Free Republic

(New York, NY) - President-elect Donald J. Trump today held a series of meetings at Trump Tower in New York City to gather ideas and speak with potential leaders being considered for positions inside the Trump-Pence Administration. President-elect Trump began his day meeting with Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI). The two leaders had a detailed conversation regarding the situation in the Middle East including the crisis in Syria and America's position in the world. They also discussed approaches to fix the VA and other veterans issues. Following his meeting with Rep. Gabbard, President-elect Trump had a productive discussion with former U.S....

(Bedminster, NJ) - President-elect Donald J. Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence today held a second day of meetings at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Mr. Ari Emanuel was their first meeting of the day. They had a good conversation with a longtime friend about business, politics and bridging the political divide across America. The President-elect and Vice President-elect then met with Mr. Peter Kasinow. They had a substantive conversation about labor laws, regulations and freeing up commerce to create more jobs in America. An in-depth conversation followed with Mr. Jon Gray. Their discussion included the...

New York, NY) - President-elect Donald J. Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence today held meetings at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Their first meeting of the day was with Governor Mitt Romney. They had a substantive and in-depth conversation about world affairs, national security and the future of America. It was an extremely positive and productive conversation. The President-elect and Vice President-elect then met with Ms. Michelle Rhee and enjoyed an in-depth discussion about the future of public education in our country. This included the possibility for increasing competition through charter and choice schools. They...

The AP review of Clinton's calendar — her after-the-fact, official chronology of the events of her four-year term — identified at least 75 meetings with longtime political donors and loyalists, Clinton Foundation contributors and corporate and other outside interests that were either not recorded or listed with identifying details scrubbed. The AP found the omissions by comparing the 1,500-page document with separate planning schedules supplied to Clinton by aides in advance of each day's events. The names of at least 114 outsiders who met with Clinton were missing from her calendar, the records show...

There are a few potentially important details surrounding the timeline leading to Bowe Bergdahl’s release that might deserve some discussion. Truth Revolt supplies some details on the timeline: This week’s [the week of Bergdahl’s release] secret diplomacy was not the first time the U.S. government had engaged the Taliban in an effort to negotiate a prisoner swap for the release of Bergdahl. In 2011, State Department officials held a series of meetings with Taliban leaders in Doha. In Congress, there was bipartisan opposition to any release of Guantanamo prisoners. After the negotiations were made public in early 2012 by Sen....

The AP review of Clinton's calendar — her after-the-fact, official chronology of the events of her four-year term — identified at least 75 meetings with longtime political donors and loyalists, Clinton Foundation contributors and corporate and other outside interests that were either not recorded or listed with identifying details scrubbed. The AP found the omissions by comparing the 1,500-page document with separate planning schedules supplied to Clinton by aides in advance of each day's events. The names of at least 114 outsiders who met with Clinton were missing from her calendar, the records show.

Donald Trump will meet face-to-face with Speaker Paul Ryan at 9 a.m. on Thursday at the RNC, according to a GOP leadership source familiar with the schedule. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus will sit in the meeting, too. A second meeting including Ryan, Trump and a larger roster of GOP leadership will follow. Attendees will include Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), and Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) There will be no press availability after, but Ryan will do an on-camera availability later that morning, the source said. Trump has no plans...

President Obama on Wednesday met with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an ally of the White House on gun control. The meeting, which was not on the president's public schedule, comes as he is weighing new executive action on guns in response to a series of mass shootings that have marred his presidency. Obama huddled with Bloomberg "as part of the administration's continuing push to address gun violence in America," the White House said in a statement. "The two discussed ways to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have access to them...

White House Holds Meeting With Muslims And Sikhs by KRISTIN DONNELLY, CHRIS JANSING and CORKY SIEMASZKO President Obama's top advisers held a series of meetings Monday with Muslim and Sikh religious leaders to discuss the fallout their communities are facing in the wake of the deadly San Bernardino shootings. Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, Domestic Policy Council director Cecilia Munoz, and Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes took part in the White House sit-downs — a dozen days after a radicalized Muslim couple fatally shot 14 people and wounded 21 more in California. The Chicago-born Syed Farood and his wife Tashfeen...

'Saddam's deputy' in anti-US call The US blames Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri for attacks on its troops A message purported to be from the fugitive deputy of executed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has called on insurgents to make a final push against US forces. The message attributed to Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri urged Iraqi fighters to "make this year... decisive for victory". The message also called on US President George W Bush to "come clean about the scale of US losses". Ibrahim is the most senior member of Saddam Hussein's regime still at large. The message, aired by Dubai-based satellite broadcaster...

Politics Report: The Obama Administration Conducts More Closed-Door Meetings Than Ever Before Photo of Chuck Ross Chuck Ross Reporter 3:28 PM 11/03/2015 94 693 A new report finds that in the past decade, federal agencies held the highest percentage of closed-door meetings in 2013 and 2014, undermining President Obama’s commitment to running the “most transparent administration in history.” The report, from the Congressional Research Service, looked at data provided by federal agencies under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The executive branch utilizes federal advisory committees as a way to allow outside experts to provide advice and recommendations to the...

JERUSALEM -- Egypt is now on the front lines of the battle against ISIS, and some of its leaders are making new accusations about the Obama administration's war on terror. They accuse the United States of playing a double game, fighting terrorists abroad while meeting with them at home. A recent White House meeting between President Barack Obama and Muslim leaders sent shockwaves through the Middle East, specifically in Israel and Egypt. The cause of the uproar: the group included leaders with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. "We just don't understand because we know the history of the Muslim Brothers,"...

At the White House Press Briefing began today, White House reporters had a question: Would former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stop by the White House to visit with President Obama? (Snip) But spokesman Josh Earnest wouldn’t even acknowledge that the meeting was taking place. “I don’t have any additional details to share about the President’s schedule today,” he said, acknowledging that they had visited in the past. “I don’t have any meetings to share with you from here.” But the pair did meet this afternoon, without any press notification. After the meeting, however, Earnest sent White House reporters the...

... On Friday, Republicans leaked what they said was a quote from Rhodes: "We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don't want to undermine the FBI investigation." But it turns out that in the actual email, Rhodes did not mention the State Department. It read: "We need to resolve this in a way that respects all of the relevant equities, particularly the investigation." Republicans also provided what they said was a quote from an email written by State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland. The Republican version quotes Nuland...

A Muslim Brotherhood member who recently was hosted at the State Department along with several of the Islamist group’s key allies now claims that a White House official also was present in that meeting, according to recent remarks. Abdel Mawgoud al-Dardery, a Brotherhood member and former Egyptian parliamentarian, was in the United States late last month along with a delegation of fellow Brotherhood leaders and allies. The Brotherhood-aligned delegation caused an international stir after the Washington Free Beacon revealed that it had been hosted for a meeting with several State Department officials. Another member of the group, a Brotherhood-aligned judge...

President Obama met with American Muslim leaders this afternoon, according to the White House schedule, but so far the administration is unwilling to reveal who attended the meeting, which was closed to the press. The White House released a readout of the meeting explaining that Obama discussed “a range of domestic and foreign policy issues” including Obamacare, police fairness, anti-Muslim discrimination, and the upcoming Summit on Countering Violence Extremism. “The President discussed the need to continue countering ISIL and other groups that commit horrific acts of violence, purportedly in the name of Islam,” the readout continued. White House Press Secretary...

Recent developments involving the Islamic Republic of Iran can fairly be characterized as grave. Iran has announced that it has begun construction on two more nuclear plants, and the authorities have imprisoned a Washington Post journalist on mysterious charges. **SNIP** On behalf of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Matt Brooks of the Republican Jewish Coalition put out this statement: What exactly was President Obama suggesting when he said opposition to his Iran policy is due to “donors”? No one would say opposition to his Russia policy is due to ‘donors,’ or his Cuba policy is due to “donors,” or his general...

The Expert...Someone sent me this and I thought it was well worth sharing. Enjoy!

Excerpted from the Longmont, Times-Call Thursday, December 6 {by Joe Rubino} County steps up meeting security Comissioners cite "mob" during fracking hearing. The Boulder County Comissioners were so taken aback by the conduct of anti-fracking protesters during a hearing Tuesday that that have announced a new security plan. The plan [...] calls for [...] the prosecution of people who threaten the safety of others at meetings.

When asked if he is a secularist or an atheist, Peter Ferguson says he is “just a human.” The architect recently filed an application in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in a bid to get his local Grey County council to stop praying and turning council into what he calls a “Christian zone.” “This has nothing to do with my personal beliefs, other than we must be good to one another,” he said. Ferguson said he tried for a year and a half “to convince them that what they were doing was hurting the citizens of Grey County and...