Friday 23 December 2016

Trump's White House Press Shop

The communications team announced by President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday shows that the status quo is shifting in the White House press shop as well as in other corners of the incoming administration
The structure of the team is changing from past administrations in order to address the needs of the first Twitter president.
While previous White House communications staffs have been hierarchical, Trump’s four appointees will each be an "assistant to the president” along with their more specific job titles. 

That jibes with word from sources in previous days that Trump was weighing creating equal roles instead of the usual chain of command. 

EQUALITY OF COMMAND:

Trump once again set the unprecedented role to be unconventional and awarded four assistants to the president roles to handle press and fulfill the role of White House communications. 




Spicer, Hicks, Miller and Dan --- Four Dynamic People Join The White House Communications Team !!


SPICER ----- Press Secretary to the White House:


Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee’s chief strategist and spokesman, will take over the mantle of White House press secretary, and campaign communications adviser Jason Miller will become White House communications director.

Spicer, who was announced as press secretary earlier Thursday, told "The Kelly File" in an exclusive interview that Trump was unique among politicians because "he's not having to put everything through the filter of the mainstream media."
It is absolutely fascinating and it makes every day, every hour just unbelievable," Spicer told host Sandra Smith. "Because you know you’re having that conversation with the American people and they can have it back with him."
Spicer said he believed the Trump administration would still hold daily press briefings, despite occasional suggestions otherwise. However, he left open the possibility that they would exist in a modified form.
"Can we do things better? Can we be more effective? Can we put the American people first in some of these?" Spicer asked. "It’s not a question of getting rid of certain things ... maybe we add an element to them. Maybe not everything’s on camera, maybe we bring more people into the process."
When asked how he would balance the president-elect's turbulent relationship with the media, Spicer responded, "I think there’s a difference between calling people out and understanding the role that the press plays in a free society.
"The press has a right to go out and write stories ... but I think similarly, and what Donald Trump has proven ... is that when people are wrong, he’s going to hold them accountable and he’s going to correct the record."
White House --- Press Shop has Hope Hicks and Dan Scavino

Joining them in the press shop will be Hope Hicks and Dan Scavino, two longtime Trump loyalists who have been with the business mogul since the start of his presidential bid. Hicks will serve as director of strategic communications while Scavino will become director of social media. Both served in similar roles during the campaign. 
The four have had months of experience together on the campaign, with Spicer and Miller coordinating the daily transition calls since the election. On the surface at least, the aides are positioned to work well together in the White House. 
At the same time, the parallel roles could create rival centers of power, something Trump observers say has been a hallmark of Trump Inc.
Trump allies say Trump’s White House press operations might look different from those that came before them.
“Unlike a cabinet department where a lot of this is statutory, the president can change his staff and structure at his whim. If he wants to create a hydra-headed communications shop…he can do it,” said Jeffrey Lord, a top Trump cable surrogate and former White House aide. “A Trump White House will be an extension of his personality and his organizational style.”
Unlike more methodical press operations, Lord said it’s incumbent on the Trump press shop to be nimble and ready to amplify the presidential message, even if it’s one that comes out of an unexpected tweet.
Spicer did not return a request for comment from The Hill about his upcoming role. But he’s been a vocal defender of Trump for months on social media and cable news, Trump’s preferred mediums.
Although Spicer is steeped in the GOP establishment, he share his boss’s taste for an unconventional approach. 
Last week, he floated the prospect of Trump shaking up “this very stale operation” in the White House press corps, adding that conservative media and bloggers could have more of a presence and that the format of a standard daily briefing could change. He also entertained the prospect of making the briefing room seats first-come first-served, rather than having them assigned to specific outlets, as is currently the case.
The remarks were made at a Politico event where, true to the combative form of Team Trump, Spicer blasted the hosting news organization for “clickbait” journalism that’s “devoid of facts” and unfair to Republicans. 
More broadly, Spicer said, “What Donald Trump represents is someone who comes in and says, ‘Let’s get it done, let’s question the status quo, let’s end business as usual and let’s make real change.”
Christopher Ruddy, the CEO of the conservative Newsmax Media and a longtime friend of Trump’s, told The Hill that the press shop and the role of spokesman is going to gain an outsized importance in the Trump administration.
“Because of his interests, the fact that he’ll continue Twitter, he does speak his mind and impromptu—they really do need to have this daily briefing every day,” he said.
“Donald is very comfortable with Miller and from what I understand, likes Spicer. Spicer is a veteran, he parachutes into the job, he knows all the players, he’s got good relationships. And one of the things Donald likes about him is he knows all of the conservative-leaning media.”
The tentacles of the press strategy will likely extend far outside the official shop, as those closest to Trump have vast media experience. 
Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief adviser, comes from helming the conservative Breitbart News and is expected to play a major role in crafting the White House’s message. 
KELLYANNE CONWAY --- To play a major role in the White House:
And so is former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, chosen Thursday to serve as counselor to the President.
Even though the more recent relationship between Trump and the press has turned—at times—antagonistic, Ruddy said that Trump will make messaging a top priority for both him and his White House.
“For all the criticism, if you look at the overall history, he’s had a generally good relationship with the media. It’s only in the closing months where it’s gotten bad,” he said. 
He wants to go back to a more positive relationship with the media… he’s going to be much more involved with the press than probably any other president."
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Editor's Note: We can hope that Trump's team will provide all the necessary information on a timely basis to the media. The press pool coverage is a traditional system of covering the President of U.S. since Roosevelt, and this would be the 1st time the White House team would be on toes to look after the demands of the 1st Twitter President and one who can say words and statement right through his heart and mind.
Kanwal Abidi
- Executive Editor:  Washington D.C. News 
- Special Correspondent:  Metro 1 News (Broadcast Journalist)
- White House Press Correspondent (Politics and National Security)

Sunday 4 December 2016

Guantanamo Bay Detainee To Be Transferred

Detainee Transfer Announced


The Department of Defense announced today as on 4th Dec 2016 the transfer of Shawqi Awad Balzuhair from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the Govt of Cabo Verde.

On July 11, 2016, a Periodic Review Board consisting of representatives from the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and State; the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence determined continued law of war detention of Balzuhair does not remain necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States. As a result of that review, which examined a number of factors, including security issues, Balzuhair  was recommended for transfer by consensus of the six departments and agencies comprising the Periodic Review Board. The Periodic Review Board process was established by the president's March 7, 2011 Executive Order 13567.

In accordance with statutory requirements, the secretary of defense informed Congress of the United States' intent to transfer this individual and of the secretary's determination that this transfer meets the statutory standard.

The United States is grateful to the Government of Cabo Verde for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The United States coordinated with the Government of Cabo Verde  to ensure this transfer took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures.

Today as on 4th Dec 2-16, 59 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay.

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Reported By:

KANWAL ABIDI

W*DC News (Washington DC News) Executive Editor

White House Correspondent & Political Analyst



Tuesday 29 November 2016

FBI Invstigates Child Pornography Case

Ballston Spa Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges

ALBANY, NEW YORKParker S. Sikand, age 24, of Ballston Spa, New York, pled guilty today to distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Andrew W. Vale, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

As part of his guilty plea, Sikand admitted that while living in Troy, New York, in September and October 2012, he distributed, received and possessed videos depicting children, some as young as 2-3 years old, engaged in sexual acts.  He admitted to distributing and receiving these videos through an Internet peer-to-peer file-sharing service, and to possessing them on a laptop computer and a separate computer hard drive.

Sikand faces at least 5 years and up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, a term of post-imprisonment supervised release of at least 5 years and up to life, and mandatory registration as a sex offender.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.  U.S. District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino is scheduled to sentence Sikand on March 23, 2017. 

This case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett.

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EDITOR's NOTE (By: Kanwal Abidi)

FBI has ZERO tolerance on Child Pornography. Yet, many cases are reported and investigated in America. All those who still indulge in this vivacious task will be brought to justice and will be doomed in the life hereafter. As GOD sees what we can't see .. 
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Reported By:

KANWAL ABIDI

- White House Correspondent
- Online Executive Editor *WDC* News
- Political Analyst


Thursday 24 November 2016

Trump's Thanksgiving Address

President-Elect Donald J. Trump Releases Thanksgiving Address
 
(New York, NY) – President-elect Donald J. Trump today released a Thanksgiving message in which he asks everyone to set aside their differences and join together under the shared resolve to Make America Great Again for all people.

We are very blessed to call this nation our home.  And that is what America is: it is our home.  It’s where we raise our families, care for our loved ones, look out for our neighbors, and live out our dreams.

It is my prayer, that on this Thanksgiving, we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country, strengthened by a shared purpose and very, very common resolve.

In declaring this national holiday, President Lincoln called upon Americans to speak with “one voice and one heart.” That’s just what we have to do.

We have just finished a long and bruising political campaign.  Emotions are raw and tensions just don’t heal overnight. It doesn’t go quickly, unfortunately, but we have before us the chance now to make history together to bring real change to Washington, real safety to our cities, and real prosperity to our communities, including our inner cities. So important to me, and so important to our country.  But to succeed, we must enlist the effort of our entire nation.

This historic political campaign is now over.  Now begins a great national campaign to rebuild our country and to restore the full promise of America for all of our people.

I am asking you to join me in this effort. It is time to restore the bonds of trust between citizens. Because when America is unified, there is nothing beyond our reach, and I mean absolutely nothing.

Let us give thanks for all that we have, and let us boldly face the exciting new frontiers that lie ahead.

Thank you. God Bless You and God Bless America.

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Reported By:

KANWAL ABIDI
- White House Correspondent
- Founder & Online Executive Editor - W*DC* News (Washington DC News)
 

Wednesday 16 November 2016

FBI Releases 2015 Hate Crime Stats

2015 Hate Crime Statistics

Today (14th Nov 2016)  the FBI released Hate Crime Statistics, 2015, the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s latest compilation about bias-motivated incidents throughout the nation. This year’s collection marks the 25th anniversary of the FBI gathering and publishing data about bias-motivated crimes. The first publication in 1990 included limited data from only 11 states. The collection has grown each year into the wide-ranging report presented today. Submitted by 14,997 law enforcement agencies across the nation, the 2015 data provide information about the offenses, victims, offenders, and locations of hate crimes; however, the UCR Program does not estimate offenses for the jurisdictions of agencies that do not submit reports. Highlights of Hate Crime Statistics, 2015, follow.

Law enforcement agencies submitted incident reports involving 5,850 criminal incidents and 6,885 related offenses as being motivated by bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity in 2015.


Victims of Hate Crime Incidents

  • There were 5,818 single-bias incidents involving 7,121 victims. A percent distribution of victims by bias type showed that 59.2 percent of victims were targeted because of the offenders’ race/ethnicity/ancestry bias, 19.7 percent were targeted because of the offenders’ religious bias, and 17.7 percent were victimized because of the offenders’ sexual-orientation bias. Victims targeted because of the offenders’ bias against gender identity accounted for 1.7 percent of victims of single-bias incidents; disabilities, 1.2 percent; and gender, 0.4 percent. (Due to rounding, percentage breakdowns may not add to 100.0 percent.)
  • Thirty-two multiple-bias hate crime incidents involved 52 victims.

Offenses by Crime Category

  • Of the 4,482 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against persons in 2015, intimidation accounted for 41.3 percent, simple assault accounted for 37.8 percent, and aggravated assault for 19.7 percent. Eighteen murders and 13 rapes (12 from agencies that collected data using the revised definition of rape) were reported as hate crimes.
    • Beginning with the 2013 data collection, the UCR Program’s revised definition of rape is “penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” [This includes the offenses of rape, sodomy, and sexual assault with an object as converted from data submitted via the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).
    • The UCR Program’s legacy definition of rape is “The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.”
  • There were 2,338 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against property. The majority of these (72.6 percent) were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism. Robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other offenses accounted for the remaining 27.4 percent of crimes against property.
  • Sixty-five additional offenses were classified as crimes against society, which were collected via NIBRS. This crime category represents society’s prohibition against engaging in certain types of activity such as gambling, prostitution, and drug violations. These are typically victimless crimes in which property is not the object.

Known Offenders

  • In the UCR Program, the term known offender does not imply that the suspect’s identity is known; rather, the term indicates that some aspect of the suspect was identified, thus distinguishing the suspect from an unknown offender. Law enforcement agencies specify the number of offenders and, when possible, the race of the offender or offenders as a group. Beginning in 2013, law enforcement officers could also report whether suspects were juveniles or adults, as well as the suspect’s ethnicity when possible.
    • Of the 5,493 known offenders, 48.4 percent were white, and 24.3 percent were black or African-American. The race was unknown for 16.2 percent. Other races accounted for the remaining known offenders: 1.0 percent were Asian; 0.9 percent were American Indian or Alaska Native; 0.1 percent were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; and 9.1 percent were of a group of multiple races.
    • Of the 3,421 known offenders for whom ethnicity was reported, 25.7 percent were not Hispanic or Latino, 6.1 percent were Hispanic or Latino, and 1.6 percent were in a group of multiple ethnicities. Ethnicity was unknown for 66.6 percent of these offenders.
    • Of the 3,331 known offenders for whom ages were known, 84.7 percent were 18 years of age or older.

Locations of Hate Crimes

Law enforcement agencies may specify the location or an offense within a hate crime incident as one of 46 location designations. 

In 2015, most hate crime incidents (31.5 percent) occurred in or near residences/homes; 

---- 17.4 occurred on highways/roads/alleys/streets/sidewalks; 

---- 8.3 percent occurred at schools/colleges; 5.6 percent happened at parking/drop lots/garages; and 

---- 4.4 percent took place in churches/synagogues/temples/mosques. 

---- The location was reported as other/unknown for 11.0 percent of hate crime incidents. The remaining 21.8 percent of hate crime incidents took place at other or multiple locations.

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News Compiled by Kanwal Abidi: (Source FBI Resources Hub)

--- Founder and Executive Editor 
W*DC News             (Washington DC News)

--- Special Correspondent 
Metro 1 News (Leading Pakistani channel)

--- White House Correspondent 
(Politics and National Security)

Who will lead Pentagon in the Trump Administration?

The New Boss in the Pentagon:
The two people most frequently mentioned to head the Pentagon in Trump’s administration are both senators — and some of the chamber’s most hawkish Republicans.
They are Alabama’s Jeff Sessions — one of Trump’s closest allies and a top booster since the start of the businessman’s unconventional campaign — and Arkansas’s Tom Cotton, an Iraq and Afganistan Army veteran and at 39, the youngest member of the Senate.
Their colleagues are, at this point, used to their often controversial stances on national security:
*Cotton’s recent argument that water boarding does not fall under the torture. 
*Sessions also recently voted against anti torture legislation, which puts both in line with Trump, who backs the use of waterboarding and supports "much worse" methods as interrogation techniques.
WHO TO CHOOSE:
But if Trump goes with Sessions, Washington Republicans could be in for a rude awakening: the Alabama Republican has long campaigned for smaller federal budgets, and doggedly favors keeping as a ceiling the overall budget caps that Congress almost surely must lift in order to approve the dramatic defense ramp-up that Trump promised during his campaign.
Defense hawks in Congress are certain that with Cotton, they could raise spending to the levels they have been clamoring for. With Sessions, they aren’t quite so sure.
“Tom Cotton is all in for more defense spending,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who said he would vote for either pick, told reporters Tuesday. “Jeff Sessions I think supports more defense spending but he’s been more of a deficit hawk.”
“I have no thoughts about any of the appointees of the president, that’s his prerogative,” commented Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.)
But the Pentagon’s new head may well come from McCain’s rank-and-file. If that happens, the move would not be unprecedented: former president Bill Clinton’s defense secretary William Cohen (R-Maine) served on that panel before joining the administration, and Obama Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) had served on Senate Foreign Relations.
Sessions OR Cotton?
Both Sessions and Cotton are Armed Services members. Sessions, who will turn 70 next month, has far more seniority than Cotton, who at 39 would be one of the youngest-ever Secretaries of Defense if selected.
Both have military experience, though Cotton’s is more recent and perhaps more relevant: he spent four years on active duty, the bulk of it in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, which included seeing combat during deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, before joining the Army Reserve for another four years. Sessions was in the Army Reserve from 1973 to 1986.
But neither of the two has significant executive experience running an operation anywhere near as large as the Pentagon, where they would be in charge of over 25,000 employees on-site, not to mention the nearly 2 million additional members of the armed services and reserves, and a budget that constitutes about a sixth of all federal spending.
The next secretary of defense will have to manage that massive operation during a period of significant changes, as Trump and his advisers have promised a massive spike in military spending.
They propose a significant increase in the size of the Army, going from about 450,000 to 550,000, close Trump confidant Rudy Giuliani said over the weekend. They also want a hike in the number of naval warships to 350, from the approximately 275 currently in service. Trump pledges to invest more in cyber defenses, and GOP leaders are looking to him to modernize the nuclear arsenal and pursue a massive expansion of missile defense. Not to mention pay for keeping up the fight against the Islamic State and other radical groups abroad.
In either candidate, Trump would inherit one of the Senate GOP’s most unabashed iconoclasts: both have, with varying degrees of success, been more than willing to vote and embrace hawkish stances that Democrats and even some Republicans have criticized as extreme. 
NO WOMEN IN INFANTRY: Both are opposed to women serving in infantry roles, and recent efforts to require women to register for the Selective Service.
NUCLEAR DEAL ???? COTTON's VIEW ...
Cotton made a name for himself soon after arriving in Washington by penning a letter to the Ayatollah of Iran disputing the Obama administration’s right to engage in negotiations over the Iran nuclear deal — a deal Trump has called “terrible” — and pulling almost all Senate Republicans on board. 
MEXICO WALL: 
Sessions, meanwhile, is renowned for being one of Congress’s most uncompromising voices on immigration enforcement, which fits in well with the president-elect’s plans to build a southern border wall.
SNAPSHOT ON DEFENSE BUDGET: 
Both Cotton and Sessions believe that the United States should have kept more troops in Iraq, and agree with Trump that waterboarding should be an available tool to U.S. interrogators — Cotton recently went so far as to argue that waterboarding doesn't constitute torture - a stance considerably more hawkish than that held by most members of Congress.
But when it comes to the defense budget, there are key differences. Cotton’s position is fairly mainstream for the GOP: he wants a full repeal of the budget caps imposed under the Budget Control Act, and a shift of resources toward defense spending — the current defense budget represents what “is necessary, but it’s not sufficient.”
Cotton made a name for himself soon after arriving in Washington by writing a letter to the Ayatollah of Iran disputing the Obama administration’s right to engage in negotiations over the Iran nuclear deal — a deal Trump has called “terrible” — and pulling almost all Senate Republicans on board.
Both Cotton and Sessions believe that the United States should have kept more troops in Iraq, and agree with Trump Sessions, meanwhile, comes from the school of deficit hawks who believe that the budget, even capped as it is, may already be too large.
Sessions’s and Cotton’s office did not respond to requests to comment for this story, but fellow Alabama Republican and Sessions friend Mo Brooks agreed with the idea that any increased money for defense should be compensated for elsewhere in the budget.
“We should not spend more money on national defense if the source of that money is increased borrowing,” Brooks saidm expressing confidence that Sessions would agree. “We have to offset all reallocation of priorities based on spending cuts from other parts of the federal government that are a lesser priority.”
To Brooks, that means making draconian cuts to programs like welfare and foreign aid — proposals that are likely to draw a backlash from Senate Democrats able to block action. They would encounter opposition from even some Republicans, such as Graham, who has advocated a new "Marshall Plan"  for the Middle East as an integral part of the fight against terrorism.
In the Senate, Sessions’s voting record sheds some light on his approach to defense dollars: He votes for the annual defense policy bills, but often votes against additional emergency spending measures that fund military operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East. 
In 2014, Sessions was one of the only senators to vote against a bill to fix health care delays for veterans, expressing fears about the cost.
WHO WILL LEAD .... ???
At this point, defense leaders in Congress have no clear indication from the Trump transition team about whether or how they will try to lift the defense budget caps. Their pick for Pentagon chief could foreshadow the direction in which the Trump administration will lean.
“I hope we do lift it,” House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said on Monday, though he added: “I haven’t talked to him,” meaning Trump, about his plans.
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Editor's Note by Kanwal Abidi:
Top Challenges of the new boss in the Pentagon?
--- Decision on Guantanamo bay closure or not? As Trump vowed to fill it up with "some bad dudes"
--- Handling of the Nuclear Deal with Iran
--- How to tackle North Korea, taking the viewpoint of the Congress along side
---Decision on the battle of the Mosul and Syrian Conflict War
--- How to put a way forward plan for ISIS? As Trump vowed to crush them.
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Reported by:
KANWAL ABIDI 
Senior White House Correspondent (Politics & National Security)
Founder and Executive Editor of W*DC* News - Washington DC News

Monday 14 November 2016

U.S. Elections Result Analysis

What happened with the American mandate? U.S. Election Analysis --- State wise with voters breakup. 
Hillary Clinton and other party leaders are asking that question after her stunning upset loss to Donald Trump.
Clinton lost states no Democratic presidential candidate had been defeated since George H.W. Bush carried 40 states, including Michigan and Pennsylvania, in 1988.
Clinton leads the popular vote, but she won about 5 million fewer votes than President Obama did in 2012. At the same time, Trump won about as many raw votes as Mitt Romney did in 2012, and only a little more than Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) did in 2008.
Most critically, the votes Clinton lost stood out in states essential to both parties’ paths to 270 electoral votes. In the ten most competitive swing states, Clinton underperformed Obama’s 2012 tally by nearly 1.2 million votes. Besides Pennsylvania and Michigan, she became the first Democratic presidential candidate since 1984 to lose Wisconsin.
Democrats turned out a record number of voters in the nation’s largest urban areas and did well in traditional swing counties such as Chester and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania, home to some of the all-important Philadelphia suburbs.
But Clinton lost other rural and small-town counties in Pennsylvania and other key states to Trump by a much larger margin than Obama lost those counties to Romney. Clinton scored better than Obama in just one of the 36 Pennsylvania counties with populations of less than 100,000.
Trump improved on Romney’s performance in counties like Luzerne, York and Lackawanna, where union jobs have declined precipitously in recent years. In 19 of the 24 Pennsylvania counties where Trump gained more than twice as many votes over Romney as Clinton lost to Obama, 94 percent of the population is white.
“The Reagan Democrat coalition moved his way pretty strongly in some of these places, or they just didn’t vote for her,” said Mark Stephenson, a Republican data analytics expert. “You can have ten counties that make up one percent of the vote that overwhelm a big county that makes up eight percent of the vote, and that seems to be what happened in a lot of these swing states.”
Florida was one of the few states where Clinton’s total outpaced Obama statewide. Clinton outperformed Obama and beat Trump by 853,000 votes in the five counties with populations over a million residents — Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough and Orange. Obama had won those counties by a combined 695,000 votes.
But Trump outperformed Romney by a wider margin: In the 31 counties with populations between 100,000 and a million, Trump won by 801,000 combined votes — 300,000 more than Romney’s margin four years ago. Trump beat Clinton by 171,000 votes in Florida counties with fewer than 100,000 residents, improving on Romney.
Overall, Trump won Florida by about 220,000 votes.
Clinton’s strategy “was really, really hyper-focused on urban communities,” said Steve Schale, a Florida Democratic strategist. “There were more than enough votes that came out of the places where we needed to win.”
*No wonder the rural parts ignored by the Clinton campaign - also eroded the mandate of Secretary Clinton.
Clinton also suffered from a predictable decline in the African-American vote, a critical loss in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. If the Democrat had won those three states, she would be the president-elect.
In Michigan, Clinton won 517,000 votes in Wayne County, home of Detroit. Four years ago, Obama won 595,000 votes in Wayne County. Clinton also suffered serious drop-offs in Macomb County, a Detroit suburb, and in Genessee, home of Flint.
In total, Trump won Michigan by about 12,000 votes.
The results, strategists and observers said, illustrate a dramatic shift in political power toward rural areas, at least this year. 
“Clinton’s performance in suburban counties like Chester demonstrate that she succeeded in part in executing her campaign strategy,” said Brock McCleary, a Republican pollster in Pennsylvania. “Populism doesn’t play in the suburbs, and that’s what left the political world shaking its head at Trump’s strategy. Right and wrong in American politics is often determined by whether a moderate Chester County mother would approve. Not this time.”
Clinton over-performed Obama’s Michigan vote total in just six counties, centered around the growing cities of Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor — where Obama held a last-minute get-out-the-vote rally before polls opened — and Battle Creek. Trump, on the other hand, over-performed Romney in 75 of the state’s 83 counties.
Virginia illustrates the drop-off between Obama’s performance and Clinton’s among black voters. In seven jurisdictions in which black voters make up a majority, Clinton received fewer votes than Obama did in all but one, Richmond city. In Philadelphia, which is 44 percent African American, Clinton’s margin over Trump was 11,000 votes lower than Obama’s margin over Romney.
Clinton’s focus on urban cores helped her win Nevada, a state dominated by two urban centers. Clinton took more votes than Obama in both Clark (Las Vegas) and Washoe (Reno) counties — and she under performed Obama in the other 15 counties in the Silver State. Clinton’s margin in Clark County alone, where she beat Trump by 81,000 votes, was three times the size of her statewide margin.
“We did not lose this in base Democratic counties,” Schale said.
At the same time, Trump performed better than Romney in all 17 Nevada counties.
BY:  KANWAL ABIDI  
063 News - Online Press Agency 
W*DC* News - Founder and Executive Editor   (Washington D.C. News)



Thursday 29 September 2016

NC State Senator Indicted For Misuse of Campaign Funds


GREENSBORO, N.C.
A grand jury returned a federal indictment charging North Carolina State Senator Fletcher Lee Hartsell, Jr. with multiple counts related to fraudulent campaign fundraising and reporting and associated money laundering, announced the United States Attorney’s Office, John A. Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division and Thomas J. Holloman, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI), Charlotte Division.
Hartsell, 69, of Concord, N.C., is charged with five counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and six counts of money laundering. 
According to allegations in the Indictment, from 2007 through 2015, Hartsell engaged in a scheme to defraud and to obtain money through materially false pretenses by soliciting funds for the Hartsell State Senator Committee through mailings and interstate wires, using those funds for personal goods and services not authorized under relevant state campaign finance laws, and then concealing such conduct through false campaign filings mailed via the United States Postal Service to the North Carolina Board of Elections. 
The Indictment further alleges that Hartsell laundered Hartsell State Senator Committee funds through his law firm, Hartsell & Williams, P.A., as well as a corporation he owned with his wife, Equity Properties of Concord, LLC, to disguise the fact that campaign funds were being used for personal enrichment rather than for lawful purposes. 
$ 210,000 of monies embezzled: 
The Indictment further alleges that, as a result of this scheme to defraud, Hartsell spent approximately $210,000 of monies properly belonging to the Hartsell State Senator Committee on personal goods and services for his own enrichment.
John Strong, FBI’s Special Agent in Charge statement:
"Our campaign finance laws must be enforced in order to protect the integrity of the American democratic process. If you abuse the power granted to you as an elected official, the FBI will work tirelessly to ensure you are held accountable for your actions," said John Strong, FBI’s Special Agent in Charge. 
"Confidence in the integrity of our elected officials is essential and is at the heart of our democracy. To be elected to serve in public office is an unmistakable privilege, not an opportunity to fraudulently enrich oneself using a position of trust. IRS
Criminal Investigation Special Agents play a crucial role in unraveling complex schemes in service to the American taxpayer," said Thomas J. Holloman, III, IRS-CI’s Special Agent in Charge.
Court Appearance: 
Hartsell will have his initial appearance on September 29, 2016 in U.S. District Court in Greensboro.
Charge:
Each charge carries a maximum sentence of twenty years and a $500,000 fine, or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever is greater.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and Hartsell is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The investigation is being handled by the FBI and IRS-CI with assistance from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney JoAnna G. McFadden.
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News Reported By:
Kanwal Abidi 
Foreign Correspondent in U.S.
National Security / Political Reporter
Counter terrorism strategist 
Online Executive Editor at 063 News