Compare six American political personalities

1st First Gentleman Life

Bill Clinton has continued to be a force behind his foundation, which has overseen the distribution of millions of dollars from corporations, governments and individuals to globally-minded charitable works. The organization has dealt with issues ranging from providing increased access to HIV/AIDS medications to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

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Hillary Clinton Life

Hillary Clinton spoke for the duration of her recognition speech on the dnc approximately how her mom?herself a tough cookie who needed to fend for herself at a very young age?taught clinton continually to arise to a bully. when you’re fairly small, or susceptible, or woman, it’s smooth to be intimidated

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Barack Obama Life

Barack Obama was born on August 4th, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a mother from Kansas, Stanley Ann Dunham, and a father from Kenya, Barack Obama Sr. He was also raised by his grandfather,

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Michelle Obama Life

Michelle Obama was born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois. She attended Princeton University, graduating cum laude in 1985, and went on to earn a degree from Harvard Law School in 1988. Following her graduation from Harvard, she worked at a Chicago l aw firm, where she met her husband, future U.S. president Barack Obama. The couple married on October 3, 1992. As first lady, she has focused her attention on current social issues, such as poverty, healthy living and education.

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Donald Trump Life

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American businessman, television personality, author, politician, and the Republican Party nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 election. He is chairman of The Trump Organization, which is the principal holding company for his real estate ventures and other business interests.

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Melania Trump Life

At age 45, Melania is a mere seven years older than Donald’s oldest son, Donald Trump, Jr., who is 38. Awkward, much? She’s not that far off in age from Trump’s other children, either; Eric, Ivanka, and Tiffany are ages 34, 32 an 22, respectively. Melania and Donald have one son together, Barron, whom they welcomed in 2006.

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President Obama and Hillary Clinton coming to Charlotte Tuesday

President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will be coming to Charlotte on July 5th, according to her campaign team.

Obama and Clinton are slated to discuss their vision for an America that is stronger together.

Earlier this month, Obama formally endorsed Clinton's bid for the White House, praising his former secretary of state's experience and grit, and urging Democrats to unite behind her in the fight against Republicans in the fall.

"Look, I know how hard this job can be. That's why I know Hillary will be so good at it," Obama said in a web video circulated by the Clinton campaign. "I have seen her judgment. I have seen her toughness."

In endorsing Clinton earlier this month, Obama said: “I’ve seen her determination to give every American a fair shot at opportunity, no matter how tough the fight – that’s what's always driven her, and still does.”

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper, the Democratic candidate for governor, will join Obama and Clinton. So will Deborah Ross, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.

Both were absent during Clinton’s campaign stop in Raleigh last week.

The Republican National Committee weighed in after news of the upcoming campaign trip broke, pointing out that Obama lost North Carolina in 2012 and, two years later, Republican Thom Tillis unseated then-U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat.

“This event (in Charlotte on Tuesday) will be another reminder that all Hillary Clinton is offering are four more years of the same
failed Obama policies that have made America less prosperous and less safe,” RNC spokeswoman Kara Carter said in an emailed statement.

But those N.C. votes in 2012 and 2014 were both very close, confirming North Carolina’s identity as a purple state – one where the margin of victory in statewide elections tends to be just 1 percent to 2 percent.

In 2008, Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win North Carolina since Jimmy Carter in 1976. It was Obama’s narrowest victory in the country. Four years later, Mitt Romney returned the state to the GOP column, but his win was also close. North Carolina is a must-win for Republicans: None have won the White House without carrying it since Dwight Eisenhower in 1956.
Charlotte was the site of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, where Obama was nominated for a second term. His campaign insisted he would compete hard for the state, but the president never returned to campaign here after giving his nominating speech.

In 2008, Obama’s defeat of Clinton in North Carolina’s Democratic primary was seen as pivotal in his march to the party’s nomination that year.

The joint appearance Tuesday by Obama and Clinton is clear proof that North Carolina will again be a major battleground state in the 2016 presidential race. Besides Clinton campaign speech in Raleigh last week, her campaign has blanketed the N.C. airwaves with TV ads touring here and criticizing presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Hillary Clinton: Understands fear of foreign trade

Hillary Clinton says she's sympathetic to voters attracted to Donald Trump's message, who feel left behind on the economic margins of America.
The former secretary of state has told a crowd of young digital content creators at a town hall-style meeting in Hollywood, California, on Tuesday that more must be done to create jobs and improve the economy.

She says she understands why some people are upset or fearful about foreign trade or illegal immigration.

But Clinton says she's looking for solutions and warns about "misleading promises" and a Trump agenda that she says would take the country backward.

She says she is not sympathetic with Islamophobia, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny and other "sort of dog whistle's that Trump uses to create that fervor among a lot of his supporters."

"That is contrary to our values," she says.

Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump is reiterating his call for the return of waterboarding and the use of other harsh interrogation techniques in the battle against Islamic State militants.

Trump tells a rally crowd in Ohio that, "you have to fight fire with fire."

The pronouncement drew cheers and chants of "USA! USA!"

During the Republican primary, Trump frequently advocated the return of waterboarding and "much worse," declaring at one point that "torture works." Trump says: "We have to fight so viciously and violently because we're dealing with violent people."

Trump is continuing his harsh rhetoric as he approaches the general election campaign, even as his advisers work to make him more measured.

Hillary Clinton says the bombings at Istanbul Ataturk Airport are "a reminder that the United States cannot retreat."

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee says in a statement that the U.S. must deepen its cooperation with allies and partners in the Middle East and Europe "to take on this threat."

Clinton says: "Such cooperation is essential to protecting the homeland and keeping our country safe."

Clinton says that Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence.

She says "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the Turkish people. ... Today's attack in Istanbul only strengthens our resolve to defeat the forces of terrorism and radical jihadism around the world."

Republican Donald Trump is responding to Tuesday's deadly attack in Istanbul, Turkey, by warning of the danger of threats at home.

The presumptive Republican nominee tells a rally in St. Clairsville, Ohio, that "there's something going on that's really, really bad. We better get smart and we better get tough or we're not going to have much of a country left."

Suspected Islamic State militants killed dozens of people and wounded more at the international terminal of Istanbul Ataturk Airport.

Trump's campaign also released a statement earlier Tuesday saying its "prayers are with the families" of those killed and injured.

It adds, "We must take steps now to protect America from terrorists, and do everything in our power to improve our security to keep America safe."

Donald Trump's Tweets Are Getting More Polished

Americans need to get used to a more polished, presidential Donald Trump, with the last two major speeches, including a speech on the economy on Tuesday in Pennsylvania, being scripted — right down to his crisp suits and consummately combed hair.

The new scripted Trump — who has veered from his off-the-cuff approach after firing his campaign manager last week — has received negative reviews on Twitter, with many users saying that Trump sounded boring as he read from a teleprompter in each instance.

Many politicians’ Twitter accounts are run by staffers firing off links or quotes from speeches, and there’s a special denotation when it’s a tweet by the politician him or herself. (Hillary Clinton, for example, signs her tweets “- HRC”.) Trump, on the other hand, has always been the author of his own tweets. But here it seems someone else tweeted out a quote from one of Trump’s speeches under his Twitter handle.

Other tweets use more polished language than Trump’s typical fare, and promote new campaign hashtags. Take this one from June 22:

“Americanism” and “corrupt globalism” are words unlikely to appear in a Trump-written tweet; he prefers simpler language, insults and sentence fragments. (For example, “Crooked Hillary Clinton got Brexit wrong. I said LEAVE will win. She has no sense of markets and such bad judgement. Only a question of time”.) The hashtag also comes from one of Trump’s pre-written, teleprompter speeches, which he delivered on June 22, and it’s one his team is continuing to promote:

Fire destroys most of Giuseppe’s restaurant in Pismo Beach

Investigators say it was accidental and caused by an appliance. The fire which broke out in the Price Street restaurant around 2 in the morning is a big shock to the community. It's been a place of many great memories for decades.  

Tears, shock and disbelief after flames ripped through Giuseppe's Cucina Italiana.

"Pretty devastating as you can see, dining room, bars all gone," said family friend and business partner, Victor Vacanti.

Police and firefighters arrived on scene just after 2:15 Saturday morning.

"At that point the front windows collapsed inward, and the entire front section of the building flashed over," said Battalion Chief, Tom McEwen of Cal Fire.

The front half of the building where the dining room and bar used to be is completely destroyed. Chairs and tables are charred.

The fire was contained within half an hour, according to officials, and the Pismo Beach Police and the Pismo Beach Public Works Department were on scene to close the streets near the restaurant and direct traffic. Streets were closed for about six hours. 

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The restaurant, which has been a popular establishment in Pismo Beach since the late 1980s, is split into two sections — a dining room and hosting area. 

Byrnes said the dining room sustained the most damage. 

"The original building was bought in the 1920s, and that's the side of the building that took a really large hit," said Byrnes.

"The kitchen, which was added on in the early ’90s, sustained some smoke damage, but it didn't take as big of a hit as the dining area," said Byrnes. "The dining area took the hardest hit." 

Byrnes added: "This restaurant is the family's livelihood, and they have another restaurant in San Luis Obispo going through remodeling that won't be open until months from now, so this is really tough for them." 

Pulse nightclub

Pulse is a gay bar, dance club, and nightclub in Orlando, Florida, founded in 2004 by Barbara Poma and Ron Legler. On June 12, 2016, it was the scene of the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in US history, with 49 people killed and 53 injured by a lone gunman.

Pulse hosts themed performances each night and has a monthly program featuring educational events geared towards the LGBT community. According to Orlando Weekly, Pulse features "three glitzy, throbbing rooms of club boys, twinks and twinks at heart. Every night has something different in store, but Pulse is known to have some pretty impressive drag shows, and the bar's dancers are usually gorgeous." Because of the three areas, Lonely Planet Discover Florida deemed it "three nightclubs", while their Florida volume focused on it being "ultramodern".

Top 10 Orlando called it a "firm favorite for the Orlando gay crowd", The Rough Guide to Florida deemed it "justifiably popular", citing its "great lighting and sound plus cabaret performers, drag acts, and erotic dancers." Pulse was the only gay club mentioned in The Rough Guide to the USA for Orlando.According to listings, the entire premises, including the washrooms, are accessible. Using "periodic consumer surveys", Zagat rated Pulse 25/30 for atmosphere, 25/30 decor, and 22/30 service

Founded by Barbara Poma and Ron Legler, Pulse opened on July 2, 2004. Poma's brother John died in 1991 from AIDS, and the club is "named for John's pulse to live on", according to a marketing staff member in February 2016. The venue has a focus on local talent.Poma ensured that her brother's memory was prominent on the website, that the facility was more than "just another gay club". Legler was President of the Florida Theatrical Association at the time of foundation, and founded two nightclubs in Lake Eola Park in 2010, leaving for Baltimore in 2011. The Washington Post described its first 12 years as "a community hub for HIV prevention, breast-cancer awareness and immigrant rights, and reported it had partnered with educational and advocacy groups such as Come Out with Pride, Equality Florida, and the Zebra Coalition.

On June 12, 2016, 29-year-old Omar Mateen killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in a mass shooting. The attack is the deadliest single gunman mass shooting in United States history, the deadliest incident of violence against LGBT people in U.S. history,and the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since the September 11 attacks of 2001.

Possible Human Remains Found in Aftermath of Deadly California Wildfire

A wildfire that broke out Thursday afternoon in Kern County quickly tore through a wide area, overwhelming firefighters and burning dozens of homes.

The Erskine Fire was small when it broke out shortly before 4 p.m. but was driven by winds of over 20 mph, mountainous terrain and five years of drought, Kern County Fire Chief Brian Marshall said at an early Friday morning press conference.

The fire held steady Saturday night and as of Sunday morning, it has been 10 percent contained. It has burned 36,810 acres and destroyed 200 structures. Firefighters are hoping to take advantage of lighter winds forecast for Sunday but temperatures in the 90s and low humidity remain a challenge. Two fatalities have been confirmed. Precautionary evacuations are recommended for Squirrel Valley, Mountain Mesa, South Lake, Lake Isabella (Erskine Creek area) and the Weldon area, which includes Landers Meadow and Clareville.

The fire, which prompted mandatory evacuation orders, had been called 5 percent contained Friday but fire officials revised that number to 0 percent Saturday morning because they want to ensure retardant lines hold. By Saturday night, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said it was 10 percent contained.

"I thought this was my retirement fund," said Danny Walker, who lost his house, his garage, and two of his three dogs. "Everything's gone."

"I ain't got money to start over," he said. "I'll start somewhere."

California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency. Three Kern County firefighters who suffered minor to moderate smoke inhalation were released from the hospital by Saturday, the fire department said.

"I've never been in a wildland fire where I've seen so many homes burn," Kern County fire Capt. Tyler Townsend told NBC Los Angeles Friday. "It's one of the most devastating I've ever seen."

Fire activity Saturday "was not as dramatic today" with a decrease in winds that fueled the blaze, a fire operations section chief told a community meeting Saturday night. Firefighting resources were being deployed to hang on to gains made throughout the day.

High temperatures have fueled recent wildfires in the West.

The so-called Dog Head Fire in New Mexico, which broke out June 14 and burned nearly 18,000 acres — damaging a dozen homes — was 90 percent contained by Saturday, the U.S. Forest Service said.

Another blaze in Southern California, the Sherpa Fire west of Santa Barbara, started June 15 and burned 7,400 acres but was 93 percent contained as of Saturday.

The Border Fire, also in Southern California but near the Mexico border, has burned just over 7,600 acres since it broke out near Potrero Sunday and was 75 percent contained by Saturday, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. Five homes were destroyed. 

Erskine Fire

The Erskine Fire is a wildfire that is burning in the Lake Isabella area of Kern County. As of June 2016, it is the largest and most destructive wildfire of the 2016 California wildfire season. It was also the first fire to have fatalities.

The fire, which was first reported around 4:00pm on Thursday, June 23rd, quickly grew to over 8,000 acres (32 km2) and destroyed over 100 structures, including at least 80 residences, in the first few hours.

By mid-day Friday the fire had grown to over 19,000 acres (77 km2) and is still 0% -contained. By 6:00pm on Friday, officials confirmed that the fire had grown to over 30,000 acres (120 km2) with 5% contained.

Friday evening Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Kern County.

On Friday, June 24th, officials confirmed that 2 people had been killed by the fast moving fire. Officials also stated that cadaver dogs were being used to search for possible additional victims.The deceased victims were an elderly couple who died while attempting to flee their home. A possible third fatality may have occurred inside a mobile home, though the body had been burned so badly that it is unclear on whether or not the remains belong to a human or an animal.

Omar Mateen

Omar Mir Seddique Mateen (November 16, 1986 – June 12, 2016) was an

American mass murderer and domestic Islamic terrorist, who was of Afghan descent. He killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in a mass shooting at the Pulse gay bar in Orlando, Florida. He was killed in a shootout with the police.

Prior to the shooting, he had been investigated by the FBI in 2013 and 2014. Mateen reportedly pledged his allegiance to the Sunni militant jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as well as the al-Nusra Front, a Syrian al-Qaeda branch and opponent of ISIL, before the shooting.

Mateen was born Omar Mir Seddique on November 16, 1986 in New Hyde Park, New York, to Afghan parents. His father, Mir Seddique Mateen, is a Pashtun who emigrated in the 1980s and is an alleged supporter of the Taliban. After being raised in New York for a few years, he moved with his family to Port St. Lucie in 1991. His family was described as being moderate Muslims and "an all-American family".

At a young age, Mateen displayed his sexuality and an interest in violence. For his elementary and middle school education, he attended classes in St. Lucie County, Florida. At Mariposa Elementary, a third grade teacher described Mateen as "very active … constantly moving, verbally abusive, rude, aggressive ... much talk about violence & sex ... hands all over the place – on other children, in his mouth". In the seventh grade, Mateen was moved to a separate class with the purpose of avoiding "conflicts with other students" and suffered from poor scholarly performance due to "many instances of behavioral problems". A fellow classmate of Mateen at Mariposa said that Mateen was a bully and disrespectful to girls while also acting like he was better than his classmates. His parents were described as "dismissive" of his poor behavior while his father "had a reputation for being disrespectful of female teachers and dismissive of complaints about his son". In 1999 while Mateen was in the eighth grade, a letter sent from Mateen's teacher to his father noted an "attitude and inability to show self-control".

Mateen began his secondary education at Martin County High School in 2000 and at the age of fourteen was expelled after being in a fight in math class, where he was briefly arrested without being handcuffed and charged with battery and disrupting school, though the charges were later dropped by the school. While a sophomore attending Spectrum, an alternative high school for those that have issues with their behavior, classmates told The Washington Post that Mateen cheered in support of the hijackers during the September 11 attacks and that he stated that Osama bin Laden was his uncle who taught him how to shoot AK-47s, all of this prior to the knowledge of bin Laden being the mastermind of the September 11 attacks. After his outburst, Mateen's father arrived to the school to pick him up and slapped him in the face, with Mateen later being suspended for five days after the incident. Soon after the September 11 attacks, repeatedly "he shocked other students on his school bus by imitating an exploding plane", reported the New York Times. A retired dean of Martin County High School, Dan Alley, stated that "We tried to counsel him and show him the error of his ways, but it never had the effect that we were hoping for" and that his father "would not back up the school, and he would always take his son’s side". Mateen was later sent to St. Lucie West Centennial High School after getting into a fight with a student, with one schoolmate reported that Mateen was bullied at the school. By the time Mateen had returned and graduated from Martin County's Stuart Adult Vocational School in 2003, he had been suspended for 48 days for being involved in fights and injuring other students.

In 2006, Mateen filed a petition for a name change, adding Mateen as his surname to match that of his parents.

The same year, he registered to vote as a member of the Democratic Party.

In April 2009, Mateen married an Uzbekistan-born woman, Sitora Yusifiy, whom he met in 2008 through Myspace, a social networking site. They separated after four months and divorced in July 2011.

Mateen visited Saudi Arabia for an eight-day trip in 2011 and a ten-day trip in 2012. The latter was organized by the Islamic Center at New York University. It included twelve New York City police officers and groups from Columbia and Yale and visited Mecca and Medina. Around these times, he went to the United Arab Emirates. FBI Director James Comey said Saudi officials helped investigate Mateen's trips. In addition, House Intelligence Committee said that U.S. investigators "are searching for details about the Saudi Arabia trips."

Noor Salman, Mateen's second wife, was listed as Mateen’s spouse on a September 2013 St. Lucie County mortgage document. She had moved into Mateen's Fort Pierce home in November 2012.By September 2013, they were living in a house in Port St. Lucie with Mateen's father and another relative. Salman left Mateen and joined relatives in Rodeo, California, by December 2015. At the time of his death, Mateen had a three-year-old son with Salman.

At the time of the shooting, he lived about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Orlando, Florida, in Fort Pierce, but received mail at his parents' home in nearby Port St. Lucie. According to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records, he had no criminal record in Florida.

NBC News reported that Noor Salman, Mateen's second wife, told the FBI she "drove him once to the gay nightclub, Pulse, because he wanted to scope it out". An official involved with the investigation told the Associated Press that authorities believed Salman knew about the plot beforehand, but were reluctant to charge her based only on this suspicion. Days prior to the event, Salman had accompanied Mateen on a trip to buy ammunition and warned him the evening prior to the event against anything he might be planning.

A month before the attack, Mateen donated blood at OneBlood, a regional blood donation agency, which would later donate a majority of its supply to injured victims.

Hours before the attack, Mateen stopped by his parents' home to visit his father, who said he did not notice anything strange about his son during the visit.

ABC News and Fox News reported that on the early morning of June 12, the day of the attack, Mateen posted on one of his Facebook accounts: "The real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west ... You kill innocent women and children by doing us airstrikes..now taste the Islamic state  vengeance" as well as "America and Russia stop bombing the Islamic state." His final post to Facebook was "In the next few days you will see attacks from the Islamic State in the usa." These posts, since deleted, were uncovered by the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

At approximately 2:00 a.m. on June 12, 2016, Mateen entered the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and began shooting. At 2:22 a.m., he made a 9-1-1 call in which he pledged allegiance to ISIL; referenced Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bombers; and mentioned Moner Mohammad Abu Salha, an acquaintance of his who died in a suicide bombing in Syria for the Al-Nusra Front in 2014. According to FBI officials, Mateen made two other 9-1-1 calls during the shooting. He also called News 13 of Orlando and identified himself as the nightclub shooter; The Washington Post reported that "he had carried out the Pulse attack for the Islamic State".

Mateen took hostages after police arrived and engaged in a gunfight with him. At approximately 5:00 a.m. police shot and killed Mateen, ending the attack. A total of 49 people were left dead along with Mateen and 53 others were injured. The attack was the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in United States history, the deadliest incident of violence against LGBT people in U.S. history the largest targeted mass killing of LGBT people in the Western world since the Holocaust, and the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. since September 11, 2001.

Paul Ryan

Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is the 54th and current Speaker of the

U.S. House of Representatives. Ryan is a member of the Republican Party who has served as the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district since 1999. Ryan previously served as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, from January 3 to October 29, 2015, and, before that, as Chairman of the House Budget Committee from 2011 to 2015. He was the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States, running alongside former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts in the 2012 election.Ryan, together with Democratic Senator Patty Murray, negotiated the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013.

On October 29, 2015, Ryan was elected to replace John Boehner as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and named John David Hoppe as his Chief of Staff. Ryan is the first person from Wisconsin to hold this position.

Ryan was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth A. "Betty" (née Hutter) and Paul Murray Ryan, a lawyer. A fifth-generation Wisconsinite, his father was of Irish ancestry and his mother is of German and English ancestry. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan (1858–1917), founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan (1898-1957), was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin.

Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, where he played on the seventh-grade basketball team. He attended Joseph A. Craig High School in Janesville, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He also participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

On October 8, a push by congressional Republicans to recruit Ryan to run to succeed John Boehner as Speaker of the House was initiated. Boehner had recently announced his resignation and stated his support for Kevin McCarthy to be his replacement, which received wide support among Republicans, including Ryan, who was set to officially nominate him. McCarthy withdrew his name from consideration on October 8 when it was apparent that the Freedom Caucus, a caucus of staunchly conservative House Republicans, would not support him. This led many Republicans to turn to Ryan as a compromise candidate. The push included a plea from Boehner, who reportedly told Ryan that he was the only person who could unite the House GOP at a time of turmoil. Ryan released a statement that said, "While I am grateful for the encouragement I've received, I will not be a candidate."But on October 9, close aides of Ryan confirmed that Ryan had reconsidered, and was considering the possibility of a run. Ryan confirmed on October 22 that he would seek the speakership after receiving the endorsements of two factions of House Republicans, including the conservative Freedom Caucus. Ryan upon confirming his bid for speakership stated, "I never thought I'd be speaker. But I pledged to you that if I could be a unifying figure, then I would serve -- I would go all in. After talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as one, united team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker." On October 29, Ryan was elected Speaker with 236 votes. He is the youngest Speaker since James G. Blaine in 1875.

After Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election on May 4, 2016, Ryan was hesitant to endorse him, stating on May 5 that he was "not ready".. Ryan and Trump met in private on May 12, releasing a joint statement afterward, acknowledging their differences but furthering "we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground." On June 2, Ryan announced his support for Trump in an op-ed in the Janesville Gazette. The following day, June 3, amid Trump's criticism of Gonzalo P. Curiel, Ryan said Trump's critique "just was out of left field for my mind," and voiced disagreement with him. On June 7, Paul Ryan disavowed Trump's comments about Gonzalo P. Curiel because he believed that his statements was "the textbook definition of a racist comment." Regardless, Ryan believed that more Republican policies will be enacted under Donald Trump than presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

In Conversation With Oprah, Michelle Obama Tells Men To 'Be Better'

The White House got in on the booming market for “women’s summits” Tuesday with

a conference at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center billed as the “United State of Women.” What made it stand out from all of the rest? Well, besides addresses from the president and vice president — yeah, those guys — the day wrapped up with an onstage “armchair conversation” between none other than first lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey. (Try to beat that, Mika Brzezinski and Tina Brown!)

The more than 5,000 women and a few men in the audience were giddy with excitement as Mrs. O and Ms. O entered the auditorium. “Walk, don’t run,” Tina Tchen, who leads the White House Council on Women and Girls, chided them at one point. The media mogul led the first lady into one of her “Super Soul Sunday” conversations, and Obama was full of advice for the next generation of women.

“He’s got the swag,” Winfrey noted of the commander in chief. “Did he always have that swag? Or has he gotten swaggier?”

“No, he was very swagalicious,” Obama replied. “Look, I told people this from the very start, when I started running, Barack Obama is exactly who he says he is. We both are. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell people. Ain’t no surprises.”

The fact that she herself never experienced abuse at the hands of a man, Obama said, "is, sad to say, that's a rare reality. So men can be better at that."

Men can also be better husbands, do the dishes, "be engaged ... be a part of your families' lives." Obama also called on men to be "a better employer."

"When you are sitting at a seat of power, at a table of any kind, and you look around and you just see you — it's just you and a bunch of men around a table, on a golf course making deals, and you allow that to happen, and you're OK with that — be better."

Earlier in the conversation, Obama called on women to get to know themselves and learn to prioritize their own needs — the key to balance, she said. "You know why? Because [men] don't have to balance anything. Sorry. I hope that that is changing, but so many men don't have to do it all."

There were also lighthearted moments as Obama spoke about her attraction to her husband. "Good lord. Watching my husband walk off of Marine One and go to the Oval Office, it's like, mmm, mmm, mmm. And you know he's got that walk, right?"

John McCain: Obama Directly Responsible for Orlando Massacre

Sen. John McCain, one of the senior statesmen of the GOP, said Thursday that

President Obama's policies are "directly responsible" for the devastating Orlando nightclub terror attack that left 49 dead and dozens more injured.

McCain made the comments to a group of reporters in a Senate hallway and was responding a question about gun control, a particularly contentious issue since the Orlando attack, which was carried out with a legally purchased rifle. The perpetrator of the attack had pledged his allegiance to a number of Islamist terror groups, including ISIS, which is also known as ISIL.

"Barack Obama is directly responsible for it, because when he pulled everybody out of Iraq, al-Qaeda went to Syria, became ISIS, and ISIS is what it is today thanks to Barack Obama's failures," McCain said. When pressed about how the Obama was "directly responsible" for the attack, McCain doubled down on blaming the president's foreign policy.

"Directly responsible because he pulled everybody out of Iraq, and I predicted at the time that ISIS would go unchecked and there would be attacks on the United States of America, it's a matter of record," McCain said, according to an MSNBC reporter. "So he is directly responsible."

Omar Mateen, the 29-year-old shooter, pledged loyalty to the leader of the Islamic State during a 911 call made while the hostage standoff at the club was ongoing. According to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Mateen also posted on Facebook the day of the shooting pledging allegiance to the group’s and claiming that the shooting was “vengeance” for airstrikes.

Officials have said that they have not found any signs that Mateen was directly tied to any kind of network, and the FBI said this week that it remains unclear which extremist group he supported. While he referenced the Islamic State multiple times on Sunday, Mateen has also made comments in recent years claiming that he had ties to ­al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, two opposing terrorist groups that have clashed repeatedly in Syria and that both predate the Obama administration. He has also referenced the brothers who carried out the 2013 bombing of the Boston Marathon.

To be clear, these groups named by Mateen are not allies. The Islamic State and al-Qaeda both derive their theology from an extreme view of Sunni Islamism, but in practical terms the pair split in 2014, with the more established al-Qaeda publicly disavowing the actions of the more extreme Islamic State. Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, often fights the Islamic State in the Syrian conflict. Meanwhile, Hezbollah is a Shiite Islamist group. In Syria, it supports the government of Bashar al-Assad, effectively meaning it fights both the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

Comey suggested Monday that Mateen may have not understood the distinctions among the groups. Relatives have given mixed reports about the level of Mateen’s religiosity, with some suggesting he preferred working out to studying religion. He attended the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, though he is said to have rarely spoken. His Afghan father has filmed videos that appeared to offer support for the Taliban, a fundamentalist movement that also opposes the Islamic State, though his messages also were sometimes incoherent.

McCain’s statements offer a troubling look into the influence Donald Trump’s anti-intellectualism is wreaking on even the most trusted and respected stewards of the GOP (though McCain admittedly lost a lot of credibility for introducing the nation and world to Sarah Palin).

When pressed by reporters about his statement (specifically about the implication that Obama is “directly responsible) McCain added, “He pulled everybody out of Iraq, and I predicted at the time that ISIS would go unchecked, and there would be attacks on the United States of America. It’s a matter of record, so he is directly responsible.”

And just like that, McCain demonstrated that he either doesn’t keep abreast of national security briefings or he’s yet another war hawk seeking to use a home grown homophobic terrorist to advance his warmongering agenda.

Obama meets Orlando massacre survivors, assails homegrown terrorism

President Barack Obama said Thursday that grief-filled parents in Orlando pleaded with him to take steps preventing the kind of gun violence that took their children. But he acknowledged, exasperatedly, that he could offer them few promises.

"Our politics have conspired to make it as easy as possible for a terrorist or even just a disturbed individual to buy extraordinarily powerful weapons, and they can do so legally," Obama said after meeting with families who lost loved ones in the Orlando nightclub shooting that took place Sunday.
"I held and hugged grieving family members and parents and they asked, 'Why does this keep happening?' And they pleaded that we do more to stop the carnage," Obama said. "They don't care about the politics. Neither do I."
The role of consoler in chief was a repeat assignment for Obama, was has now traveled to 10 American cities -- including four in the last year -- scarred by mass shooting events. In Orlando, he met at a downtown arena with both families of victims and survivors of the terrorist attack, many of whom suffered serious injuries but emerged from the massacre alive.
Prior to their meeting with families and survivors, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden spoke to local law enforcement officials to thank them for their actions in responding to the attack at Pulse nightclub, according to the White House.

During the shooting rampage the gunman, Omar Mateen, exchanged text messages with his wife, it was reported on Thursday, as well as posting on Facebook and placing a phone call to a television station. Police killed Mateen, 29, a U.S. citizen born in New York to Afghan immigrants.
Obama, who has visited mass shooting victims' families in towns from San Bernardino, California, to Newtown, Connecticut, since he has been president, laid flowers at a memorial for the victims of the attack on the Pulse nightclub.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack but U.S. officials have said they do not believe Mateen was assisted from abroad. CIA Director John Brennan told a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday that the agency had "not been able to uncover any direct link" between Mateen and militants abroad.
A married couple also claiming allegiance to Islamic State shot dead 14 people in San Bernardino, California, in December.

Tommy Mair: 'Loner' accused of killing British MP Jo Cox

Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and killed in an attack in West Yorkshire yesterday.

The 41-year-old mother of two was shot three times and stabbed just before 1pm in Birstall in her Batley & Spen constituency.

She was pronounced dead around an hour later, leaving her husband Brendan and two young children, aged 3 and 5.

West Yorkshire Police have arrested a 52-year-old man, named locally as Thomas Mair.

Jo, a rising star in the party. was elected last year. MPs from all parties have been sending their condolences.

It's not clear what motivated the attack, which came as the 41-year-old lawmaker campaigned for "Stronger In," a slogan backing the UK to remain in the European Union.
One witness, Clarke Rothwell who runs a cafe near where Cox was attacked, told the Press Association that he heard the attacker shouting "put Britain first."
"Britain First" is the name of a political party in the UK which has been campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union.
On Thursday, the party's leader Paul Golding, denied it was linked to the attack, calling the act "a downright despicable act of criminality."
"There's no evidence whatsoever that Britain First was shouted. Or putting British people first," he said in a lengthy video posted to Facebook.
"The media are acting grossly irresponsible to try and incriminate our organization Britain First in this heinous crime. We had nothing to do with it," he said.

Jimmy Fallon

James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon (born September 19, 1974) is an American comedian,

television host, actor, singer, writer, and producer. He is known for his work in television as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and as the host of late-night talk show The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He was born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and raised in Saugerties, New York. He grew up with an interest in comedy and music, moving to Los Angeles at 21 to pursue stand-up opportunities.

He was commissioned to join NBC's Saturday Night Live as a cast member in 1998, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Fallon remained on SNL for six years between 1998 and 2004, co-hosting the program's Weekend Update segment and becoming a celebrity in the process. He left the program for the film industry, starring in films such as Taxi (2004) and Fever Pitch (2005). Following his film career, Fallon returned to television as the host of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC in 2009, where he became well known for his emphasis on music and games. He transitioned from that program to become the sixth permanent host of the long-running The Tonight Show in 2014.

In addition to his television work, Fallon has released two comedy albums and three books.

Fallon married film producer Nancy Juvonen, co-owner of production company Flower Films, on December 22, 2007. After meeting on the set of Fever Pitch, Nancy and Jimmy began dating in May 2007 after Drew Barrymore invited Fallon to a birthday party she threw for Nancy. A few months later, Fallon proposed on the dock at sunset with a Neil Lane designed engagement ring in August 2007 at Nancy's family home in Wolfeboro on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. They were married three months later. They have two daughters: Winnie Rose, born in 2013, and Frances Cole, born in 2014; both were born via gestational surrogacy.

Fallon was raised in a Catholic family and, when he was a child, wanted to eventually become a priest. He has a female English cream Golden Retriever dog named Gary Frick that has appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

On February 22, 2011, Fallon was on The Dr. Oz Show and had a mole removed from his left hand in front of a live studio audience by cosmetic surgeon Arthur Perry.

On June 26, 2015, Fallon suffered a ring avulsion, an injury he suffered by tripping over a rug in his home and catching his ring on a counter top which nearly tore off his finger. He was taken to the emergency room then sent to a surgeon who performed microsurgery on his finger. Fallon spent 10 days in the ICU before going home. He discussed this on the July 13 episode of the Tonight Show and thanked the doctors and nurses who helped him. As of July 14, 2015, he was expecting to spend another eight weeks without any feeling in his finger. In an interview with Billboard magazine in September 2015, Fallon explained that his finger still had limited mobility and that another surgery would be required. He reiterated this point at the 67th Emmy Awards on September 20, 2015, where he also appeared in public without his finger bandaged for the first time.