EPA, DOJ lawsuit vs. oil company shines light on Trump executive order(FOX NEWS)

Attorneys for an energy company being sued by the federal government say lawyers for the Environmental Protection Agency are defying one of President Trump’s executive orders that, if obeyed, would essentially kill the agency’s lawsuit against the company.

The accusation against the EPA, and their Justice Department (DOJ) lawyers, is the latest episode in a five-year-old fight between the federal government and California-based HVI Cat Canyon, a privately-held oil company formerly known as Greka Oil & Gas.CONTINUE READING HERE

‘Misdirected’ airstrike killed 18 allied Syrian forces, US military confirms(FOX NEWS)

The U.S. military confirmed Thursday a “misdirected” airstrike from the U.S.-led coalition this week killed 18 allied fighters battling the Islamic State terror network in northern Syria.

Syrian Democratic Forces, partnering with the U.S., gave coalition aircraft the wrong coordinates for a strike intended to hit ISIS south of its Tabqa stronghold, according to U.S. Central Command.CONTINUE READING HERE

As Trump Seeks Defense-Spending Boost, Watchdogs Cite Faulty Pentagon Accounting(O.A.N)

April 13, 2017

By Scot J. Paltrow

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald J. Trump is planning to increase U.S. defense spending by $54 billion next year. But a series of recent reports by the Defense Department Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office say that Pentagon accounting systems will struggle to track how the money is spent.

The reports found that the Pentagon remains unable to accurately track its $591 billion annual budget and experiences billions of dollars in accounting gaps and errors each year despite two decades of reform efforts. Taken together, the reports show that many of the endemic accounting problems exposed in a 2013 Reuters investigative series remain in place.CONTINUE READING HERE

At Home, Rebel Republican Lawmakers Pay No Price For Defying Trump(O.A.N)

April 13, 2017

By Letitia Stein

PALATKA, Fla. (Reuters) – At a town hall in his conservative Florida district this week, U.S. Representative Ted Yoho drew applause for defying his own Republican Party leaders to help derail a healthcare plan that was President Donald Trump’s first major legislative initiative.

Far from paying a price back home, as Trump has threatened they would, Yoho and some of the other far-right members of the House Freedom Caucus appear to have support for standing their ground, based on their reception at several town halls during a two-week congressional recess.

A handful of House Freedom Caucus lawmakers were facing constituents for the first time since last month’s defeat of Trump’s effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, which was also rejected by some Republican moderates.CONTINUE READING HERE

Trump Signs Resolution Allowing U.S. States To Block Family Planning Funds(O.A.N)

April 13, 2017

By Lisa Lambert

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a resolution that will allow U.S. states to restrict how federal funds for contraception and reproductive health are spent, a move cheered by anti-abortion campaigners.

“This is a major pro-life victory,” said the most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives, Speaker Paul Ryan, adding that a regulation enacted under Democratic former President Barack Obama had forced states to fund Planned Parenthood, a national non-profit that provides contraception, health screenings, and abortions.CONTINUE READING HERE

LGBT Advocates Seek To Label Opponents As U.S. Hate Groups(O.A.N)

April 13, 2017

By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A liberal coalition on Thursday started a campaign to label social conservative organizations that oppose transgender rights as hate groups, ratcheting up the antagonism between opposing sides on one of America’s most contentious debates.

The Eliminate Hate Campaign seeks to draw attention to groups it sees as extreme and hateful against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, accusing them of hiding behind ostensibly Christian or family values.

Alarmed by a surge in reported hate crimes tied to the 2016 presidential campaign, the campaign will pressure the media to use the hate-group designation for about 50 organizations in the United States.CONTINUE READING HERE

Trump Administration Issues Final Rule On Stricter Obamacare Enrollment(O.A.N)

April 13, 2017

By Yasmeen Abutaleb

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration on Thursday issued a final rule that will shorten the Obamacare enrollment period and give insurers more of what they say they need in the individual insurance market, likely making it harder for some consumers to purchase insurance, healthcare experts said.

It could also raise out-of-pocket medical expenses, the experts said, because it gives insurers more flexibility in determining the value of their coverage.

The rule, which takes effect later this year, comes as President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have renewed efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, after an effort to pass a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives failed last month.CONTINUE READING HERE

CIA’s Pompeo rips WikiLeaks as ‘hostile intelligence service’ abetted by Russia (FOX NEWS)

CIA Director Mike Pompeo, in his first speech since taking over the agency, lambasted WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange — calling the group a “non-state hostile intelligence service” that is often abetted by “state actors like Russia.”

Speaking Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Pompeo called Assange a “fraud,” someone with no “moral compass” and a “narcissist who has created nothing of value.”

He asserted that Assange and former National Security Agency staffer and famed leaker Edward Snowden “seek to use that information to make a name for themselves” and they “care nothing about the lives they put at risk or the damage they cause to national security.”CONTINUE READING HERE

From Afghanistan to Syria: Trump’s major military operations in his first 100 days(fox news)

The United States military dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb on an ISIS tunnel complex in Afghanistan on Thursday, the latest overseas military operation under President Donald Trump.

The president has authorized three major military missions since he took office in January.CONTINUE READING HERE