Page 8 - Florida Sentinel 12-6-16 Online Edition

U. S. Government News
The Obamas Receive Loudest, Longest Ovation At Kennedy Center Honors
Al Pacino and Mavis Staples were honored, however the Oba- mas received the longest and loudest ovation.
Dr. Ben Carson Is First Black Named To Trump’s Cabinet; Picked To Be HUD Secretary
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a presidential rival- turned-supporter, has ac- cepted U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nomina- tion to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Devel- opment, Trump’s transition team said on Monday.
Carson, a popular writer and speaker in conservative circles, has been a close ad- viser to Trump since he dropped out of the 2016 Re- publican presidential pri- mary contest and he is a vice chairman of Trump’s transi- tion team.
Trump discussed the job with Carson before the Thanksgiving Day holiday last month, although Carson had indicated reluctance to take a position in the incom- ing administration because of
DR. BEN CARSON
his lack of experience in fed- eral government.
Ben Carson is “woefully unqualified” to lead the De- partment of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said Monday.
Cummings, the top De- mocrat on the House Over- sight and Government Reform Committee, praised Carson as a “phenomenal neurosurgeon” but lamented his lack of experience in housing policy, suggesting Carson would be out of his league atop HUD.
The president-elect, who also has no government expe- rience and has never held public office, expressed con- fidence Carson could do the job.
“Ben Carson has a bril- liant mind and is passionate about strengthening commu- nities and families within those communities,” Trump said in a statement.
Carson is the first African- American to get a position in Trump’s cabinet.
America Will Be Changed Like Never Before: Trump’s Team Seeks To Privatize
Indian Reservation Oil Fields
WASHINGTON -- The longest, loudest standing ova- tion of the Kennedy Center Honors gala wasn’t reserved for Al Pacino, Mavis Sta- ples or the Eagles. Instead, it went to the man sitting to their left, attending his eighth and most likely his last hon- ors presentation: President Barack Obama.
While politics were absent from the tributes to the per- formers who were recognized for influencing American cul- ture Sunday night, the arts community’s affection for President Obama -- and its nervousness about President-
elect Donald Trump -- was palpable in the Kennedy Cen- ter Opera House.
The President and First Lady Michelle Obama were introduced last, after Pacino and his fellow hon- orees: gospel singer Staples; pianist Martha Argerich; singer-songwriter James Taylor; and Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmidt and Joe Walsh, the surviving members of the Eagles.
The program, again hosted by Stephen Colbert, host of CBS’ “The Late Show,” will air Dec. 27 on CBS.
Native American reserva- tions cover just 2 percent of the United States, but they may contain about a fifth of the nation’s oil and gas, along with vast coal reserves.
Now, a group of advisors to President-elect Donald Trump on Native American issues wants to free those re- sources from what they call a suffocating federal bureau- cracy that holds title to 56 million acres of tribal lands, two chairmen of the coalition told Reuters in exclusive in- terviews.
The group proposes to put those lands into private own- ership – a politically explo- sive idea that could upend more than century of policy designed to preserve Indian tribes on U.S.-owned reserva- tions, which are governed by tribal leaders as sovereign nations.
The tribes have rights to use the land, but they do not
An oil well on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota.
own it. They can drill it and reap the profits, but only under regulations that are far more burdensome than those applied to private property.
The plan dovetails with Trump’s larger aim of slash- ing regulation to boost energy production. It could deeply
divide Native American lead- ers, who hold a range of opin- ions on the proper balance between development and conservation.
Many Native Americans view such efforts as a viola- tion of tribal self-determina- tion and culture.
PAGE 8 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2016