed multiple people Tuesday at a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, is dead, local reports said Thursday. A wide-scale manhunt for the suspect had been ongoing since the shooting earlier this week. Three people were killed in the attack and several others injured....

EXCLUSIVE – President Trump has canceled the White House holiday party for the media, making the decades-old tradition a victim of his increasingly contentious relationship with major news organizations. The annual Christmas-season gathering was a significant perk for those covering the White House, as well as other Washington reporters, anchors and commentators, and New York media executives would regularly fly in for the occasion. At its peak, the invitation-only soirees grew so large that there were two back-to-back events, one for broadcast outlets and one for print organizations.Journalists who attended the events, which featured a catered buffet of lamb chops,...

San Francisco (CNN Business)California regulators want to tax text messages to increase funds for programs that bring connectivity to underserved residents. A new surcharge proposed by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) wouldn't be a per-text tax, but a monthly fee based on a cellular bill that includes any fees for text-message services. Most carriers offer a flat fee option for texting, and already charge a similar fee for other services included in the bill — such as phone calls. The exact structure of the charge would vary from carrier to carrier........

“Climate change can seem like a distant problem, a speck on the horizon. It’s not. It’s a present and deadly reality.” These words were recently printed by the Huffington Post. “Common sense dictates that the economy undergo a massive restructuring away from fossil fuels to save lives. And a growing body of research shows that the only way to avoid catastrophic levels of climate change is to cease production of vast amounts of “unburnable” carbon. The only problem with this is that it is based on the assumption that carbon is a warming gas that is heating the planet. Every...

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s top security official said Wednesday the government will close off illegal entries at its southern border with Guatemala, but didn’t say how the country plans to do it. Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero also said the migrant caravans that crossed the southern border in October “is no longer an issue.” “Do you know why it is no longer an issue? Because in five days this administration solved the issue, five days,” she said, referring to the first week since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office Dec. 1. “The United States was impressed.” The new administration...

Interesting, very interesting. As noted in the Flynn sentencing memo last night there were some curiously framed explanations of events surrounding his FBI inquisition. Now Judge Emmet Sullivan wants expanded information, and wishes to see the actual notes (FD-302) that were mentioned by Flynn; and Judge Sullivan is directing the special counsel to provide all documents created by the FBI surrounding the Flynn interview:

The Vatican’s third most powerful official has been convicted in Australia on all charges he sexually abused two choir boys there in the late '90s, according to two sources with knowledge of the case. A unanimous jury returned its verdict for Cardinal George Pell on Tuesday (Australian time) after more than three days of deliberations, the sources said, in a trial conducted under a gag order by the judge that prevented any details of the trial being made public.....

Students at a public high school have demonstrated their support for a Christian teacher fired from his position because he refused to refer to a trans-identified student by their preferred pronoun. Less than 24 hours after the West Point, Virginia school board unanimously voted to terminate high school French instructor Peter Vlaming, a large group of students walked out of their classes to protest the decision. “He's an amazing man,” student Wyatt Pedersen told WWBT News. “I think he really was going with what he believed was right and it's really unfair that he’s being punished for that, especially in...

With the chamber set to take up two competing measures denouncing Saudi Arabia and its crown prince, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday morning urged his colleagues to show restraint and embrace a more modest bill that would condemn Riyadh for the killing of a U.S. journalist but wouldn’t formally cut off all backing for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. Speaking on the Senate floor, Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican, told fellow senators they should vote against a bipartisan bill that would end all U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s war against Houthi rebels in Yemen. Instead, he said lawmakers should...

President Donald Trump on Wednesday used a terror attack at a famous Christmas market in a small, scenic town in France on Tuesday night to once again argue for more funding for U.S. border security - despite no evidence of links between terror attacks in the U.S. and illegal immigration over the southern border. His call came a day after he threatened to shut down the government if he doesn't get $5 billion for a border wall. "Another very bad terror attack in France," Trump tweeted. "We are going to strengthen our borders even more. Chuck and Nancy must give...

The world has found itself in a “mammoth environmental crisis,� and we will all have to dramatically alter our diets to reduce our impact on the Earth, CNN argues in a story advocating replacing beef consumption with bug consumption.Discussing the UK’s new “bleeding� burger that is not made from meat, CNN has laid out a few options for getting away from “greenhouse-gas-intensive foods such as beef and toward healthier and more sustainable diets.� Here are some foods you can eat to reduce your beef intake https://t.co/BNMFUwil3j pic.twitter.com/ddmB4uWXEs— CNN (@CNN) December 9, 2018 Six-legged creatures already supplement the diets of 2...

Vice President Mike Pence had to break a tie in the Senate on Tuesday to confirm Jonathan Kobes as a judge on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. The 50-50 tie came thanks to Sen. Jeff Flake, who joined every Democrat in voting against the nomination. The retiring Arizona senator has vowed to block all judicial picks until the Senate votes on legislation that would protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired.Kobes is the first judge in U.S. history to be confirmed by the Senate with a tie-breaking vote from the vice president, according to CBS News.  With @VP breaking...

The Trump administration on Tuesday formally asked the Supreme Court to block a nationwide ban on the administration's new asylum policy that was unilaterally instituted by a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judge last month. In a November news conference days before the midterm elections, Trump had vowed to turn away all asylum seekers who attempt to cross the border illegally instead of properly presenting themselves at ports of entry. The president, who has long said the asylum process is rife with fraud, said the emergency policy was necessary as the leading Central American migrant caravan approached the U.S. border...

It’s a win for Trump. The defamation lawsuit filed against Donald Trump by Michael Avenatti on behalf of Stormy Daniels has been tossed—and a judge is ordering her to pay nearly the president’s $294,000 legal tab. Daniels recently toldthe Daily Beast that the defamation suit filed by Avenatti was done against her wishes. The suit claimed that Trump has defamed the adult entertainment actress on his Twitter account. Well, regardless of the circumstances, it’s time to pay up, Stormy (via CNBC): OH MAN A federal judge just ordered Stormy Daniels to pay a whopping $293K to Trump for “attorneys’ fees,...

Barack Obama is doing everything in his power to encourage average Americans to sign up for the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare. In fact, he's doing everything he possibly can to keep the legislation that has been deemed his legacy, from dying. On Monday, Obama shared a video, reminding Americans to sign up in case they get "very sick" in 2019. No jump shots. No ferns. No memes. Not this time. I’m going to give it to you straight: If you need health insurance for 2019, the deadline to get covered is December 15. Go to https://t.co/ob1Ynoesod...