CNN Poll Shows Trump Grabs Highest Approval Since April 2017
A CNN poll conducted from March 22-25, 2018, shows that 42 percent of the people interviewed approved of Donald Trump’s job in office. Trump’s approval rating is up from 35% in February. Among the sample of people interviewed in March, 29% described themselves as Democrats, 25% described themselves as Republicans, and 46% described themselves as independents or members of another party.
Trump’s Approval Rating:
- Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president?
- 42%: Approve
- 54%: Disapprove
- 5%: No Opinion
Other Questions from the Poll:
- Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling gun policy?
- 36%: Approve (this number is up 3% since last month)
- 54%: Disapprove
- 10%: No Opinion
- Is Donald Trump someone you are proud to have as president?
- 38%: Yes (This is the highest number Trump has received since his inauguration)
- 59%: No
- 3%: No Opinion
- Do you think Donald Trump cares about people like you?
- 42%: Yes
- 56%: No
- 2%: No Opinion
- Can Trump bring the kind of change the country needs?
- 45%: Yes
- 52%: No
- 3%: No Opinion
- Is Trump honest and trustworthy?
- 36%: Yes (This number is up 2% from last November, when the same question was asked)
- 59%: No
- 4%: No Opinion
Trump’s Scramble for More Lawyers
President Trump’s current legal team consists of Jay Sekulow and Ty Cobb. The latest lawyers who have declined Trump’s offer to join his legal team are attorneys Tom Buchanan and Dan Webb of the law firm Winston & Strawn. They declined Trump's invitation to join his team, citing "business conflicts" on Monday. Webb was a prosecutor in the Iran-Contra scandal and has since worked in corporate litigation. Buchanan served for five years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the 1980s and has since focused on commercial and white-collar litigation.
Theodore Olsen, a high-powered GOP lawyer and the former solicitor-general under President George W. Bush, also turned down Trump's offer to represent him, saying there was too much "chaos" and "confusion" on the legal team for it to be effective.
Joseph diGenova, an attorney who Jay Sekulow indicated they would hire, also had to back out. Part of the reason was because he and his wife, law-firm partner, Victoria Toensing, currently represent other parties involved in the Russia investigation.
Last week, Trump lost his top defense attorney John Dowd. Dowd, resigned in part because he was frustrated that Trump was not following his advice in declining an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller.
Dowd, the primary conduit between the president and Mueller, was the member of Trump's legal team most vocally opposed to a face-to-face interview between the special counsel and his client, who has a history of making misleading and exaggerated claims. Dowd's position put him at odds with White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who has largely advocated for a more cooperative approach toward the investigation. It also led to some friction with the president, who has reportedly been "champing at the bit" to an interview with Mueller.
Trump’s Tweets (March 25)
Tweet #1: “Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case...don’t believe the Fake News narrative that it is hard to find a lawyer who wants to take this on. Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer, though some are conflicted. Problem is that a new......”
Tweet #2: “....lawyer or law firm will take months to get up to speed (if for no other reason than they can bill more), which is unfair to our great country - and I am very happy with my existing team. Besides, there was NO COLLUSION with Russia, except by Crooked Hillary and the Dems!”
Students Call Thomas Jefferson 'Icon' Of White Supremacists
Students from Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, have demanded the removal of a Thomas Jefferson statue from the university’s campus. Their argument is Thomas Jefferson owned slaves and has been “embraced as an icon” by white supremacists.
The student who has spearheaded the campaign is JaLoni Amor. He claims it is about “preserving history” by forcing students to “look at their privilege and understand what their race means.” JaLoni Amor is a Hofstra student and Black Lives Matter activist.
Amor released a petition on March 17th for the removal of the statues claiming, “Thomas Jefferson has been embraced as an icon by white supremacist and neo-nazi organizations like the Klu Klux Klan.” The statue of Thomas Jefferson on the campus resides at The Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center, one of the central points for campus and student activities.
Shortly after Amor released the petition for the removal, he created a Facebook event for an upcoming protest, on March 30, 2018, from 12-2:00pm at the Student Center. The protest is titled “Jefferson Has Gotta Go! Student Protest”.
The Facebook page goes into gives details about the event, written by Amor stating: “I drafted this petition to call on Hofstra University to FINALLY remove the statue of Thomas Jefferson from in front of the Student Center. Thomas Jefferson owned more than 600 slaves in his life time and preyed upon many of these slaves.”
In one Facebook post, JaLoni Amor refers to the ‘White Allies’ campus group stating, “WHITE ALLIES- Please understand that this is a protest against white supremacy and that you as white people- even though you’re allies-benefit from white supremacy! And PROTEST. Do not just come in and take selfies for your Instagram feed or SO HELP ME GOD.”
California County Considers Fighting State’s ‘Sanctuary’ Law
Leaders of Orange County, California, are expected today to consider fighting a state law aimed at protecting immigrants from stepped-up deportations under the Trump administration. The backlash to the state’s so-called sanctuary law comes a week after the small city of Los Alamitos in Orange County voted to opt out of the policy.
The Yorba Linda City Council, also in Orange County, agreed to file an amicus brief to a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration against California and immigration-related laws the federal government alleges are unconstitutional. The all-Republican supervisors of the Southern California county of 3.2 million people were expected to discuss passing a resolution in support of Los Alamitos and whether to join the U.S. government’s lawsuit over the law, which bars police in many cases from turning over suspects to federal immigration agents for deportation.
"These state laws are preempted by federal law," Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson said. "Our officers actually face penalties under state law if they so much as talk to federal agents for the wrong thing. That's just unacceptable and it's contrary to federal law."
Nelson said he'll broach in closed session whether to join a federal lawsuit against the state or launch its own litigation.
Orange County has a five-member board of supervisors, and all are Republican. Other cities in the county, including Yorba Linda, Buena Park, Huntington Beach and Mission Viejo are also starting to take action to voice their grievances against the state's sanctuary laws aimed at protecting immigrants from President Trump's immigration crackdown.
The Happiest Teens Use Smartphones, Digital Media Less Than An Hour A Day
According to a study done by researchers from San Diego State University and the University of Georgia, teens that are hooked on their phones and other digital devices are “markedly” unhappier than teens that use the devices much less each day.
The researchers examined data from 1.1 million 8th, 10th, and 12th grade American students participating in the long term, “Monitoring the Future” study. The participants were polled on their mobile devices and computer use and their amount of face-to-face social interaction with others, as well as their level of overall happiness.
The survey asked students questions about how often they spent time on their phones, tablets and computers, as well as questions about their in-the-flesh social interactions and their overall happiness.
The authors found that teens who spent more time hanging out with friends in person and less time texting or video chatting were happier than those who spent more time in front of a screen. There was a notable increase in overall life satisfaction for students who participated in more extracurricular activities or sports, as well as those who read actual print publications more frequently. The research team believes that habitual use of smartphones or computers to socialize was a key factor in how unhappy a participant felt.
Total screen abstinence doesn't lead to happiness either, the study found. The happiest teens used digital media a little less than an hour per day. But after a daily hour of screen time, unhappiness rises steadily along with increasing screen time.
Young people's life satisfaction, self-esteem and happiness plummeted after 2012. That's the year that the percentage of Americans who owned a smartphone rose above 50 percent.
Mail Time!
- Your analysis of the gun violence in Chicago in the six and a half years Rahm Emanuel has been Mayor was stunning. The number of people shot, wounded and killed was nearly beyond belief. So how do you explain the fact that the people of Chicago keep re‐electing him?
- Fantastic show tonight, Bill. The statistics on gun violence deaths in Chicago were startling. During this holy week, I will double down on praying for solutions to take our country back from this horrible mess.
- Bill, it looks like the swamp is winning. What say you?
Word of the Day: Jobbernowl |
