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LATEST NEWS

Our "foreign" correspondent in California, Leslie Eastman, has made a blog career of documenting the tarnishing of the Golden State by insane legislative and regulatory policies, most of which are rubber-stamped by Governor Jerry Brown. But this week there were two astounding moments of sanity from the Governor.

Kirkuk, Iraq has become a centerpiece in the Iraqi government's rejection of the overwhelmingly successful Kurdish Independence Referendum. Monday, Iraq took control of Kirkuk, which has been under Kurdish control since they took it from ISIS in 2014 as Iraqi forces fled.  It is surprising that the Kurds did not stand and fight for the hard-won Kirkuk, but it's not yet clear this was the case as there have been reports of gunfire and "clashes" in the city.  The resistance by Kurdish forces appears to have been somewhat minimal. The BBC reports:
The Iraqi military moved into Kirkuk three weeks after the Kurdistan Region held a controversial independence referendum.

A few weeks ago, Mediaite published a leaked video of MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell have the meltdown of all meltdowns. In the video, O'Donnell slammed his fists on the desk repeatedly and unfurled a profanity-laced tirade at the production staff for not properly dealing with a hammering noise coming from somewhere in the building. O'Donnell was not appreciative of having someone else's happy hour plans discussed in his ear piece during segments either, or what he called “insanity in my earpiece".

NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch, who also hosts a popular radio show and TV show on The Blaze, and her family spent the weekend prepping for a move because of all the death and rape threats she has received. On Sunday, Loesch explained on Twitter how people have tracked down her private cell phone number and posted pictures of her house online.

Just two weeks after the right-wing AfD Party’s surge in the German election, Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ) is set to join the country’s next coalition government. The Freedom Party, Europe’s oldest surviving right-wing party, which ran on an anti-Islamization and anti-mass migration platform received 26 percent of the votes, party’s strongest performance in twenty years.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has shocked a few people since he has decided to send a Department of Justice lawyer to help prosecute the alleged murderer of an Iowa transgender teen. From The New York Times:
“This is just one example of the attorney general’s commitment to enforcing the laws enacted by Congress and to protecting the civil rights of all individuals,” said Devin O’Malley, a spokesman for the Justice Department.

Former NFL quarter Colin Kaepernick has filed a grievance against NFL owners because he believes they colluded to keep him out of a job due to his protests during the national anthem. Kaepernick first protested in the 2016 preseason when he took a knee during the national anthem. He claimed he protested against racial injustice across the country. The protests took off, with many players following his lead.

In a statement Friday, President Donald Trump said that "based on the factual record I have put forward, I am announcing today that we cannot and will not make this certification," of the nuclear deal with Iran. In accordance with the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (or Corker-Cardin Bill), Congress now has 60 days to fix terms of the deal - the sunset clauses that allow Iran to ramp up its nuclear program after the accord expires, its ballistic missile program - that Trump is demanding are addressed. If Congress does not act, Trump said "the agreement will be terminated." Trump's remarks were not limited to the nuclear deal but are part of an overall refocus of American strategy towards Iran, which were laid out elsewhere on the White House website.

The Cook Political Report (CPR), a non-partisan group that analyzes elections, has changed the ratings in 12 districts across the country for the House 2018 elections as Democrats gain strength. It's important to note that the ratings have not gone directly to Democrat, but it shows that these districts have become vulnerable. Only one went from solid Democrat to likely Democrat, a plus for the Republicans.

Two truck bombs detonated in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Saturday, killing at least 230 people and wounding hundreds more.  Reports indicate that the Somali government believes al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab is responsible. The United States has condemned the attack, calling it "cowardly," and has vowed to continue to fight the "scourge of terrorism." The BBC reports:
A massive bomb attack in a busy area of the Somali capital Mogadishu on Saturday is now known to have killed at least 230 people, police say. Hundreds more were wounded when a lorry packed with explosives detonated near the entrance of a hotel. It is the deadliest terror attack in Somalia since the Islamist al-Shabab group launched its insurgency in 2007.

As the death toll in the Hepatitis A outbreak climbs to 18, California Governor Jerry Brown has officially declared a state of emergency.
The emergency proclamation, which was issued by Brown on Friday, allows the state to increase its supply of hepatitis A vaccines in order to control the current outbreak. Immunizations from the federal vaccine program have been distributed to at-risk populations in affected areas, but additional supplies are needed, according to a statement released by Brown's office. The emergency proclamation gives the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) authority to immediately purchase vaccines directly from manufacturers and distribute them to impacted communities.

Not just former US President Obama, Chancellor Merkel of Germany, too, regards the nuclear deal with Iran as her greatest diplomatic accomplishment. The prominent German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung summed up the central role played by the Merkel government, writing, "Among all the parties working to bring about a negotiated deal, Germans enjoyed [Iranian regime's] special trust." Corporate Germany loved the deal too. The Bavaria Chamber of Commerce, the leading trade body in the country, told its clients ahead of the deal that the "German media landscape across the board agrees that lucrative deals worth billions are waiting to be made in Iran. As soon as the sanction are lifted, the run on the markets begins."