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 President Trump and congressional Democratic leaders ripped off the bandage over their raw, partisan disagreements Tuesday in open bickering that offered a glimpse of the divided government to come in the next two years. During a White House meeting intended to seek common ground to avoid a partial government shutdown next week, the president and incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer instead squabbled over funding for the border wall, traded blame for the last shutdown and jousted over which party commands the stronger political hand since the midterm elections. Most of the feuding played out on camera in front of reporters who were invited by the president to cover the meeting. The Democrats pleaded with Mr. Trump several times to kick out the press. “Let’s debate in private,” Mr. Schumer urged as cameras continued to roll. PELOSI INSULTS TRUMP 'MANHOOD'...
'TINKLE CONTEST'... SHOUTING MATCH IN THE OVAL... VIDEO... Divided govt on display... 'Terror' at Christmas market: 'Islamist' who shot dead three people and wounded 13 in Strasbourg had been identified as 'a threat to the state' it is revealed as manhunt continues  At least three people were killed and 13 others injured when a gunman opened fire at a Christmas market in Strasbourg, northeastern France on Tuesday evening. Police identified the gunman as Cherif Chekatt, a Strasbourg-born 29-year-old who has a criminal record and is a designated 'threat to the state' on the security services' watchlist. A manhunt is now underway for Chekatt, who managed to flee the scene in a hijacked taxi after being wounded in a shootout with soldiers, and President Emmanuel Macron has raised France's terror level. DIE ANOTHER MAY Theresa May ‘will win’ no-confidence vote tonight – but could still be toppled as PM Tory MPs will tonight vote on whether or not to kick out the Prime Minister THERESA May is on course to WIN tonight's no-confidence vote after a majority of Tory MPs pledged to support the Prime Minister. But she could still end up losing her job if she fails to crush the revolt against her by a large margin. Today Mrs May insisted she IS still the right person to lead the party - but hinted she could quit before the next election in a last-ditch bid to win over wavering backbenchers. Secretive State Dept. offensive targets propaganda, 'deep fakes' The State Department is ramping up a secretive counter-propaganda center to fight Russian disinformation efforts in nearly two dozen nations as part of what Trump administration officials say is an expanding push to crush Moscow’s “fake news” influence operations around the world. While Russian disinformation is a core target, officials say the push is tied to a wider overhaul of the department’s Global Engagement Center — an outfit that had been plagued in recent years by bureaucratic bungling and an unclear mandate — to target aggressively “big-power propaganda” undermining America’s image abroad. “We’re going on offense and we’re going on offense against major state adversaries in the propaganda and disinformation realm,” the center’s acting Coordinator Daniel Kimmage said Tuesday. “Russia looms large in our priorities and after that, China and Iran.” Pope Francis poised to redo translation of Lord's Prayer Pope Francis, showing once again his willingness to turn over liturgical tables, is expected to approve a change in the translation of the Lord’s Prayer, the famous biblical petition recited by Christians billions of times a day. The Italian Episcopal Conference [CEI] has submitted the proposed change to the Vatican for approval, changing the line “lead us not into temptation” to “abandon us not when in temptation,” reported the Italian newswire service Ansa and the [U.K.] Express. A year ago, the pope brought the issue to the forefront when he described the petition widely used for centuries in many languages, including English and Italian, as “not a good translation.” Trump warns against impeachment: 'The people would revolt' President Trump warned against efforts to impeach him Tuesday, raising the specter of a popular uprising against a Congress that did that. Mr. Trump issued his caution in an Oval Office interview with Reuters news agency, saying he wasn’t worried that Democrats, more of whom are publicly demanding he be removed from office, will be in control of the House next month. “I’m not concerned, no,” he added. “I think that the people would revolt if that happened.” He also dismissed the possibility on the merits and noted the good economic numbers. Democrats eagerly anticipate return of earmarks as way to win over rank and file members Rep. Steny Hoyer predicts bipartisan support in return to pork-barrel spending House Democrats are eagerly eyeing the chance to revive earmarks when they take the majority next year, saying it is Congress’s duty to siphon the money to pet projects — and hoping a return to pork-barrel spending will help keep back-benchers in line. But they’re wary of taking the leap alone and say they’re hoping Senate Republicans will join them in reversing an eight-year ban. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, poised to become House majority leader when the new Congress convenes in January, told reporters he expects bipartisan support for a return to earmarks. Earmarks are line items tucked into bills carving out a portion of spending for roads, bridges, parking garages, and military weapons systems at the insistence of a particular lawmaker or two. Nikki Haley: Trump's Unpredictability Helped in International Deals Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in an interview airing Wednesday she has often found President Donald Trump's "unpredictable" nature useful while dealing with ambassadors from around the world. "I was trying to get the job done, and I got the job done by being truthful, but also by letting him be unpredictable and not showing our cards," Haley told NBC News' Craig Melvin in an interview airing on on "Today" Wednesday. "He would ratchet up the rhetoric, and then I'd go back to the ambassadors and say: 'You know, he's pretty upset. I can't promise you what he's going to do or not, but I can tell you if we do these sanctions, it will keep him from going too far,'" she said in the exclusive interview. Security firm warns of new global campaign targeting critical infrastructure A hacking group is aggressively targeting critical infrastructure in a new global campaign, a security firm revealed on Wednesday. The campaign, known as Operation Sharpshooter, has gone after key industries including nuclear, defense, energy, and financial groups by using a malicious implant that has links, according to McAfee Labs. Operation Sharpshooter uses an implant called Rising Sun, which leverages a malicious source code linked to another prominent hacking group — the Lazarus Group — that is widely believed to be based out of North Korea. How the liberal morality police ruin lives The American civil rights movements became necessary because minority groups in this country had enough of being bullied, marginalized and targeted by a society that punished them for being different. Whether it be the black or gay civil rights movements, or the movement to enfranchise and expand women’s rights, the goal was not for special rights, but for the ability to live our lives without threat and to enjoy all the rights to which every American is entitled. The right to not be destroyed because people don’t like you — the bedrock principle informing all civil rights values and successes — is being made a mockery of by today’s modern liberal inquisitors. Ask comedian and actor Kevin Hart and Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray. Both black men offended the liberal morality police by making comments deemed insensitive or the now ubiquitous “homophobic” on social media years ago. Their word crimes required some miserable soul to pour over Twitter looking for a statement or attitude with which to crucify them. Putting service men and women first We wrote recently on these pages that we must engage in “right-sizing America’s government to protect our economic growth.” That is, we must safeguard the rapid economic growth induced by our major tax reform/tax cut legislation of 2017, and not dissipate it on more wasteful spending as we have in the past and as will be urged by the new “progressive” (not Democratic) majority in the House. Some federal spending is not only good, but essential to the survival of our nation — national defense being the key, obvious area to secure our freedom and way of life. That streamlining of the military can and should be done is confirmed by the savings and modernization already implemented and projected by the Department of Defense. But national defense should be priority one. We need solid defense to make clear to our adversaries — Russia and China (and to a lesser extent North Korea and Iran) — that we mean business and that their best response is improving trade and other relations, not building new missiles, armaments and defense outposts (through artificial island garrisons — China) or (invading, or threatening, neighbors who prefer independence — Russia).
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