TRNS News Notes is brought to you by Victoria Jones. Victoria Jones is the Chief White House correspondent and global analyst of the Washington DC based Talk Radio News Service, where her insight and analysis are made available to over 400 news talk radio stations around the country and internationally.

In the News

  • “Potentially historic blizzard”
  • Obama: India parade – gum?
  • Netanyahu: Will go “anywhere I’m invited”
  • Yemen: Obama – pols at odds
  • Japanese outrage at death of hostage
  • GOP to gut filibuster?
  • WH: Alaska wilderness protection – GOP fumes
  • Koch summit: Conservative pols spar
  • Iowa freedom summit: Every planet welcome
  • Ukraine / Greece
  • “American Sniper:” Rise in “anti-Muslim threats”

 

“Potentially Historic Blizzard”
• A “crippling and potentially historic blizzard” could dump 2 to 3 feet of snow from northern New Jersey to southern Maine starting today, crippling a region that has largely been spared so far this winter, the National Weather Service said. A blizzard warning was issued for a 250-mile stretch of the Northeast, including New York and Boston, affecting 29 million people

• The NWS said the massive storm would bring heavy snow, powerful winds and widespread coastal flooding starting today through Tuesday. “This could be a storm the likes of which we have not seen before, NYC Mayor “Blizzard” Bill de Blasio said at a presser Sunday. NYC could see 2 to 3 feet of snow (AP, WaPo, me)

• More than 1,700 flights were expected to be canceled for Monday, most of them heading to or from New York, according to tracking site FlightAware. Airlines began offering to waive fees for rescheduling flights schedules for today and Tuesday. Officials across the Northeast preached caution and calm. Fourteen million people are under a winter storm warning

• The NWS said in a bulletin Sunday that the snowfall could top 30 inches in some places and lead to “life-threatening conditions and extremely dangerous travel.” This could cause severe problems for transportation, shutting down roads and arteries, as well as downed or damaged power lines across the region

• A federal judge on Sunday put a two-week hold on her decision that overturned Alabama’s gay marriage ban, but said same-sex couples should not be kept in lengthy legal limbo. The 14-day stay is to give the state time to appeal her decision to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (AP, me)
Obama: India Parade – Gum?
• President Obama today took in a grand display of Indian military hardware (a lot of it Russian), marching bands and elaborately dressed camels bearing troops playing instruments, becoming the first American leader to be honored as chief guest at India’s annual Republic Day festivities (AP, WaPo, NYT, me)

• The crowd erupted in cheers as Obama, along with first lady Michelle Obama, emerged from his armored limousine and took his place on the rain-soaked parade route in the capital of New Delhi. The parade was the centerpiece of Obama’s three-day visit to India. He was seen apparently chewing gum during the parade (presumably Nicorette)

• Obama spent about two hours on an outdoor viewing platform, an unusual amount of time given Secret Service security concerns. Security is intense. Obama has sought to use Indian PM Modi’s invitation to India to turn his burgeoning personal friendship with Modi into policy breakthroughs

• Obama and Modi heralded progress on defense and climate change, as well as breakthroughs on an impasse over implementing a landmark civil nuclear deal their countries agreed to in 2008. Several business leaders were joining Obama in New Delhi, including the chief execs of Disney, PepsiCo, Mastercard, Honeywell and Marriott

• Obama was to close the visit Tuesday with a speech to young people. He had planned to tour the Taj Mahal, India’s famed white marble monument of love, but scrapped that stop and instead will go to Saudi Arabia to pay respects to the royal family following King Abdullah’s death

• In a rare, high-level visit to Africa’s most populous country, SecState John Kerry on Sunday urged Nigeria’s leading presidential candidates to refrain from fomenting violence after next month’s vote, and he condemned savage attacks by Boko Haram (AP)
Netanyahu: Will Go “Anywhere I’m Invited”
• Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday, “I will go anywhere I am invited in order to enunciate the State of Israel’s position and in order to defend its future and its existence.” He said he was obligated to make every effort to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons that would be aimed at Israel

• “This is a poke in the eye” of the Obama admin, “and ultimately a blow to Israel,” said lawmaker Shelly Yachimovich of the opposition Labor Party today on Israel Radio. “In exchange for giving a campaign speech, Netanyahu is prepared to hurt our relationship with the U.S.” (Hill, Haaretz, Star-Ledger, Bloomberg, Politico, me)

• “This is the most important relationship we have in the world,” WH chief of staff Denis McDonough said on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday. “Our relationship with Israel is many faceted, deep and abiding. It’s focused on a shared series of threats, but also on a shared series of values that one particular instance is not going to inform overwhelming.” – NBC

• “He
[Netanyahu] spat in our face publicly, and that’s no way to behave,” an Obama aide reportedly told Haaretz last week. “Netanyahu ought to remember that President Obama has a year and a half left to his presidency, and that there will be a price.” / McDonough said on Sunday, “I can guarantee that it’s not me, not the president, and not what we believe.”

• Sen Bob Menendez (D-NJ) is considering delaying the introduction of his Iran sanctions bill until March, which would give him more time to gather support from Democrats. The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to debate the bill on Tuesday and possibly vote on it on Thursday

• Israeli Ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer was reprimanded last Thursday for violating Israeli Civil Service rules and taking part in forbidden political campaigning on behalf of PM Netanyahu in interviews he gave to the American media in late December (Haaretz)
Yemen: Obama – Pols at Odds
• President Obama in India on Sunday said that counterterrorism efforts in Yemen are ongoing despite President Hadi’s ouster by Houthi rebels. “Our top priority is to make sure our people on the ground are safe. Our second priority is to maintain our counterterrorism pressure on al Qaeda in Yemen.” “Yemen has never been a perfect democracy or an island of stability.”

• Yemen’s Parliament on Sunday called off a meeting that was supposed to discuss the resignation of Hadi, extending the state of political deadlock and exacerbating tensions in the streets of the capital, Sana – chaos continues. The UN Security Council will discuss Yemen today in an emergency meeting (NYT, Hill, TRNS, Politico, WaPo, Fox, me)

• Sen John McCain (R-AZ) on CBS’s Face the Nation called the Obama admin’s strategy in Yemen “delusional.” “We need more boots on the ground. I know that’s a tough thing to say and a tough thing for Americans to swallow.” He said not the 82nd Airborne, but special ops. “When you look at the map, the Iranians are on the march. AQAP and ISIS … are doing quite well.”

• Sen Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), appearing on the same program, said: “Where McCain is right is … we need some Special Operations on the ground, more than just advisers. I think our intel with respect to what’s going to happen in many of these countries is weak.” She added that the Houthis’ slogan is “Death to America, death to Israel.” (don’t like al Qaeda either)

• Raw video that purports to show the shooting death of labor rights activist Shaimaa al Sabbagh, 34, by police, as she was peacefully protesting Saturday near Tahrir Square, Cairo. At least 18 people have died in clashes between police and protesters on the fourth anniversary of the uprising that toppled Mubarak of Egypt. His sons have been released from prison
Japanese Outrage at Apparent Death of Hostage
• Japanese PM Shinzo Abe expressed outrage Sunday at a video purportedly showing that one of two Japanese hostages of ISIS has been killed. With attention focused on efforts to save the other hostage, some also criticized Abe’s drive for a more assertive Japan as responsible for the hostage crisis (AP, NYT, Hill, Fox, CNN, me)

• Abe strongly criticized the murder of adventurer of Haruna Yukawa, 42, and said he was “left speechless.” He declined to comment on the demand for a prisoner exchange for the remaining hostage, 47-year-old journalist Kenji Goto

• President Obama condemned the “brutal murder” and offered condolences to Abe. His statement said the U.S. stands “shoulder to shoulder with our ally Japan.” ISIS has offered to free Goto in exchange for a woman facing the death penalty in Jordan for her role in a deadly 2005 bombing there

• The size of the original ransom demand for the two hostages, $200 million, matched the amount of aid that Abe recently pledged to help with refugee relief and other nonlethal efforts by Middle East nations to deal with ISIS. Some Japanese believe that if Abe hadn’t made that pledge or got involved, the hostage would not be dead

• WH chief of staff Denis McDonough on Sunday appeared to name the American woman held hostage by ISIS, something that admin officials hadn’t previously done for fear for her safety. Appearing on ABC’s This Week, McDonough used a first name in answer to a question about information on the American woman being held

• Talk radio and TV icon and pioneer Joe Franklin died on Saturday at 88, after battling cancer. Famously parodied by Billy Crystal on Saturday Night Live. Franklin said he interviewed 300,000 guests in 21,445 shows from 1950 to 1993. He said of himself: “It’s nice to be important, but it’s even more important to be nice.” (Talkers, BBC)

 

 

GOP to Gut Filibuster?
• Top Senate Republicans are considering gutting the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees – a move that could yield big rewards for whichever party controls the WH and Senate after 2016. The move’s still in early stages, but could have a big impact if a justice steps down, making it far easier for President Obama to get a replacement confirmed (Politico, me)

• The proposed change would expand on the dramatic move Democrats made in 2013, when they killed the 60-vote hurdle for executive branch nominations and almost all judicial nominees. Republicans have whined about the Democrats’ action ever since, saying it violated the Senate’s tradition of being a deliberative body where the minority holds sway

• The 60-vote filibuster threshold would remain for legislation. The proposal hasn’t been widely circulated among Senate Republicans and its backers say they would make the change only if they can get 67 votes for it on the floor. They’d need Republicans plus more than a dozen Democrats (no guarantee this is going to happen)

• But Sen Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who’s spearheading the proposal with Sen Roy Blunt (R-MO), said the change would bring the Senate back to the way it operated before the presidency of George W.Bush, when the Democratic minority elevated the use of filibusters as a tactic to stymie judicial nominees. Both men are confidants of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

• Blunt said he plans to take up the proposal in February at the Senate Rules and Admin Committee, which he chairs. Then it would head to the floor, under a procedure that would require support from two-thirds of the Senate. Still, it’s unclear how much support the proposal will find in either party

Obama: Arctic Wilderness Protection – GOP Fumes
• The Obama admin will propose setting aside the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as wilderness, the WH announced Sunday, a move that will spark a fierce battle with the new Senate Energy and natural Resources Committee chair, Lisa Murkowski, and other Alaska Republicans (WaPo, me)

• “Alaska’s National Wildlife refuge is an incredible place – pristine, undisturbed. It supports caribou and polar bears, all manner of marine life, countless species of birds and fish, and for centuries it supported many Alaska native communities. But it’s very fragile,” said President Obama in a WH video on the move

• The Interior Dept will also put part of the Arctic Ocean off limits to drilling as part of a five-year leasing plan it will issue this week and is considering whether to impose additional limits on oil and gas production in parts of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska

• “It’s clear this admin does not care about us, and sees us as nothing but territory. … I cannot understand why this admin is willing to negotiate with Iran, but not Alaska. But we will not be run over like this. We will fight back with every resource at our disposal,” said Murkowski in a statement. She spoke to Interior Sec Sally Jewell during a brief phone call Friday (fly on wall)

• While Congress would have to approve any new wilderness designation, Interior will immediately begin managing the iconic area under the highest level of protection the federal govt can offer. Democrats and Republicans have fought for 35 years over how to manage ANWR

• WH spox Josh Earnest says a “device” has been found on the WH grounds. He says early indications are that the device doesn’t pose a threat to anyone in the building. Obama and wife Michelle are on a three-day visit to India (AP)

Koch Summit: Conservative Pols Spar
• Sen Rand Paul (R-KY) was at odds with fellow first-term senators Marco Rubio (R0FL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) on stage Sunday evening for a summit in California organized by Freedom Partners. That group is the central hub of the powerful group of organizations backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch (AP, me)

• “I’m a big fan of trying the diplomatic option as long as we can,” Paul said of talks with Iran over its nuclear plan. “I think diplomacy is better than war. / “This [Obama’s] is the worst negotiation in the history of mankind,” Cruz said, predicting an Iranian nuclear strike in “Tel Aviv, New York or Los Angeles.” (dunno – that Hitler thing didn’t go so well)

• Added Rubio: “At this pace, in five years, we’re going to build the bomb for them.” / Paul urged patience. “Are you ready to send ground troops into Iran?” / Cruz would have none of it. “The problem with Iran is Khomeini and the mullahs are radical Islamic nutcases.” (Khomeini is dead – not arguing, otherwise)

• Cruz and Rubio, both Cuban-Americans, were fiercely critical of Obama’s move to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba. “I’m kind of surrounded on this one,” Paul said, sitting between Cruz to his right and Rubio to his left

• “The Castros are brutal dictators,” Cruz said. He also said the potential for U.S. dollars flooding into Cuba would only keep the Castro regime in power longer. / “Maybe. Maybe not,” Paul needled
Iowa Freedom Summit: Every Planet Welcome
• Anti-immigration Rep Steve King (R-IA) got carried away in his remarks: “We’re a great people, we have a vitality that’s unequaled on the planet, we come from every possible planet – every possible continent. There across the street [are] those people that come from the other planet,” he said, referring to DREAMers who were protesting the uber-conservative event

• “You can absolutely say that I am seriously interested,” Sarah Palin said Friday, when asked to clarify her thinking about a possible presidential bid (goody). Saturday, on stage, she slammed the left for pretending to offer change but instead readying for a “coronation – rinse, repeat, Clinton, rinse, repeat.” (WaPo, Fox, Hill, WSJ, NYT, Fox, Politico, CNN, AP, me)

• Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) called for “the locusts” of the EPA to be stifled and for padlocking the IRS, then redeploying its agents to secure the Southern border. “In a Republican primary, every candidate is going to say, ‘I’m the most conservative guy who ever lived.’ You know what? Talk is cheap,” he said

• Donald Trump said he’s seriously thinking of running for president again. (yaaay) “It can’t be Mitt, because Mitt ran and failed.” “He choked. Something happened to him in the last month. He had that election won.” “You can’t have Bush. The last thing we need is another Bush.” “I would’ve won the race against Obama. He would’ve been easy.” (sure)

• Lone moderate Gov Chris Christie (R-NJ) addressed head-on the criticism that he was, as he summarized, “too blunt, too direct, too loud and too New Jersey for Iowa.” “I am here today because our conservative values work not only in Iowa, I’m living proof that they worked for me in New Jersey.” WSJ reports he’s formed a PAC called Leadership Matters for America

• According to politics1.com there are now an astonishing 25 (!!) potential 2016 presidential candidates – here they are

• Gov Rick Perry (R-TX), who was perceived as weak on immigration in 2012, talked tough Saturday. He recalled President Obama’s refusal to take a helicopter ride with him to the Rio Grande Valley to see see unaccompanied minors crossing the border. “If Washington refuses to secure the border, Texas will,” Perry vowed

• Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson drew raucous applause for his speech, which dripped conservative red meat. On Obamacare, which Carson has often compared to slavery, he said, “Even if it worked, I would oppose it. It doesn’t.”

• Gov Scott Walker (R-WI) boasted that he won election for governor three times in four years in a state that hasn’t voted Republican for president since Ronald Reagan in 1984. He highlighted his accomplishments as governor and contrasted them with the broken ways of Washington – and made clear he would be coming back to Iowa many more times

• Former Gov Mike Huckabee (R-AR), who won the 2008 caucus in Iowa, took a populist tone. “A lot of people who used to have one good-paying job with benefits now have to work two jobs,” he said. Sunday, on NBC’s Meet the Press, he said his timetable for announcing a possible presidential bid is sometime during spring

• Gov Bobby Jindal (R-LA) skipped the summit to attend a controversial “prayer rally” in Louisiana. “I think the GOP needs to earn the right to be a governing party,” Jindal said on ABC’s This Week. “We can’t just be the party of no. We have to be a party of solutions.”

• Vid: Ad that won’t be shown during the Super Bowl – Change the Mascot campaign’s ad shows a 76-yard Robert Griffin III touchdown run from 2012. Everything from the play looks the same – except names and logos are digitally removed. “Take it away and it’s still Washington football.” (Think Progress)

Ukraine / Greece
• Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko said Sunday that intercepted radio and telephone conversations prove that Russia-backed separatists were responsible for firing the rockets that pounded the strategic southeastern port city of Mariupol and killed at least 30 people (BBC, AP, WSJ, me)

• Putting the blame squarely on Russia, President Obama said the U.S. would work with its European partners to “ratchet up the pressure on Russia.” The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet today on Ukraine. EU foreign ministers will hold an “extraordinary” meeting Thursday on Ukraine

• Anti-austerity Syriza party is heading for a clear victory in Greece’s general election, official projections say. The right-wing Independent Greeks party has agreed to form a coalition govt. Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras has pledged to renegotiate Greece’s debt with international creditors

• “The troika for Greece is a thing of the past,” Tsipras said, appearing before jubilant crowds in Athens, referring to the country’s biggest international lenders – the EU, IMF and European Central Bank (ECB). Tsipras earlier vowed to reverse many of the austerity measures adopted by Greece since a series of bailouts began in 2010

• The result is being closely watched outside Greece, where it’s believe a Syriza victory could encourage radical leftist parties across Europe. Keep an eye on the U.S. stock market today. At time of writing European markets are down, with the exception of the DAX, which is up a fraction

“American Sniper:” Rise in “Anti-Muslim Threats”
• An Arab-American civil rights organization has asked “American Sniper” director Clint Eastwood and actor Bradley Cooper to denounce hateful language directed at U.S. Arabs and Muslims after the release of a film about Navy marksman Chris Kyle, who refers to Muslims as “savages” in his memoir (Reuters, HuffPo, BBC, me)

• The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said in a letter that it had collected “hundreds of violent messages targeting Arab and Muslim Americans from movie-goers,” mainly from Facebook and Twitter. The letter asked Eastwood and Cooper to speak out against such messages “in an attempt to reduce the hateful rhetoric.”

• Spox for Eastwood and Cooper had no immediate response to requests for comment. Jack Horner, a spox for Warner Bros film studio, told Reuters that the company “denounces any violent, anti-Muslim rhetoric, including that which has been attributed to viewers” of the film

• “Nice to see a movie where the Arabs are portrayed for who they really are – vermin scum intent on destroying us,” one tweet says. This film “makes me wanna go shoot some fu*kin Arabs,” a tweet says. “Great fu*king movie and now I really want to kill some fu*king ragheads,” another tweet says (no comment required)

• “Savage, despicable, evil. That’s what we were fighting in Iraq.” Kyle wrote in his memoir. “I only wish I had killed more. Not for bragging rights, but because I believe the world is a better place without savages out there taking American lives.” Kyle was killed in February 2013 in his home state of Texas on a firing range by a disgruntled U.S. veteran

 

• Vid: Patriots “balls” press conference cold open – Saturday Night Live

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______________

Victoria Jones – Editor

TRNS’ James Cullum contributed to this report

 

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