Archive for the ‘Obama’ Category

Policy Under Trump Bars Obama-Era Path to US for Central American Youths – New York Times

The Obama administration expanded the program beyond children last year to include more categories of migrants.

By this summer, of the approximately 10,000 people who had applied for entry, 2,193 had been approved as refugees, said R. Carter Langston, a spokesman for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

An additional 1,465 did not meet the legal criteria to become refugees, but were allowed to come to the United States and work legally as parolees, a kind of halfway status that does not offer a pathway to citizenship as refugees have, but protects them from deportation for two years.

Those who have already received parole will not see any immediate changes when the parole program ends on Wednesday. But, as before, they will have to reapply for parole when the two-year period is up, Mr. Langston said.

Once they do, they will be petitioning an agency that Mr. Trump has ordered to be less lenient than it was under President Barack Obama. The parole program was one of several moves that Mr. Obama made to protect young immigrants from deportation and that conservatives protested as stretching the limits of presidential power.

Though the parole program is ending, children and their families can still apply for refugee status as before.

Lisa Frydman, the vice president for regional policy and initiatives for Kids in Need of Defense, a group in Washington that provides legal assistance to unaccompanied immigrant children, said the decision to shut down the parole option would drum up more business for the smuggling networks that Mr. Trump has vowed to dismantle.

It is not a surprise, but it is a disgrace, she said. This is the Trump administration completely turning its back on Central American children, slamming the door on them.

For the 2,714 people in the process of applying to the program, gaining what is known as conditional parole status, the future is hazier. Their conditional approvals will be revoked. Some, after being interviewed by refugee officers, may qualify as full-blown refugees. The rest may ask for parole individually, according to the announcement, but the agency will no longer automatically consider them for parole.

No one has entered the United States through the program since February, when the Department of Homeland Security suspended it while officials reviewed what Mr. Trumps executive order would mean for it, Mr. Langston said.

Ms. Frydmans organization has three cases in which the child began the application process but has not been able to travel to the United States. In one case, two siblings applied; one was granted refugee status and the other conditional parole. The refugee is free to come; the parolee is not.

In another case, the mother had already bought the plane ticket for her child, who had received conditional parole.

Its so cruel, Ms. Frydman said.

A version of this article appears in print on August 16, 2017, on Page A17 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Policy Blocks Obama-Era Path to U.S. for Central Americans.

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Policy Under Trump Bars Obama-Era Path to US for Central American Youths - New York Times

Trump to revoke Obama-era flood risk building standards – CNBC

President Donald Trump will revoke an Obama-era executive order on Tuesday that required strict building standards for government-funded projects to reduce exposure to increased flooding from sea level rise, sources said.

Trump will sign his own executive order this afternoon to revoke the standards as part of his administration's plan to "streamline the current process" for infrastructure projects, a government official said.

The official said the Trump order will not prohibit state and local agencies from using a more stringent standard if they choose.

The sources gave details of an announcement the White House said was coming. Trump's order will establish "discipline and accountability in the environmental review and permitting process for infrastructure projects," the White House said on Monday.

The Trump administration has complained that it takes too much time to get permits and approvals for construction projects. The administration has issued dozens of rules and orders to reverse or rescind Obama-era regulations addressing climate change and its consequences such as rising sea levels and more severe storms.

The Obama-era standard required that builders factor in scientific projections for how climate change could affect flooding in a certain area and ensure projects can withstand rising sea levels and stronger downpours.

Obama required all federal agencies apply the standard to all public infrastructure projects from public housing to highways.

It raised base flood levels to a higher vertical elevation to "address current and future flood risk and ensure that projects funded with taxpayer dollars last as long as intended," according to a 2015 Treasury Department presentation on the order.

U.S. officials have estimated that the United States suffered $260 billion in flood related damages between 1980 and 2013.

Flood policy expert Eli Lehrer, president of the libertarian R Street Institute, has been critical of many Obama initiatives. But he said revoking this order was a kneejerk political reaction by the Trump administration, which will end up costing taxpayers money.

"The Trump administration is acting very rashly in part out of the desire to undo a climate measure under the Obama administration," he said. "This is an enormous mistake that is disastrous for taxpayers. The (Obama) rule would have saved billions of dollars over time."

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Trump to revoke Obama-era flood risk building standards - CNBC

Kim Kardashian says she and Kanye once sang karaoke with Obama – The Hill (blog)

Kim Kardashian says she had an unlikely singing partner the only time she ever performed karaoke: former President Obama.

Ive done karaoke one time, Kardashian, 36, told The Hollywood Reporter in a video interview publishedWednesday.

I could never sing, but it was so cool, she continued. It was with Obama, Kanye, and like, maybe 15 people.

The singalong gathering, Kardashian added, was insane.

Kardashian didnt offer any additional details about the ex-commander in chief karaoke session or what they might have sung. But in 2014, her husband, rapper Kanye West, wrote on Twitter that the couple had met with Obama.

The reality TV veteran also shared a photo on Instagram in 2015 of herself and West posing with a smiling Obama, along with a personalized message to the pair from the then-president.

Former first lady Michelle ObamaMichelle ObamaObama talked trash, won money from 3 celebs over golf game Former Michelle Obama aide enters Maryland governor's race Will Smith: Obama said I 'have the ears' to play him in a movie MORE is a karaoke veteran herself she appeared on James Cordens popular Carpool Karaoke segment on CBSs The Late Late Show last year.

Kardashian also dipped her toe in the political waters in her wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter. When asked the first thing she would do if she was president for a day, the Keeping up With the Kardashians star replied, I would definitely not piss off all the other countries, like whats going on now.

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Kim Kardashian says she and Kanye once sang karaoke with Obama - The Hill (blog)

Obama’s response to Charlottesville is about to be the most popular tweet of all time – CNBC

Former President Barack Obama tweeted a picture and a quote in response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend, and he has gotten a nearly record-setting amount of engagement from Twitter users. The first of his series of threaded tweets has accumulated about 2.6 million "likes," putting it in the running to become the most popular tweet of all time.

Citing Nelson Mandela, Obama wrote, "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion ... People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love ... For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."

Currently, the record-holder is a tweet from pop star Ariana Grande telling fans that she was "broken" after a bombing of her concert in Manchester killed at least 22 people, including some children. It has 2.7 million "likes."

The third most-popular tweet of all time is far more lighthearted: Ellen DeGeneres' Oscars selfie.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has fumbled while using the social media platform. He retweeted and then deleted two messages on Tuesday, one that featured a cartoon train running down a character intended to represent the news network CNN and one that called the President a fascist.

Also on Tuesday, after three CEOs stepped down from their positions on his manufacturing advisory council, Trump used Twitter to accuse them of being "grandstanders." Shortly after that tweet went up, a fourth CEO also stepped down.

The President has come under criticism for his overall handling of the events in Charlottesville. On Saturday, instead of criticizing racists and neo-Nazis by name, Trump referred to violence "on many sides." Only two days later, on Monday afternoon, did he explicitly condemn white supremacists. By then, much of the PR damage had already been done.

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Obama's response to Charlottesville is about to be the most popular tweet of all time - CNBC

Obama’s Beautiful Charlottesville Tweet Is Second Most Liked Ever … – HuffPost

Its hard not to like this.

Former President Barack Obamas response on Twitter to the violence that unfolded in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend is now one of the most liked tweets ever, according to the Associated Press.

On Saturday night, Obama quoted former South African President Nelson Mandela in a series of tweets:

The first of the bunch, in which Obama is smiling at children of different ethnicities, has received more than 2.5 million likes. That makes it the second most liked tweet in history, according to the AP.

A tweet by Ariana Grandefollowing the deadly bombingin May at the end of her concert in Manchester, England, holds the top spot with 2.7 million likes.

Obama tweeted the quote from Mandelas autobiography Long Walk to Freedoma few hours after James Alex Fields Jr., 20, plowed his car into marchers protesting the Unite the Right rally attended by various white supremacist groups on Saturday, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Also killed that day were two on-duty Virginia state troopers whose helicopter crashed on the outskirts of Charlottesville.

President Donald Trump responded to the clashes in Charlottesvillein a very different way on Saturday, saying:

We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides on many sides, Trump said on national television. Its been going on for a long time in our country, not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. Its been going on for a long, long time.

Trump also tweeted about the violence numerous times on Saturday. None of his tweets, however, specifically condemned any white supremacy extremist groups.

Trumps most popular tweet addressing the events in Charlottesville on Saturday had not gotten more than 190,000 likes as of Tuesday morning. The others didnt exceed 125,000 likes.

Facing bipartisan criticism over his initial responses, Trump on Monday was more explicit in comments he made at the White House. Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, Neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to what we hold dear as Americans, he said.

CORRECTION: This article initially misstated how many likes Trumps Charlottesville tweets from Saturday received.

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Obama's Beautiful Charlottesville Tweet Is Second Most Liked Ever ... - HuffPost