Zelenskyy explained, “I told him that if he gave us the weapons we need and stopped supporting Putin, we would let him build Trump-branded hotels and other Trump-branded buildings in Ukraine’s ten largest cities, as well as Trump golf courses in the countryside. He was quite excited.”   read more

“The last time we had a national government that was as hostile to the protection of minority voting rights as we may have with this president was probably near the end of the first Reconstruction” after the Civil War, said prof Karlan. Several potentially decisive rulings on voting appear bound for a Supreme Court whose balance is in Trump’s hands. Voting issues will fall to a Justice Dept whose likely attorney general, Jeff Sessions, is viewed with deep suspicion by civil rights advocates.   read more

Some who track racists in America say Trump’s effect has been unmistakable. A range of white supremacist and so-called Alt-Right websites have seen surges in traffic across the last year. And many sites, among them Red Ice, which has advanced the idea that “the United States of America was built by white people for white people” and American Renaissance, which derides African Americans and Latinos as low-IQ losers, have seen their traffic more than double over the past year.   read more

He endured aggressive interrogations at border crossings in some of the world’s most authoritarian nations. But a recent confrontation at the U.S. border left him shaken. U.S. agents confiscated his phones and retained their SIM cards that held his confidential data. Privacy advocates said it illustrated a loophole that’s especially problematic for journalists: Without a warrant, U.S. border agents can legally search digital devices that they wouldn’t be able to touch anywhere else.   read more

Democrats called for investigations into President-elect Trump's controversial financial ties with foreign businesses and governments. But Rep. Chaffetz, who promised before the election to investigate Hillary Clinton for years, says no rush on Trump. Instead he is pledging to continue investigating Clinton. Said Rep. Cummings: "For Republicans, there was no allegation too small to investigate with respect to Secretary Clinton, but now there is no scandal too big to ignore for Donald Trump."   read more

Kawar went to work in the Amman office of Jordanian Prince Hassan as a researcher and in press relations. In 1991, she took over as director of Hassan’s Paris office, remaining until 2000 when she assumed the directorship of King Abdullah’s office there. The following year, Kawar was named Jordan’s ambassador to France. She added the Holy See and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to her portfolio in 2002 and Portugal in 2005.   read more

Across the nation, in cities like Boston, L.A., Philadelphia and San Francisco, officials plan to defy Trump and act as a kind of bulwark against mass deportations. “I like to compare this to conscientious objector status,” said Oakland Mayor Schaaf. “We are not going to use our resources to enforce what we believe are unjust immigration laws.” But the cost may be steep: Trump has vowed to block all federal funding for cities where local law enforcement agencies do not cooperate with ICE agents.   read more

While 52% of Republicans say they want the law completely repealed, that share is down from 69% just last month, before the election. More Republicans now say they want the law "scaled back" under Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress, with that share more than doubling from 11% before the Nov. 8 election to 24% after. It could be that some Republicans "got a protest vote off their chests, and they're done with that," Kaiser CEO Altman said. "They now have a more moderate position."   read more

Terry Strada, national chair of 9/11 Families and Survivors United For Justice Against Terrorism, said Graham and McCain are seeking to "torpedo" the law by making changes demanded by Saudi Arabia's lobbyists. "We have reviewed the language, and it is an absolute betrayal," Strada said. "The president-elect has made his support for JASTA crystal clear, and there is zero risk that he will support this kind of backroom backstabbing of the 9/11 families."   read more

Administration officials said the changes would improve public involvement and government transparency by adding additional steps to land-use planning. The changes were backed by conservation and sporting groups. TRCP's Joel Webster said the rule would ensure decisions affecting wildlife such as mule deer weren't hobbled by artificial boundaries that separate bureau field offices. U.S. Sen. John Barrasso pledged to work to reverse the action once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.   read more

The normally secretive federal agency, in a bizarre series of oddly informal postings on its Twitter account, revealed that officials apparently concluded, erroneously, that Trump had committed on his own Twitter account to divesting his assets. “As we discussed with your counsel, divestiture is the way to resolve these conflicts,” they wrote on Twitter, later adding: “Bravo! Only way to resolve these conflicts of interest is to divest. Good call!” In fact, Trump had made no such commitment.   read more

Legally, Trump's foreign licensing deals could violate the U.S. Constitution. If the deals occur during his presidency and fetch anything above what’s considered fair market value, it would almost certainly violate the Constitution's Emoluments Clause. But how will we know if Trump is violating the clause? Because of limited financial-disclosure requirements, we might not. And Trump has refused to release his tax returns, a significant break from past presidential administrations.   read more

A new scientific study says the state is on its way back to calmer times. The state ordered what is essentially a 40% reduction in injection of the saltwater that scientists generally blame for the massive increase in earthquakes. Before the new rules went into effect in May, Oklahoma averaged 2.3 quakes a day. Since then the average dropped to 1.3 a day. “We’re not out of the woods yet. There is still a possibility for potentially damaging earthquakes,” Zoback said.   read more

Donald Trump promised to "drain the swamp" in the nation's capital. Instead, he's diving right in. So far, he is tapping people with deep ties to Washington and Wall Street as he fills out his Cabinet, turning to two power centers he vilified as greedy, corrupt and out of touch with Americans during his campaign. His choices have won praise from Republicans relieved by his more conventional choices, but could risk angering voters who rallied behind his calls for upending the political system.   read more

A soda tax may be coming to a city near you. Advocates say the recent sweep represents a watershed moment in the fight for soft-drink taxes. Once viewed as measures likely to find support only in largely health-conscious cities, soda taxes have emerged as a bountiful revenue source for cash-strapped local governments. “There’s a momentum with these taxes that will be hard for the industry to stop,” said Sanford dean Kelly Brownell.   read more

Women “are less likely than men to attend the schools that send a high percentage of graduates into the profession,” said professor Deborah J. Merritt. This means women “start at a disadvantage” that may well continue throughout their professional lives, Merritt said. Despite the high numbers with law degrees, women hold fewer than 20% of partnerships at law firms and are underrepresented in the higher echelons of law, including the ranks of judges.   read more

The effort is planned as a nonviolent intervention to defend demonstrators from what the group calls “assault and intimidation at the hands of the militarized police force.” “OK, are you going to treat us veterans who have served our country in the same way as you have those [protesters]?” asked one of the vets. Authorities have used rubber bullets, pepper spray and water cannons against demonstrators, hundreds of whom have been injured, according to protest organizers.   read more