Mike Pompeo Committee Vote, Top of Congress' Agenda This Week
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to vote Monday night on whether Mike Pompeo will be the next secretary of state. Most democrats on the committee as well as Republican Sen. Rand Paul are expected to vote against Pompeo, which would lead the committee to report out Pompeo’s nomination without a favorable recommendation.
Rather than allow an unfavorable vote on the panel, where Republicans have a one-seat majority, senators could choose not to issue a recommendation to the full Senate, which is expected to consider Pompeo’s nomination later this week regardless of the committee decision. Pompeo needs 51 votes to be confirmed by the full Senate to succeed Rex Tillerson, who was ousted in March, and with Paul’s opposition and Sen. John McCain’s ailing health, Pompeo may need at least some Democrats to vote to confirm him.
Last Thursday, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) became the first Democrat to formally announce her support for Pompeo, which, assuming no other Republicans come out in opposition, would give Pompeo the votes he needs to win the nomination. So far, at least four Democrats who voted to confirm Pompeo as CIA director have indicated they will not do so for secretary of state. These Democrats are, Dianne Feinstein of California, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.
CEO’s and University Leaders, Leading Inclusion and Diversity Movement
In June 2017, over 150 CEO’s of the country’s largest companies launched the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion initiative, the CEO Action Pledge. The goal of this initiative was to “Encourage these conversations, our goal is build greater understanding and create workplaces and communities that better reflect the diversity of our society. Together we pledged our commitment to have difficult conversations about diversity and inclusion in the office.”
Since the launch in 2017, the coalition has grown to over 330 companies. The group includes Fortune 1,000 companies, business associates and America’s colleges and universities. They now represent 85 industries and all 50 states. The training has been downloaded more than 2,500 times, and they have also collaborated with five universities to bring unconscious training to the nation’s college students.
Kanye West Faces Backlash for Defending Conservative
Candace Owens, the communications director for Turning Point USA, said she believes an "ideological civil war" is happening with African-American people. On Friday, Black Lives Matter activists protested a speech that Owens gave at the University of California at Los Angeles.
Owens responded to the protestors saying some African-Americans "are focused on their past and shouting about slavery" and that others are "focused on their futures." Owens went on to say, "Victim mentality is not cool. I don't know why people like being oppressed," she added. "'We're oppressed! Four-hundred years of slavery! Jim Crow!' By the way, none of you guys lived through [that]," she said to protesters. "Your grandparents did and it's embarrassing that you utilize their history. You're not living through anything right now."
On Saturday, Kanye West tweeted, “I love the way Candace Owens thinks”. However, both Kanye West and Candace Owens received backlash from their comments.
Later in the day, Tom Arnold tweeted, “Aside from being an insane alt right race pimp Candace Owens thinks Donald Trump is literally the messiah not you @kanyewest so you might want to reconsider.” Perez Hilton chimed in and tweeted, “So over you, Kanye!”
Owens Responded to the Twitter haters saying, “When @PerezHilton @TomArnold and @ShaunKing, 3 white men, rush to viciously attack the freedom of two black people who refuse to be pawns to a leftist ideology—it should ring as a wake up call to the world about who the real racists are. None of you white men own my blackness.”
Owens was also on “Fox & Friends” last Sunday saying that after Kanye West's tweet, she received a great amount of backlash.“In about 10 seconds I became the KKK member, anti-LGBT, you name it. Just because I think differently, and I refuse to accept this narrative that I'm a victim. I'm not a victim.”
Colin Kaepernick Named Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience
Amnesty International awarded Colin Kaepernick its Ambassador of Conscience Award on Saturday for his public protest against racial and social injustice.
“The Ambassador of Conscience award celebrates the spirit of activism and exceptional courage, as embodied by Colin Kaepernick,” Salil Shetty, the human rights group's secretary-general, said in a statement. “He is an athlete who is now widely recognized for his activism because of his refusal to ignore or accept racial discrimination.” Shetty went on to say, “When high-profile people choose to take a stand for human rights, it emboldens many others in their struggles against injustice. Colin Kaepernick's commitment is all the more remarkable because of the alarming levels of vitriol it has attracted from those in power.”
The award is Amnesty International's highest honor, according to its website. Past winners include Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, U2, Alicia Keys and Ai Weiwei.
President Trump Welcomes President Macron to the White House
President Trump is hosting a formal state visit with French President Emmanuel Macron. This visit makes President Macron the first leader invited for a formal state visit with President Trump. President Macron will be in Washington, D.C. for three days. His visit is set to include a private dinner with President Trump and Melania at Mount Vernon (today), attend a state dinner on Tuesday (April 24th), and address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday (April 25th).
The speech on Capitol Hill is the first made by a French leader in a decade and marks the anniversary of French General Charles de Gaulle’s own address in 1960. While there are many things that will be discussed during the visit, the main topic will include the Iran nuclear deal.
President Macron will make the case, on behalf of Europe, for the U.S. remaining in the Joint Commission Plan of Action- suggesting that a failure to do so would have a negative impact on U.S. – E.U. relations. Many expect this week’s visit to be largely symbolic, in fact, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has her own U.S. visit planned later in the week. A possible sign that the European leader will not leave the negotiating to her French counterpart.
Students Shocked That Obama Also Sent Troops to Border
Earlier this month, President Trump announced a plan to deploy troops from the National Guard to the southern border in an attempt to stop the influx of illegal activity in the region. Critics of the move were vocal in their condemnations, claiming it was excessive and subtly racist in nature.
The decision, while controversial, is not without precedent, as Presidents Obama and Bush each enacted similar measures during their times in office. With that in mind, Campus Reform headed to the University of California, Santa Barbara to find out if outrage at the decision was based more on policy considerations, or merely the personality of the person enacting that policy.
Students immediately made clear that they would not support any measure that would send troops to protect the border… until they found president Obama did the same thing.
Premium Member Video Submission
Cody Workman PUTNAM, IL: Hi Bill. My name is Cody Workman. I am currently a sophomore at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. I forwarded you an email that all of us students were sent earlier this week about this thing called a wage gape bake sale that’s happening later this week. And what it is that they are claiming that they are representing what certain races and sexual affiliated people earn in the work force. So they are selling cookies but based off of your race and sexual orientation you pay a certain price for it. Which means of course straight white males pay the highest, while LGBT people of color get a free cookie. So I invite you to take a look at it. It’d be a cool story. Thank you.
Bill Releases the Title of His New Book, “Killing the SS”
In a study conducted by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany found that two-thirds of American millennials surveyed in a recent poll cannot identify what Auschwitz is. Twenty-two percent of millennials in the poll said they haven’t heard of the Holocaust or are not sure whether they’ve heard of it, twice the percentage of U.S. adults as a whole who said the same.
When asked to identify what Auschwitz is, 41 percent of respondents and 66 percent of millennials could not come up with a correct response identifying it as a concentration camp or extermination camp. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they believe something like the Holocaust could happen again.
Mail Time!
- With the Obama administration unmasking’s, the use of the Steele dossier, and the FBI leaks‐‐do you think this was all orchestrated by the Obama administration?
- Mr. O., with the huge hate Trump media that we have now I have been thinking if president Trump gets North Korea to denuclearize and finally bring some peace to that region the Nobel Peace Prize could be awarded to to Kim Jon Un. What say you? Love the podcasts keeps us truthfully informed. Spreading the word to get more Premium Members on board like myself!
- Bill, excellent commentary on San Francisco. I have been there many times. Why won't the citizens of that great city rise up and demand they clean up the streets and find a way to house the vagrants? They have to enforce their laws in order to restore the status quo. The city is just too good to succumb to anarchy!
Word of the Day: Jackanapes |
