Trump and Obama Changing The Presidency

When Barack Obama became president, he changed everything. He never intended to become the President of the United States. Remember Obama saying, "they cling to guns or religion?" That statement said it all. Obama had contempt for those who were not Progressives, those who didn't see his vision of the world. So, when he governed, all of the things that he tried to accomplish were in the income redistribution world, and he didn't care whether the economy was not doing well. Obama ran up a massive amount of debt by taking federal money and doling it out to the people he wanted to have it. Not everybody. His style of governance was exclusively for those who shared the same beliefs as him. 

Americans subliminally understood that Obama wasn't looking out for them and that's why a Republican became president in 2017. Trump captured that, “I'm going to go away from Washington. I'm going to be the populist president and look out for you.” The problem is after Donald Trump won, he continued to campaign. It is quite clear that he despises those who don't like him, but now Trump is governing for his base. 

There is a new poll out from CBS News that doesn’t show Trump in a favorable light. Here are some of the key figures from the poll. 

48% of people polled said the country is doing well economically, compared to 22% who said the opposite. 41% said they are strongly against Trump, compared to 18% who said they are strong Trump supporters. 43% said the country is worse off than it was a year ago, with 35% saying it is better. 42% said Trump has changed Washington, D.C. for the worse. 32% said he's changed Washington for the better. 66% said they dislike how Trump handles himself personally.

North and South Korea meet again to discuss Winter Olympics

The two Koreas met Monday for the second time in a week as they try to hammer out details for the North's participation in next month's Olympic Games. 

The two sides agreed that North Korea's delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea will include a 140-member art troupe. North Korea said the art troupe will comprise 80 orchestra members and 60 members who sing and dance. 

The North Koreans will perform twice, once in Seoul and the other in the city of Gangneung, where some of the Olympic competitions will be held. The North Korean art troupe is to play folk songs and other classic masterpieces that are well-known to both Koreas.

South Korean Sports Ministry spokesman Hwang Seong Un said that the two Koreas have agreed in principle to field a joint women's ice hockey team. The proposal requires International Olympic Committee approval. If realized, it would be the Koreas’ first unified Olympic team ever. 

Officials from both Koreas are to meet with the International Olympic Committee at its headquarters in Switzerland on Saturday. The two sides agreed Monday to meet again at their border on Wednesday for working-level talks ahead of the IOC meeting.

In addition to the art troupe, the North has also said its delegation to the February 9-25 Games in Pyeongchang would include athletes, cheerleaders, journalists and a taekwondo demonstration team.

To date, only two North Korean figure skaters have qualified for the Games. However, the country's National Olympic Committee did not meet an October 30 deadline to accept their spot.

Hawaii Worker Who Pushed Button Reassigned After Bungled Missile Alert

Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Vern Miyagi admitted the issuing of the alert was his “responsibility” and declared the body will work to ensure it “never happens again”. 

He said: “It’s my responsibility so this would be my fault. And we will work so this doesn't ever happen again. This is regrettable. It won't happen again because the criticality of the time of this type of event and the credibility of this alarm going out is critical for us saving lives.” 

Hawaii Governor David Ige explained Mr. Miyagi made the mistake by pressing the wrong button. He declared: "It was a mistake made during a standard procedure at the changeover of a shift, and an employee pushed the wrong button.” 

A spokesman with the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency confirmed to Fox News, “The employee who issued the alert has been temporarily reassigned pending the outcome of our internal investigation. He will still report to work within our Emergency Operations Center, but in a different capacity that does not provide access to the warning system.” 

State officials later said that Miyagi was doing a routine test during a shift change at the Emergency Management Agency mistakenly hit the live alert button. 

An automated warning telling Hawaiians to “seek immediate shelter” was sent out to phones, prompting some to scramble for cover in storm drains and others to huddle in basements.

The message read: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”  

Except, it was indeed a drill, there was no missile threat, and the alert had been sent in error during what the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency called a “regular system drill.”  

A second message delivered 38 minutes later was sent out, clarifying there was "no missile threat or danger to the State of Hawaii." 

Chelsea Manning Launches Senate Run

Chelsea Manning, the transgender former Army private who was convicted of passing sensitive government documents to WikiLeaks, is seeking to run for the U.S. Senate in Maryland, according to federal election filings. 

Manning’s statement of candidacy was filed with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday. Manning is running as a Democrat and refers to Maryland as her “home state” on her website. 

The Democratic primary is scheduled for June 26, 2018. Manning will be challenging Democrat Benjamin L. Cardin, who is in his second term in the Senate and is up for reelection in November. Cardin is Maryland’s senior senator and is considered an overwhelming favorite to win a third term.

Manning was sentenced to 35 years for releasing confidential military and State Department documents, but former President Obama commuted her sentence to seven years, leading to her release in 2017. 

Manning was convicted in 2013 of the largest leak of classified documents in U.S. history. Last year, as President Barack Obama was nearing the end of his term in office, he commuted Manning’s sentence to time served, and she was released from a military prison in Kansas. Manning moved to Maryland after her release from prison. 

In 2010, Manning was arrested after she provided a trove of nearly 750,000 documents to WikiLeaks that included information about the U.S. war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, State Department cables and information about prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. 

Manning was convicted on multiple charges, including violating the Espionage Act, and received a lengthy sentence. While serving time at Fort Leavenworth, Manning attempted suicide and went on a hunger strike, before the Army approved her for gender reassignment surgery.

Manning’s felony convictions do not bar her from running for the Senate. The Constitution simply requires that a senator be at least 30 years old, have been a citizen of the United States for nine years and be a resident of the state from which the person is seeking office.

Greyhound Bus Chased By Police After Illegal Immigrant Threatens Passengers

An illegal immigrant, Margarito Vargas-Rosas, residing in the Chicago area has been arrested after allegedly making death threats to fellow travelers on a Greyhound bus late Friday night which led to a 17-mile-long police car chase. 

Vargas-Rosas, age 33, was arrested after a passenger called local police around 9:40 PM Friday night from a Greyhound bus in Wisconsin. The passenger reported a man threatening to shoot everybody onboard.  

Racine County Sheriffs quickly located the bus on I-94 in Wisconsin but the bus driver, seemingly unaware of what was going on behind him, refused to pull over. He thought that the police were going after somebody else. Authorities thought that the bus had been hijacked and called for backup. As a result, about 2 dozen officers pursued the bus for over 17 miles. Eventually, the bus was stopped after authorities put out spike strips. 

Authorities then evacuated the 36 passengers and arrested Vargas-Rosas. The man continued to make death threats against police officers.  

According to police, Margarito Vargas-Rosas was deported in 2012 but snuck back into the country and relocated to Chicago.  Vargas-Rosas is currently being held in an Illinois jail. He is being charged with making terroristic threats, a felony, and disorderly conduct.

Mail Time!

• "Regarding the president's remark, he just talks like a working-class American. That's why he relates to us. But since the media wimps are looking for anything they can get, I agree he shouldn't give them fuel."
• But I don't know, if... look, I've been to El Salvador. I covered the war down there in the 80s when Reagan was president. I've been to Haiti, I was there when there was an insurrection against Aristide, the president, it was pretty nasty. I wouldn't advise you going to either place, it's tough. They are tough places. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. But again, you can make your point without disparaging. 

• "Bill, how does someone push a button by accident?"
• You can't. So, I'm glad you see it my way, Katharine. It's a farce. What happened in Hawaii...it didn't happen that way. And we'll find out what happened. 

• "Lots of good stuff on the podcast. Speaking of that... Speaking of one's truth came out of the New Age period of awareness. What does that mean or you mean by personal truth? I don't really get what people are talking about when they say I have to speak my truth."
• You're right. It's the new age wind chimes stuff. It was like, "oh, inside of me I know the truth, this is my personal truth." OK. Sometimes that is the truth. Sometimes it is. But sometimes it isn't. Sometimes you have a false perception because you don't know all the facts. It's my job to accumulate, to gather the facts, present them to you, and then have a fact-based opinion.

Word of the Day: Bilge