Bill Clinton apologizes publicly to Monica Lewinsky, family for affair

Former President Bill Clinton on Monday apologized publicly again for the affair he had 20 years ago with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, after getting defensive in an NBC interview about the incident that led to his impeachment.

“I meant it then and I meant it now. I apologize to my family, to Monica Lewinsky and her family, and the American people,” Clinton said at the New York Public Library late Monday night.

Clinton faced questions on Today regarding the #MeToo movement and whether he would have handled his scandal regarding Lewinsky better had it happened in 2018.

The former president was dismissive of the questions, claiming that this was something that happened and was handled years ago, also noting that he wasn’t victimless, as he left the White House $16 million in debt.

Clinton also said he didn't owe Lewinsky a private apology.

Clinton is giving interviews to support a new novel he wrote with James Patterson.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/bill-clinton-apologizes-publicly-to-monica-lewinsky-family-for-affair

Trump pressures IG for report on Obama election meddling

President Trump on Tuesday morning put pressure on the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General’s to issue a report on how the Obama administration decided to surveil his campaign, a move that Trump has argued was aimed at helping his opponent, Hillary Clinton.

“What is taking so long with the Inspector General’s Report on Crooked Hillary and Slippery James Comey. Numerous delays. Hope Report is not being changed and made weaker! There are so many horrible things to tell, the public has the right to know. Transparency!” Trump said on Twitter Tuesday.

What is taking so long with the Inspector General’s Report on Crooked Hillary and Slippery James Comey. Numerous delays. Hope Report is not being changed and made weaker! There are so many horrible things to tell, the public has the right to know. Transparency!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2018

The inspector general is looking into surveillance on Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign, and the president is worried that the longer the reports take, the more it is being altered to make a weaker case against Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/trump-pressures-ig-for-report-on-obama-election-meddling

>>1638747

I know defies logic, this newest apology wasn't much of one either, doesn't have the sincerity it should have if one meant it. He was backed into a corner and afraid his book won't sell. All self serving, always has been and always will be.

Blue wave? California tops list as midterm matchups form

For years sidelined on the national political fringe, California has lurched to the center of the fight for control of Congress.

No state will be more consequential in the success or failure of a prospective blue wave this fall. But before then, Democrats must avoid self-inflicted wounds in Tuesday’s so-called jungle primaries that feature a swarm of ambitious candidates who could cannibalize their own party’s chances. At the same time, Republicans face the embarrassing prospect of failing to nominate any candidates in marquee races for the U.S. Senate and governor.

California tops a list of eight states holding primary contests on Tuesday. Democrats and Republicans from Montana to Alabama and Mississippi to New Jersey will pick their nominees up and down the ballot to face off this November for the inaugural midterm elections of Donald Trump’s presidency.

With the possibility of a Democratic wave on the horizon, Tuesday’s contests will test voter enthusiasm, candidate quality and Trump’s influence as the 2018 political battlefield begins to settle.

“I look forward (to) watching the Democrats continue to nominate far-left progressives who are running to go to Congress to impeach the president and raise middle-class taxes,” said Corry Bliss, whose Congressional Leadership Fund will spend tens of millions of dollars to defend the House Republican majority this fall.

On the other side, Democratic strategists expect to see new evidence of an anti-Trump backlash, particularly in suburban districts across New Jersey and California, where many voters have soured on the Republican president.

“The California suburbs are the center of gravity for voters rejecting Republicans in the era of Trump,” said Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson. “When you combine the Democratic energy with the suburban independent voters who want nothing to do with a Trump Republican, you create a toxic combination for a Republican member of Congress trying to get re-elected.”

Democrats must wrestle at least 23 seats from Republican hands to seize control of the House for the second half of Trump’s first term.

There is no more fertile terrain than California, which features seven Republican seats in districts won by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016. No other state features more than three such seats.

Yet California’s top-two primary system — often referred to as a jungle primary — complicates things.

Under the system, all candidates appear on a single ballot, yet only the top two vote-getters regardless of party advance to a November runoff. In a crowded and competitive race — and there are many — it’s possible that two candidates from the same party advance to the runoff in some districts, leaving the other party with no candidate on the November ballot.

That’s a nightmare scenario for Democrats in particular, who claim momentum in some suburban districts but feature packed fields in many cases.

National Democrats have spent more than $7 million trying to avoid that fate in districts opened by Republican Ed Royce and Darrell Issa’s retirements and in the district where Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is facing challenges from the left and the right. That’s money that Democrats would have preferred to save for this fall.

For Republicans, a California shutout is most likely in the governor’s race.

https:// www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/5/blue-wave-california-tops-list-midterm-matchups-fo/

>>1638843

Indeed, he still has meltdowns at the mention of any of it. Guess he doesn't enjoy all of those monkey's hanging on his back.

Banned gun buyers beat background checks – and are rarely prosecuted when caught

A convicted felon from Colorado lied about his criminal past while trying to buy guns at two upstate New York stores in 2016.

The man failed the instant background checks and was denied the weapons. Law enforcement was notified because lying on a firearms application is a federal offense, but the man fled back to Colorado before the authorities caught up to him.

Francis Neeley, a 30-year veteran of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, took the case to federal prosecutors in upstate New York, seeking charges and an arrest warrant. The prosecutors declined the case, citing a Department of Justice policy to pursue only the most extreme instances in which someone lies on a federal firearms application, Mr. Neeley said.

Mr. Neeley also hit a dead end with New York state prosecutors. They said the case was worthy of prosecution, but they didn’t have funds to send investigators to Colorado and bring the man back to New York, Mr. Neeley recalled.

The man was never charged for lying on the gun applications, and Mr. Neeley said law enforcement doesn’t even know why he made two attempts to purchase a gun.

“We at the ATF have limited resources, and how much time are we going to invest in a case that isn’t going to be prosecuted?” Mr. Neeley said. “You just pray that this guy doesn’t walk into a place and kill someone with a firearm he gets on the street.”

Nearly 16,000 people in the United States died last year as a result of gun violence, and 6,000 people have been killed so far this year, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.

Several high-profile school shootings have refocused attention on guns, and those on all sides of the issue say more must be done to keep weapons out of the hands of felons, fugitives, the mentally infirm, those with domestic violence records and illegal immigrants — all of whom are supposed to be flagged by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and prevented from buying firearms.

But tens of thousands of those people try to buy guns each year. Some are successful, and few are prosecuted.

Of those tens of thousands of purchase attempts, the ATF referred fewer than 600 to federal prosecutors between 2008 and 2015. U.S. attorney’s offices then whittled that number down further, considering 254 cases, or an average of 32 a year, for possible prosecution, according to the most recently available statistics compiled by the Justice Department’s inspector general.

Given the lack of penalties, analysts said, there is no real downside to a banned buyer trying.

Yet lives could be at stake.

A 2008 study funded by the Department of Justice found that people who are denied guns are 28 percent more likely to be arrested in the five years after failing background checks compared with the previous five years.

“This is an important enough issue that it ought to be addressed,” said Philip Hilder, a former federal prosecutor who is now a private-practice lawyer. “If it saves just one person’s life, it’s worth the enforcement.”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions promised a change after the Valentine’s Day school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 people were killed. He directed U.S. attorneys to prosecute what are known in the business as “lie and try” cases.

The George W. Bush and Obama administrations pledged to crack down on these cases, but those promises did not result in meaningful action.

Charles Rose, a Stetson University law professor and former federal prosecutor, said U.S. attorneys just don’t view lie-and-try as important because, ultimately, the person is denied a gun and the case boils down to lies on government paperwork. Other cases take priority, he said.

https:// www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/4/banned-gun-buyers-beat-background-checks-are-rarel/

Ex-defense intelligence officer accused of being Chinese spy

A former defense intelligence officer was arrested Saturday for attempting to sell U.S. defense information to the Chinese government, the Department of Justice said Monday.

Ron Rockwell Hansen, 58, of Syracuse, Utah, held a Top Secret clearance for many years at the Defense Intelligence Agency, which provides information to policy makers and others at the Department of Defense. He was arrested Saturday afternoon at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport while trying to flee the United States for China.

Between 2013 and 2017, Mr. Hansen is alleged to have provided information he learned while attending military and intelligence conferences in the U.S. to contacts associated with the Chinese government, according to court documents. He also improperly sold export-controlled technology to people in China, the Justice Department said. Mr. Hansen is alleged to have received $800,000 in funds from China for the information.

Prosecutors said Mr. Hansen caught law enforcement’s attention after he repeatedly attempted to access classified information after leaving the government. He later attempted to solicit sensitive information from a law enforcement source, who was working with authorities. Mr. Hansen disclosed to the source details of his contacts with the Chinese government, including in-person meetings with intelligence officers. He also promised the source the source that they would be “handsomely paid” for giving the information to China.

Mr. Hansen is expected to appear in a Seattle federal court late Monday. He faces 15 espionage charges, including attempting to gather or deliver national defense information to aid a foreign government and acting as an unregistered foreign agents.

“Ron Rockwell Hansen is a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer who allegedly attempted to transmit national defense information to the People’s Republic of China’s intelligence service (PRCIS) and also allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars while illegally acting as an agent of China,” Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers said. “His alleged actions are a betrayal of our nation’s security and the American people and are an affront to his former intelligence community colleagues. Our intelligence professionals swear an oath to protect our country’s most closely held secrets and the National Security Division will continue to relentlessly pursue justice against those who violate this oath.”

https:// www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/4/ron-rockwell-hansen-arrested-accused-being-chinese/

>>1638883

I agree, I also don't think it is impossible either.

I believe Californians are waking up to the reality of what has been going on for far too long.

>>1638952

We have it all!

World Health Organization wants people more active to combat global burden of disease

The World Health Organization announced Monday it is stepping up action to combat inactivity among the global population, part of a campaign for health goals to be achieved by 2030 and to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes and breast and colon cancer.

The action plan includes 20 policy changes that leaders can make to increase opportunity for physical activity through the environment — providing more options for people to walk, cycle, plays sports, have space for active recreation, dance and play.

“Being active is critical for health. But in our modern world, this is becoming more and more of a challenge, largely because our cities and communities aren’t designed in the right ways,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement.

“We need leaders at all levels to help people to take the healthier step. This works best at city level, where most responsibility lies for creating healthier spaces,” he said.

Worldwide, about one in five adults and four out of five adolescents are inactive, the WHO said in a statement. An estimated 71 percent of deaths globally are from non-communicable diseases, which can be greatly reduced by increasing regular physical activity, the organization said.

The populations with the least opportunity for physical activity include girls, women, older adults, poorer people, people with disabilities, those with chronic diseases, marginalized communities and indigenous people, the WHO said.

“You don’t need to be a professional athlete to choose to be active,” Dr. Tedros said. “Taking the stairs instead of the elevator makes a difference. Or walking or using the bike instead of driving to your neighborhood bakery. It’s the choices we make each and every day that can keep us healthy. Leaders must help make these choices the easy ones.”

https:// www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/4/world-health-organization-wants-people-more-active/

>>1639067

That's what I was thinking as well, I don't trust this organization at all.

Veterans in VA's 'Choice' program waiting up to 70 days for care, GAO says

Many patients using the Department of Veterans Affairs’ “Choice” program to avoid long waits at government medical centers still face delays of two months or longer before seeing a doctor, the Government Accountability Office reported Monday.

Veterans in the private-care Choice program can face waits of up to 70 days to receive care, the researchers found after looking at a wide sampling of cases from 2016.

“Timeliness of appointments is an essential component of quality health care,” the report stated. “Delays in care have been shown to negatively affect patients’ morbidity, mortality, and quality of life… VA lacks assurance that veterans are receiving care from community providers in a timely manner.”

The review looked at 196 cases around the nation in which veterans were authorized for appointments with private healthcare providers including 55 for routine care, 53 for urgent care, and 88 that were returned without scheduling appointments.

GAO said the VA “cannot systematically monitor the timeliness of veterans’ access to Choice Program care because it lacks complete, reliable data to do so.”

The findings come as President Trump prepares to sign into law Wednesday a $52 billion veterans measure that overhauls VA programs and services. The GAO report said fixes to community care programs won’t shorten wait times unless the agency improves its oversight of appointments outside the VA system.

“Ignoring these lessons learned and the challenges that have arisen under the Choice Program as (VA officials) design the future consolidated program would only increase VA’s risk for not being able to ensure that all veterans will receive timely access to care in the community,” their report stated.

https:// www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/4/va-choice-program-has-long-waits-veterans-care-gao/

>>1639109

Not seeing anything credible on a cursory search.

>>1639137

I truly don't believe it's legitimate, there are fake news sites that say the same thing dating back to 2013. I will happen eventually, though, just not true now.

>>1639158

Nice!! it's about time.