Page 8 - Florida Sentinel 11-29-16 Online Edition

U. S. Government News
President Obama Commutes 79 More Sentences
Trump Advisor: Trump Speaks Regularly With President Obama
The clock is winding down for the Obama administration, and our POTUS is commuting sentences and granting clemency with a swiftness in the final months of his presi- dency.
On last Tuesday, President Obama elevated the number of inmates receiving clemency on his watch to more than 1,000 when he granted commutations to 79 more nonviolent drug of- fenders imprisoned under harsh mandatory drug sentenc- ing laws. Eighteen of the of- fenders were serving life sentences.
Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said that the Jus- tice Department will continue to recommend more commuta- tions through the end of the Obama administration.
During his campaign, Presi- dent-elect Trump, who has ve- hemently criticized President Obama's initiative, called for a
President Obama during his visited to a federal prison.
tougher stance on crime saying in reference to the commuted prisoners, “Some of these peo- ple are bad dudes...and these are people who are out, they’re walking the streets. Sleep tight, folks.”
The Obama administration is moving quickly to review pending clemency applications before Trump takes office. The urgency of the situation is dire, and for many inmates, it's a matter of life and death.
Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said Trump's consulted the presi- dent on his Cuba policy and the two spoke this weekend.
"He's even been talking to President Obama. You know, beyond the sit-down they had 30 hours or so after President-elect Trump won the election, they've been talk- ing regularly on any number of issues. They talked just yes- terday," she said.
The latest conversation went on about 40-45 minutes, she said, though she wouldn't offer details on what was dis- cussed. But the two "get along nicely," Conway added, de- spite their differences.
A Trump transition t e a m official later told NBC News that the president-elect
Donald Trump talks "regularly" with President Barack Obama and "very much enjoys" their conversations, a top Trump aide said Sunday.
Michelle Obama Receives Last Christmas Tree As First Lady
FLOTUS Michelle Obama and her nephews accept last tree as First Family.
and his predecessor have spo- ken several times since they met in the Oval Office two weeks ago.
“I can tell you from Pres- ident-elect Trump's side that he very much enjoys speaking with President Obama, talking about the serious is- sues that face this country and the world," Conway said.
"They get along nicely. They disagree on many things. That's not going to change."
In response, the White House would only refer noting that the Trump and Presi- dent Obama have talked since the first Oval Office meeting — and a desire to keep those conversations pri- vate.
FLOTUS Michelle Obama
kicked off her family’s final Christmas season at the White House on Friday by receiving a 19-foot Balsam-Veitch fir from Wisconsin as the official White House Christmas tree. Joined by her two young nephews in- stead of her teenage daughters, the First Lady said she’s ready and excited for the holiday. “Christmas begins. The holi- days start,” Mrs. Obama ex- claimed after “accepting” the tree from Dave and Mary Vander Velden, owners of the Oconto, Wisconsin, farm
where it was grown. “We’re ready. Our last one. We’re ex- cited about it.”
The Vander Veldens won the National Christmas Tree Association’s annual contest, earning the honor of supplying the White House with its offi- cial Christmas tree. Contest winners have provided the White House tree annually since 1966. A group of White House and other officials vis- ited the Vander Veldens at their Whispering Pine Tree Farm in September to choose the perfect tree.
On Sunday morning, Presi- dent-elect Donald Trump said that a recount of the 2016 election wouldn't change the outcome and was a waste of resources.
Later Sunday, though, he made a real case that we should have no confidence in those same election results, al- leging massive voter fraud.
Trump, of course, is point- ing only to “fraud” that bene- fited Clinton; Virginia, New Hampshire and California are all states she won, and the baseless idea that immigrants voted by the millions is sup- posed to have helped Clin- ton, given the fact that immigrants — and over- whelmingly favor Democrats.
Trump was doing this to make the case that he didn't actually lose the popular vote, which has become a Demo- cratic rallying cry following Clinton's loss. It's clearly a
sore spot for Trump. Hillary Clinton’s cam-
paign said on Saturday that it would participate in a recount process in Wisconsin incited by third-party candidate, Jill Stein and would join any po- tential recounts in two other closely contested states, Penn- sylvania and Michigan.
The Clinton campaign held out little hope of success in any of the three states, and
said it had seen no “actionable evidence” of vote hacking that might taint the results or oth- erwise provide new grounds for challenging Donald J. Trump’s victory.
But it suggested it was going along with the recount effort to assure supporters that it was doing everything possible to verify that hacking by Rus- sia or other irregularities had not occurred.
Trump Making Strong Case For Recount; Jill Stein Pushing For 3 States To Do Recount
PAGE 8 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016