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Obama national security adviser Susan Rice said Thursday that the U.S. has consistently failed to curtail North Korea's nuclear ambitions, even during the Obama era.

"You can call it a failure," Rice told CNN. "I accept that characterization of the efforts of the United States over the last two decades."

Rice, who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for eight years before transitioning to the role of national security adviser, said the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has now vexed four successive American administrations, both Democrat and Republican. She said each administration has tried a range of measures, from sanctions and pressure, cooperation with China, and "other methods that we shouldn't speak about on television," to no avail.

"The fact of the matter is, that despite all of those efforts, the North Korean regime has been able to succeed in progressing with its program, both nuclear and missile," Rice said. "That's a very unfortunate outcome. But we are where we are. And we now need to decide how to proceed."

Rice advocated in a Thursday morning opinion piece in the New York Times that President Trump should tamp down his rhetoric and learn to live with a nuclear North Korea.

"History shows that we can, if we must, tolerate nuclear weapons in North Korea the same way we tolerated the far greater threat of thousands of Soviet nuclear weapons during the Cold War," she wrote. "It will require being pragmatic."

Trump has retweeted views on Twitter that argue former President Barack Obama is to blame for the current escalated tensions with Kim Jong-Un and the perception that the U.S. is vulnerable to a nuclear attack.

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Susan Rice concedes Obama-era strategy to curtail North Korea's nuclear program was a 'failure' - Washington Examiner

Ad will collapse in seconds CLOSE August 10, 2017 08/10/2017 1:49 pm By Adam K. Raymond Share

On the surface, Sam Clovis doesnt seem like an obvious choice to serve as the Department of Agricultures chief scientist. For starters, hes not a scientist. Hes not a farmer, either. Other than vocal support from the agriculture industry, he has no clear qualifications for the job. But Clovis is a loyal Trump supporter, perhaps the quality the president prizes above all. And thanks to CNN, we now know he has another quality Trump surely appreciates a deep animosity for President Obama and a history of peddling the same conspiracy theories that turned Trump into a conservative darling.

Cloviss lack of qualifications is not news. Democrats and climate groups have been grousing about that, along with his climate-change skepticism, since Trump sent his nomination to the Capitol. But Cloviss birtherism was revealed only Thursday, when CNN dug deep into his days as an Iowa talk-radio host and blogger.

In one blog post, Clovis wrote, For over a decade, Obama allowed his publisher to carry a biography that had him born in Kenya.Only after beginning his pursuit of public office did he correct the entry. He goes on to call Obama a lying egoist.

Along with his questioning President Obamas place of birth, CNN found that the former fighter pilot and defense contractor had called former attorney general Eric Holder a racist bigot and a racist black. He also called former Labor secretary Tom Perez a racist Latino. But Obama was the target of most of his barbs.

Clovis is not the first Trump nominee who has beat the birther drum. Attorney John Bush was also criticized for pushing the conspiracy in blog posts, but that didnt prevent the Senate from confirming him to a lifetime appointment to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Clovis also trashed Obama on his radio program Serious Civics With Sam Clovis. In one 2012 episode, he said Obama appeared to be happy about the attack in Benghazi. This is something that tells you that he is dismissive of the entire affair and, in fact, I would even hate to stretch this out, but its almost as if it was intentional. As if he is happy that these things have occurred, Clovis said.

In another blog post, Clovis called Obama a dangerous person and wrote that he wants to be a dictator and he wants to enslave all who are not part of his regime. Clovis also wrote that if Obama won reelection in 2012 it could very well mean the total deconstruction of our Constitutional republic. Fortunately, it did not. Unfortunately, that might still be on the way.

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Kim Jong-un might not care about wiping the tiny U.S. territory off the map, but he does want Americans to think he might.

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I want to thank him because were trying to cut down our payroll.

Nazi salutes are indefensible.

Why a shocking poll tells us a lot about the state of the party.

The president finds a way to undo all the clean-up the White House just did on his fire and fury comments.

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Sam Clovis, nominee for the Department of Agricultures chief scientist, has a history of troubling statements.

The U.S. has expelled two Cuban diplomats in retaliation.

It made for a bizarre scene, captured on video by one subway passenger.

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If Trump said it was delayed to prevent voter fraud, 52 percent would support him, a new survey shows.

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Their unsuccessful effort to gut the Affordable Care Act spooked insurers and helped drive up premiums for next year.

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Excerpt from:
Trump Nominee Was an Obama Birther - New York Magazine

The Trump administration gave notice it intends to relax the rules governing greenhouse gas emissions on new model cars Thursday, in its latest move to undo President Barack Obamas climate policies.

In a notice on the federal register, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department announced they were considering rewriting emissions standards for cars and light trucks made between 2021 and 2025.

While other climate-change initiatives spearheaded by President Obama like the EPAstrategy for reducing emissions from power plants, called the Clean Power Plan received more scrutiny from industry and conservative critics,emissions standards for cars are just as consequential for curbing the buildup ofatmosphere-warming gases, analysts said.

The benefits from thoserulesarecomparableto the Clean Power Plan in terms of greenhouse gas reductions, said Dave Cooke, a senior vehicles analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. The program as a whole is quite significant.

The notice begins a 45-day public comment period on a potential relaxation of the rules for cars and light trucks.

We are moving forward with an open and robust review of emissions standards, consistent with the timeframe provided in our regulations, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a statement. As recently as Wednesday, Pruitt in a radio interviewbrushed offthe large body of research establishing that human activity is warming the Earth as so-called settled science.

In March, the EPAannounced that it wished towithdraw final determination on the stricter fuel-efficiency standards. But critics of the administration were surprised how expansive the review announced this week will be.

The EPA stretched the review period to include 2021 model vehicles, instead of starting at 2022 model cars as the agency had initially indicated.

The agencies also added 10 additional factors, such as consumer preference, to be considered when finalizing the new standards.

It was really surprising to see that, said Shannon Baker-Branstetter of Consumers Union, the public policy division of Consumer Reports, adding that the decision to include 2021 vehicles in the review was a sign of aggression on the part of the administration.

In 2012, theEPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a part of the Transportation Department, adopted rules requiring the nations car and light trucks toaverage 54.5miles per gallon by 2025.

Automakers objected, arguing that the standards were too stringent to meet. After Trumps surprise election victory, industry groups, including the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers, pressedthe new administration to reconsider the rule.

In my opinion, these additional factors reflect direct input from the manufacturers, said Margo Oge, a former director of the EPAs Office of Transportation and Air Quality, in an email.

The review begins amid signs thatcar companies are moving toward greater efficiency, with or without the federal governments guidance.

In July, Swedish automaker Volvo vowed to make all its vehicles hybrids or electrics starting in 2019. Earlier this month, Japan-based Honda introduced a new all-electric sedan in California and Oregon to compete with Teslas new line of more affordable electric vehicles.

It is clear that the Asian manufacturers in the United States are fully capable of meeting this standard, said Jack Gillis, director of the Consumer Federation of America and author of The Car Book. Noting consumer surveys that indicate car buyers prefer fuel-efficient vehicles that save them money at the gas pump, he added: The first loser will be the domesticcar companies.

And climate policies set by nations such as France and the United Kingdom, which both plan to ban all diesel and gasoline vehicles by 2040, will continue to shape international auto markets and drive car companies to continue lowering emissions.

Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report.

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Trump officials begin review of Obama emissions standards for cars - Washington Post

Q: Was Malia Obama fired from an internship for smoking marijuana? Was she arrested for buying marijuana in Chicago?

A: No. Those spoof stories were made up to troll conservative readers.

Was Malia Obama fired from a job (or internship) at the Spanish Embassy for smoking pot?

Is it true that Malia Obama was arrested at home with pounds of marijuana?

FactCheck.org readers have asked about a story published in late June that claims Malia Obama Barack and Michelle Obamas eldest daughter was let go from an internship at the U.S. Embassy in Spain for smoking marijuana. She was caught, by Embassy Security aka the US Marines on the roof of the building burning a doobie and playing with the Ambassadors carrier pigeons, it says.

Our readers have also inquired about another story published in early August that claims she was just caught in a massive marijuana bust in her home city of Chicago, Illinois.

Neither story is true.

Obama, who will be a freshman at Harvard University in the fall, reportedly interned at the American Embassy in Madrid during the summer of 2016, not 2017. And there were no legitimate news reports about her being fired for marijuana or any other reason.

The story of her termination was made up by FreedomCrossroads.us. The websites about us page says: Freedom Crossroads uses facts that dont exist and relies more on imagination than the truth. In fact, there is likely no truth at all in what you will read here. All of our articles are basically a crock of doody and should be considered satirical whimsies for todays aging conservative.

The other bogus story says Obama was arrested in Chicago for buying weed edibles from two of her thug friends as well as enough pot to make thug rapper Snoop Dogg look like an amateur. That one was published on DailyNewsExplorer.com, where Facebook users flagged it as potentially fake news. A disclaimer on the website says: DailyNewsExplorer.com is a satirical publication that may sometimes appear to be telling the truth. We assure you thats not the case. We present fiction as fact and our sources dont actually exist.

The story of Obamas alleged arrest was also published on ourlandofthefree.com, a related satirical publication that weve written about before. The website has published at least two follow-ups that are also fake: Barack Obama Released His Daughters Drug Dealer From Prison In 2015 and Malia Obamas Muslim Weed Dealer Sent Money To ISIS.

Editors note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebookto help identify and label viral fake news stories flagged by readers on the social media network.

Malia Obama Fired From Cushy Internship At Spanish Embassy. Freedomcrossroads.us. 29 Jun 2017.

BREAKING: Malia Obama Busted Buying 6 POUNDS Of Marijuana In Chicago. Dailynewsexplorer.com. 5 Aug 2017.

Foxtrot, David Tango. BREAKING: Malia Obama Busted Buying 6 POUNDS Of Marijuana In Chicago. Ourlandofthefree.com. 5 Aug 2017.

Fox News. Malia Obama to spend summer as an intern at U.S. Embassy in Spain. 28 Jun 2016.

Munoz Camos, Carmen. Malia, becaria en Madrid. ABC Espana. 6 Jul 2016.

Schaedel, Sydney. Websites that Post Fake and Satirical Stories. FactCheck.org. 6 Jul 2017, updated 7 Aug 2017.

Foxtrot, David Tango. Barack Obama Released His Daughters Drug Dealer From Prison In 2015. Ourlandofthefree.com. 5 Aug 2017.

Foxtrot, David Tango. BREAKING: Malia Obamas Muslim Weed Dealer Sent Money To ISIS. Ourlandofthefree.com. 5 Aug 2017.

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After Jimmy Kimmel opened up about his newborn son's emergency heart surgery in May, he received an outpouring of support from fans.

In a new interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Kimmel said that he also received letters from former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama and several congresspeople after he pleaded with politicians to guarantee American families universal health care.

Health care, he said, should not be "a red or blue issue," and he added he would "love" to talk to President Donald Trump about it.

"I don't see what the difference between health care and education is. Every kid should have a right to an education. We don't seem to have a problem with paying for that. I was relieved when the [GOP bills] failed to pass, but it's far from over," he told the Hollywood Reporter. "I worry that those who oppose Obamacare are going to do everything they can to make sure it doesn't work. Nothing is perfect, but when people are working against something, it makes it a tough road."

Kimmel, 49, spoke out three months ago about his son, Billy, who required surgery for a heart defect just days after he was born. During an emotional monologue on his ABC show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" he pleaded with politicians to come together to ensure health care for all Americans, particularly those who have pre-existing conditions.

"I knew I had to say something, and I knew that I would get emotional. It occurred to me that maybe we could make it into something positive," he told the Hollywood Reporter. "I had a lot of time to think at the hospital, and it just so happened that our government was deciding whether or not millions of people should have health care at that time. I think it made a big impact on American citizens. I'm not sure, based on how our so-called leaders voted, whether it made a big impact on the Senate or House."

As for his son, Kimmel told the publication that he will need two more surgeries, but is "doing great." Late last month, the comedian and his wife, Molly McNearney, shared photos of the 3-month-old boy and encouraged their followers to stay politically active.

"Remind your Congresspeople that every kid deserves the care [Billy] got," Kimmel wrote.

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Kimmel says former Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama reached out about his son - ABC News