Victoria Jones created and edits Quick Morning News. She is chief White House correspondent with Washington DC-based Talk Media News, where her insight and analysis are made available to over 400 news talk radio stations around the country and internationally.
• Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed his use of of the Yiddish slang word for penis in describing Hillary Clinton’s primary loss to Barack Obama in 2008. He claimed on Twitter: “When I said Hillary got ‘schlonged’ that meant beaten badly.” He claimed it was common: Nexis found only 7 uses – 2 by him. “She was favored to win and she got schlonged, she lost,” he said Monday
• He also mocked Clinton for using the bathroom – or doing something else. “Where did she go? Where did Hillary go? They had to start the debate without her. Phase II. I know where she went. It’s disgusting. I don’t want to talk about it. No, it’s too disgusting. Don’t say it, it’s disgusting.” Trump has a history of finding women’s bodily functions disgusting
• Trump is furious that Clinton dared to attack him during the Democratic debate over policy, saying he was a recruiting tool for ISIS in videos. And she’s not apologizing. “Hell no,” her campaign said. Her strategy may be to go after him on policy, not personally – something his GOP rivals seem to be afraid to do (what’s she got to lose? she’s been accused of murder)
• Tuesday, at a town hall in Iowa, she said that Arabic TV “blasted out” video of Trump translated into Arabic saying “No Muslims coming into the U.S.” “It is playing into the hands of the violent jihadists,” she said. She also said, “We shouldn’t let anybody bully his way into the presidency because that’s not who we are as Americans.” (we’re about to find out)
• Sen Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), campaigning in Iowa Tuesday, said of Trump: “He has discovered that women go to the bathroom and it’s been very upsetting to him. … I was there at that debate that happened Saturday night. I also went to the bathroom. I know, I have to admit it. … This is the pathology.” (No1 trend on Twitter #ReplaceAWordWithSchlong) (WaPo, me)
San Bernardino Killer Denied Militancy in Visa App (Reuters,LAT, me)
• San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik answered “no” on a U.S. visa application form two years ago when asked if she has ever belonged to a military unit or rebel or vigilante group or whether she had ever used or sold weapons, also whether she sought to overthrow the U.S. govt (why would that necessarily be a red flag? everyone says no – of course)
• U.S.-born Syed Rizwan Farook said they first met in person and became engaged during the Oct 2013 Haj pilgrimage to Mecca with their respective families, according to docs released by Rep Bob Goodlatte (R-Va) Tuesday. In a statement Farook filed, he said the couple met through an online website and decided to meet during the pilgrimage
• Goodlatte, head of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that the record alone wasn’t strong enough to establish that Farook and Malik had met in person before seeking the fiancee K-1 visa. Goodlatte indicated there were questions about dates of entry to Saudi Arabia and other aspects of the app that should have raised questions with authorities
• Reuters reported last week that U.S. consular authorities in Pakistan could have sought, but didn’t seek, a more thorough background investigation of Malik before granting her an initial visa to enter the U.S. as Farook’s fiancee. The docs were described to Reuters on Tuesday. The Obama admin hasn’t made the docs public (bit late…)
• President Obama on Tuesday marked the five-year anniversary of the repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” touting “the power to change” and pledging to “continue to move our country even closer to our founding ideals.” Obama in a Facebook post noted other expansions of gay rights under his admin, including legalized same-sex marriage (Hill)
• Iraqi troops and allied tribesmen, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, are advancing into the center of Ramadi, fighting the militants street to street and heading for the main govt complex, officials say. They’ve come up against snipers and suicide bombers. Ramadi fell to ISIS in May in an embarrassing defeat for the Iraqi army (and sheer hell since for the residents)
• There have been reports that ISIS has been rounding people up. “They plan to use them as human shields,” spox Naseer Nuri said Monday. Col Steve Warren, U.S. military spox in Baghdad, said there were still possibly tens of thousands of civilians inside Ramadi
• Warren said the fall of Ramadi was “inevitable,” but he warned that it would be a “tough fight.” Warren also said that Iraqi forces in Fallujah had recovered an ISIS doc that directed the group’s fighters to impersonate Iraqi fighters and commit atrocities to discredit the Iraqi govt, which he said could be related to desperation
• ISIS has lost control of several key towns in Iraq to govt and Kurdish forces since overrunning large swathes of the country’s west and north in June 2014. Despite this, the group has been able to capture new territory of strategic value over the same period, including Ramadi and Palmyra in Syria’s Homs province
• AP’s top 10 news stories of 2015: 1) ISIS; 2) Gay marriage; 3) Paris attacks; 4) Mass shootings; 5) Black deaths in encounters with police; 6) Terrorism worries; 7) U.S. election campaign; 8) Climate change; 9) Charleston church shooting; 10) Europe’s migrant crisis
• Gov Matt Bevin (R-Ky) on Tuesday ordered the state to prepare new marriage licenses that don’t include the names of county clerks in an attempt to protect the religious beliefs of clerk Kim Davis and other local elected officials
• The executive order comes after Davis, the Rowan county clerk, spent five days in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Davis said she couldn’t issue the licenses because they had her name on them. It’s unclear how Bevin’s order will affect a federal lawsuit brought by four couples against Davis
• Bevin said he wanted to “ensure that the sincerely held religious beliefs of all Kentuckians are honored.” (just not gay couples, apparently). It was one of five executive orders he issued Tuesday that mostly revised or suspended recent actions by former Gov Steve Beshear (D)
• Bevin also took aim at two of Democrats’ proudest moments this year: raising the minimum wage for some state workers and automatically restoring the voting rights of some nonviolent convicted felons who had completed their sentences (why would you want to stop people voting – surely not because they weren’t going to vote for you, anyway…)
• Oh come on: A Secret Service agent was robbed of his gun, badge, bag, radio, handcuffs, USB flash drive, (3 French hens, 2 turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree) according to a DC police report. The officer’s vehicle was parked near the agency’s HQ in broad daylight in the afternoon on Monday. (so – no real news there, then…) (NYT, CNN, me)
Bergdahl: No Plea at Arraignment (Reuters, WaPo, me)
• U.S. Army Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, who spent five years as a Taliban prisoner after walking away from his combat outpost in Afghanistan in 2009, didn’t enter a plea on Tuesday at his arraignment on charges spurred by his disappearance. The next pretrial hearing is scheduled for 12 Jan
• Bergdahl, 29, was ordered last week to face a court martial after being charged earlier this year with desertion and endangering U.S. troops. The latter offense carries a life sentence if he’s convicted. A military judge on Tuesday granted Bergdahl permission to defer his plea and a decision on whether a military jury or a judge alone will hear his case
• Some fellow troops resented the military resources devoted to searching for Bergdahl, and Republicans criticized the Obama admin for the deal that freed him in a prisoner swap with five Taliban leaders in 2014. He left his post to draw attention to “leadership failure” in his unit, Bergdahl said recently on the popular podcast Serial
• In ordering the court martial, Army Gen Robert Abram didn’t follow the recommendation of a preliminary hearing officer who, according to Bergdahl’s lawyer, called for him to face a proceeding that could impose a potential maximum penalty of a year in confinement
