PENCE BREAKS TIE ON DEVOS

After weeks of heated public debate regarding her job qualifications, the US Senate has confirmed Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, by a 51-50 vote margin. In a historic turn of events, the deciding vote was cast by Vice President Mike Pence, marking the first time a VP has served as a tie breaker on a cabinet nomination decision. Prior to the vote, Democratic senators held an all-night session, during which each explained their denouncement of DeVos, hoping to sway the vote of Republican senators. Two Republicans, Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, did cross party lines and voted against her confirmation. DeVos is a wealthy Republican donor who has almost no experience in public education. Across the nation, teachers’ unions and charter school organizations have widely protested DeVos’s nomination.

DeVos Confirmation Hearing Interview

#SecretaryOfEducation #Tiebreaker #BetsyBetterBeGood

BIDEN LANDS A NEW GIG

The University of Pennsylvania has announced Vice President Joe Biden will head the school’s new Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a department which will focus on foreign policy, diplomacy and national security. Formally, Biden will serve as the school’s Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor. During the announcement, University President Amy Gutmann commented, “Joe Biden is one of the greatest statesmen of our times. His unsurpassed understanding of diplomacy and far-ranging grasp of world issues make him an ideal fit to further Penn's global engagement and help develop innovative interdisciplinary global strategies.” Prior to becoming Vice President, Biden served as a Delaware Senator for 36 years, during which time he also served as a ranked participant of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, helping to shape crucial aspects of U.S. foreign policy.

VP Joe Biden on Late Show with Stephen Colbert

#GoJoe! #BidenTime #ProfessorBiden

 CONWAY GETS CALLED ON "MASSACRE"

After referencing a fictional domestic terror event she dubbed the “Bowling Green massacre” during an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, high-ranking presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway has backpedaled and admitted no such incident ever occurred. Her original comment, which was made while attempting to legitimize President Trump’s recent Muslim immigration ban, reads, in context, “I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre.” After the interview, a media backlash began, as basic fact-checking revealed Conway’s comments to be indefensibly false. Conway also was the first to use the now-infamous term “alternative facts”, when attempting justify lies told to the press by members of the Trump administration.    

CBS News Reviews Conway’s “Bowling Green” Claim

#AlternativeFactsAreLies #TruthIsPatriotic #FactChecking

HAVE YOU HEARD?

During a recent address given to military leaders at US Central Command, President Trump referenced a series of terror attacks the American media has not covered, claiming "all over Europe, it's happening. It's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported." When subsequently questioned by media members as to what events Trump was referencing, the White House released a list of 78 attacks, which included events such as the 2015 Paris attacks, the December 2015 San Bernardino shooting, the Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Florida and the July 2016 attacks in Nice, France. Contrary to these claims, all of the aforementioned events were reported on by both national and international media, in an extremely thorough manner. Trump’s claim is inarguable, given that extensive media remains online from the original reports of the attacks.

Sean Spicer’s Comments on “Underreported” List

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/spicer-says-list-of-78-terror-attacks-havent-gotten-attention-they-deserve/2017/02/07/bd89e584-ed69-11e6-a100-fdaaf400369a_video.html

#AlternativeReality #TrumpToConclusions #SpicerSpeaks

TRAVEL BAN HEARINGS CONTINUE

In late January, President Trump issued a controversial executive order banning travel and immigration into the United States from the predominantly Muslim nations of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Several Federal judges reacted by freezing Trump’s order, including James Robart, who dismissed Trump’s argument that “we have to protect the U.S. from individuals” from these nations. The Justice Department immediately filed appeal, arguing that the president has a constitutional right to institute such bans. The battle intensifies today as lawyers representing the states of Minnesota and Washington convene with Justice Department counsel to argue whether the order should remain suspended. Among the many highly-experienced opponents of the travel ban are two former US Secretaries of State, John Kerry and Madeline Albright, both of whom insist that the ban will threaten national security rather than strengthen it.

Trump’s Travel Ban Explained in 90 Seconds

#MuslimBanLift #TrumpVsTheWorld #RulingsAndAppeals