Barack Obama warned against taking revenge on Russia for cyber attack

Barack Obama warned against taking revenge on Russia for cyber attack

USA   9:15:00 PM

Britain's former top soldier has warned Barack Obama not to wage “tit-for-tat” cyber warfare against Russia.
The outgoing US president vowed to take revenge at a “time and place of our choosing” over the hacking of Democratic officials’ e-mails during this year’s bitter White House race.
Experts have blamed the Kremlin for the web attack saying Vladimir Putin wanted his pal Donald Trump to beat rival Hillary Clinton.
Britain’s former ambassador to Russia, Sir Andrew Wood, said the President-elect had a “case to answer”.
It is “almost impossible” he would not have known about Russian hacking during the election, the ex-diplomat claimed.
Mr Obama told NPR News he confronted Mr Putin over the allegations.
Whenever a foreign government tried to interfere in US elections, the nation must take action - “and we will”, Mr Obama revealed.
He added: “Some of it may be explicit and publicised, some of it may not be.
“But Mr Putin is well aware of my feelings about this, because I spoke to him directly about it.”

The Kremlin rejected suggestions President Putin was involved in the hacks.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed it was “laughable nonsense”.
Ex-Chief of the Defence Staff General Lord Richards cautioned Mr Obama against launching a revenge attack.
He told the BBC: “Taking President Obama at face value - and I assume he has good evidence to substantiate his claim - then I imagine they are going to have to think very carefully about getting into some tit-for-tat operation with the Russians.
“You never really quite know where it’s going to end up; are they going to start having a go at our financial system, electricity?
“You have got to be very, very careful and that is why he has been rather cagey, I think, in choosing his words the way he has.”
Mr Trump faced accusations he knew about the Kremlin targeting the Democratic campaign.

Hillary Clinton (Photo: Getty)

Sir Andrew, who was Britain’s ambassador to Russia from 1995 to 2000, said: “I don’t see how Donald Trump could not have known something.
“I think that’s almost impossible. What he actually said to Hillary Clinton in the debates was, essentially, ‘You can’t prove it - you don’t know’.
“He never said ‘This is serious, it must be investigated’.
“He did have people around him who had quite a lot to do with Russia or Ukraine. So I think there is a case to answer.”
But the incoming President’s senior adviser, Kellyanne Conway, claimed it was “breathtaking” and irresponsible for the White House to suggest Mr Trump knew Russia was interfering to help his campaign.
In London, No 10 faces questions over whether Russians had used hacking to try and influence UK elections.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “There is no evidence that our elections have been interfered with in this way.
“Obviously, the reports from the US about allegations of cyber-activity by Russia are a concern.”

All hopes not lost! Hillary Clinton Can Still Become President on This One Scenario Before Trump is Sworn-In

All hopes not lost! Hillary Clinton Can Still Become President on This One Scenario Before Trump is Sworn-In

Hillary Clinton   5:34:00 PM

It has been revealed that Hillary Clinton can still become the President of the United States of America if this one thing happens before Donald Trump is sworn-in.


Hillary Clinton

For die hard Democrats holding out hope that they won’t have to live through a Trump presidency, there is a last, incredibly long shot for them latch on to a surprise twist in the Electoral College.

Though Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 200,000, Trump has won the minimum of 270 electoral votes necessary to be elected president. As of late Wednesday, he had 290 to Hillary Clinton's 228.

According to the Constitution, chosen electors of the Electoral College are the real people who will vote for president, when they meet on Dec. 19 in their respective state capitals.

However, there is technically nothing stopping any of the electors from voting their conscience and refusing to support the candidate to whom they were bound, or from abstaining from voting altogether.
There’s even a name for it: becoming a “faithless elector.”

The idea of electors reversing their vote is rarely discussed and was most recently bandied about after the incredibly close 2000 election in which George Bush narrowly beat Al Gore. And electors going “faithless” is exceedingly rare.

Well over 99 percent of electors throughout American history have voted as pledged, according to an analysis done by the New York Times.
It does happen, though.

The last faithless elector reared his roguish head back in 2004, when a lone anonymous voter in Minnesota declined to vote for Democrat John Kerry and instead voted for Kerry’s running mate, John Edwards.
The rogue’s vote was purely ceremonial, as Bush already had 286 electoral votes, more than enough to ensure his reelection.
Faithless electors are technically barred in only 29 states from ignoring the will of the voters, though the penalties are light. And a faithless elector has never swung an election.

But given the high dissatisfaction with Trump among Republicans, a few faithless GOP electors could well go rogue next month.
One Texas GOP elector, Chris Suprun of Texas, a firefighter, told Politico in August that he finds Trump so unpalatable he’d consider voting for Clinton when he gets to Georgia’s capital on Dec. 19th.

Baoky Vu, a Decatur businessman, told the Atlanta-based news site AJC.com in August that he couldn’t stomach voting for Donald Trump either, and was quietly convinced by local GOP leaders to resign as an elector.
Clinton would need more than 20 GOP electors to go rogue and vote instead for her a mighty tall order.

Even then, the new, Republican-controlled Congress meets Jan. 6 to approve the electoral college vote, and would certainly vote to void any roguery, handing the victory firmly back to Trump.

The Founding Fathers created the electoral college because the were “afraid of direct Democracy,” according to FactCheck.org.
In fact, Alexander Hamilton thought the electors would make sure “the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.”

It remains to be seen, given Tuesday’s surprise election result, whether Democrats and even some Republicans who question the “requisite qualifications” of president elect Donald Trump will push to revisit the Electoral College system.

Culled from the New York Post

Live: Trump winning as President. US election results so far

Live: Trump winning as President. US election results so far

USA   6:29:00 AM

Donald Trump scored major victories over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night in Florida, Ohio and North Carolina, showing remarkable strength in three of the nation's most fiercely fought battleground states in an unexpectedly tight race for the presidency.

Mrs Clinton carried Virginia and Colorado, as well as California, the nation's largest prize. With a handful of other states still undecided, neither candidate had cleared the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.

Michigan and Wisconsin, two Midwestern powerhouses that haven't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since the 1980s, took on unexpected importance. Mrs Clinton's campaign had largely taken both for granted, but made a late push in Michigan in the race's final days.
 
A candidate needs to secure 270 out of 538 electoral college votes in order to win the presidency. They claim these by winning individual states that each award a certain number of votes. States with more people have more electoral college votes.

The popular vote can be less important to the overall result, as a candidate can gain a majority of electoral votes without performing as well at a national level. In the 2000 election, Al Gore gained more votes than George Bush, but the Republican managed to scrape 271 electoral votes and claim the presidency.

Trump: Hillary Clinton's plan would start World War III

Trump: Hillary Clinton's plan would start World War III

US Presidential Election   8:36:00 AM

The Republican standard-bearer struck an apocalyptic tone when criticising his Democratic rival's plan to control Syrian air space.

"You're going to end up in World War Three over Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton," Mr Trump said.
"You're not fighting Syria any more, you're fighting Syria, Russia and Iran, all right?


"Russia is a nuclear country, but a country where the nukes work as opposed to other countries that talk."

Mr Trump suggested there should be a refocus away from the long-held US position of trying to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying: "What we should do is focus on IS. We should not be focusing on Syria."

He also suggested Mrs Clinton would be unable to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin after her sharp criticism of him.

Mr Trump questioned "how she is going to go back and negotiate with this man who she has made to be so evil" if she is elected president on 8 November.

The Clinton campaign dismissed the criticism, saying both Republican and Democratic national security experts have denounced Mr Trump as unfit to be commander-in-chief.
"Once again, he is parroting Putin's talking points and playing to Americans' fears, all while refusing to lay out any plans of his own for defeating ISIS or alleviating humanitarian suffering in Syria," Clinton spokesman Jesse Lehrich said in a statement.

Mr Trump's warning of confrontation with Russia echoes concerns raised last month at a congressional hearing by the highest-ranking military officer in the US armed forces.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Marine Gen Joseph Dunford told lawmakers a "no-fly zone" in Syria could spell war with Russia.
"Right now, senator, for us to control all of the airspace in Syria it would require us to go to war, against Syria and Russia," Gen Dunford told the Senate Arms Services Committee.

America's highest-ranking military officer has warned against a US-imposed no-fly zone in Syria
"That's a pretty fundamental decision that certainly I'm not going to make."
At the final presidential debate in Nevada on 20 October, Mrs Clinton outlined her support for the measure.
"A no-fly zone can save lives and hasten the end of the conflict," she said on stage.
But in a 2013 speech to Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, Mrs Clinton said establishing a no-fly zone would "kill a lot of Syrians", according to a transcript disclosed by Wikileaks.

Arnold Schwarzenegger reveals the ONE reason he didn't run for President against Donald Trump

Arnold Schwarzenegger reveals the ONE reason he didn't run for President against Donald Trump

Hillary Clinton   3:12:00 AM

Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to be President of the United States.

The former Governor of California can't actually run for president because was born in Austria, but he had admitted that he would've run against Donald Trump to be the Republican candidate.

Arnold, who was elected to be the 'Governator' for eight years from 2003, told Adweek that getting into the Oval Office is his dream, even though he doesn't actually like politics.

“If I'd been born in America, I would've run,” he told the magazine.

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“Because now? This was a very good time to get in the race.”

But the 69-year-old admitted that his own experience didn't really change his opinion of politics, as he said: “I didn't love politics, but I love policy.”


It's no secret that Arnie wants the top job, having previously opened up about his aspirations while speaking to Jay Leno on The Tonight Show in April 2010.

It was even reported that back in October 2013 he wanted to get the law changed so that he could run for presidency and get to The White House, according to Page Six.

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Even though the Republican has admitted that he won't be voting for Donald Trump in this year's election against Hillary Clinton, he is taking over the billionaire's role on The New Celebrity Apprentice, which returns in January.

Earlier this month, Arnie released a statement on Twitter, which read: "For the first time since I became a citizen in 1983, I will not vote for the Republican candidate for President.

"Like many Americans, I've been conflicted by this election – I still haven't made up my mind about how exactly I will vote next month. I have been a proud Republican since I moved to America in 1968 and I heard Nixon's words about getting the government off our backs, free trade, and defending our liberty with a strong military. That day I joined the party of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan.

"But as proud as I am to label myself a Republican, there is one label that I hold above all else – American.

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"So I want to take a moment today to remind my fellow Republicans that it is not only acceptable to choose your country over your party – it is your duty.”

Speaking about his popularity, Arnie told the magazine: “I realised early on in bodybuilding that you have to be able to sell yourself, your ideas, your position to the public.

“You have to set yourself apart, whether it's policy or movies. How do you make them remember you?”

Hillary Clinton Slammed for Her Description of Supreme Court Gun Ruling

Hillary Clinton Slammed for Her Description of Supreme Court Gun Ruling

USA   12:45:00 AM

Hillary Clinton's characterization of a landmark gun decision has Second Amendment advocates crying foul.

The topic arose at Wednesday night’s presidential debate during a discussion about issues the Supreme Court could tackle during the next administration, including the Second Amendment, which guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”

Debate moderator Chris Wallace mentioned the Heller case, which was the high court’s 2008 ruling that residents of Washington, D.C., had the constitutional right to bear arms in their own home for self-defense, for instance, which negated a longtime firearm ban in the city.

Wallace also cited a 2015 audio recording of Clinton where she is heard saying "the Supreme Court is wrong on the Second Amendment," a reference to the Heller case.


During her remarks Wednesday night, Clinton touted her years spent in Arkansas and representing upstate New York as senator as proof of her support and "respect" for "the tradition of gun ownership," but then tuned to a specific aspect of the Heller decision.

"I disagreed with the way the court applied the Second Amendment in that case because what the District of Columbia was trying to do was to protect toddlers from guns. And so they wanted people with guns to safely store them. And the court didn't accept that reasonable regulation, but they’ve accepted many others," she said.

Protecting children from access to guns inside the home came up as a question in the Supreme Court's discussion of the D.C. law, but the word "child" was mentioned only six times in the 110 pages of transcript of the court’s closed-door session, according to a review of the transcript.

Bob Owens, the editor of Second Amendment news site Bearing Arms, said Clinton's description inaccurately reflected the crux of the case.

"It's kind of like saying that ‘Fatal Attraction’ was about a woman's hatred of rabbits," Owens told ABC News, referencing the film's infamous bunny-boiling moment.

"Yes, that is a tiny part of the overall story, but it completely missed the main point," he said.

The Clinton campaign did not immediately return ABC News' request for comment or clarification.

National Rifle Association spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said Clinton "was wrong" in her description of the Heller decision.

"I think she's trying to confuse voters and distract them from her position, which is that the Supreme Court got it wrong on the Second Amendment," Baker told ABC News.

As the debate unfolded Wednesday night, the NRA released a new TV ad that included the 2015 audio of Clinton’s saying, "the Supreme Court is wrong on the Second Amendment." The NRA made a $5 million ad buy for the commercial and will play it on national cable and broadcast stations in battleground states through Oct. 31.

The late justice Antonin Scalia held the deciding vote in the Heller case, so the prospect of the next president’s being in a position to appoint a replacement who could tip the balance against the Heller decision is a frightening possibility, should Clinton win, the NRA’s Baker said.

"If that is overturned, it paves the way for extreme gun control at all levels of government, including gun bans," she added.

For his part, Donald Trump didn’t comment on the specifics of the Heller decision at the debate, but rather about Clinton's reported reaction to the ruling.

"Well, the D.C. vs. Heller decision was very strongly -- and she was extremely angry about it. I watched. I mean, she was very, very angry when upheld. And Justice Scalia was so involved,” Trump said. “And it was a well-crafted decision. But Hillary was extremely upset, extremely angry.”

Owens, of news site Bearing Arms, said Trump’s answer made it "hard for me to get a sense of what he knows there."

"He has a pattern of being so general in his responses that it's really difficult to gauge his understanding," Owens added.

The NRA’s Baker said she is not concerned about Trump's understanding of the case or what it would mean for legal gun owners.

"He's been the most outspoken unabashed supporter of the Second Amendment that's run for president in decades," she said of Trump.

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