Top News Stories for Today – Dec 15, 2018
Top News Stories for Today – Dec 15, 2018
Trump names Mick Mulvaney as acting chief of staff
President Trump on Friday tweeted an announcement that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, will step in as acting White House chief of staff. Mulvaney, who also worked as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will replace current White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who will depart at the end of the year.
“Mick has done an outstanding job while in the administration,” wrote Trump, “I look forward to working with him in this new capacity.” Trump additionally praised Kelly as a “great patriot” who “served our country with distinction.” Trump’s reported first choice to replace Kelly, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Nick Ayers, turned down the job, leaving Trump to consider several administration officials and lawmakers for the post. The Week
Yellow vests mass in Paris again
“Yellow vest” protesters have gathered on the Champs-Elysées in Paris for a fifth consecutive weekend of demonstrations. Thousands of police will be deployed in case of violent clashes and disruptions that have marked previous protests.
The movement began five weeks ago, initially against a rise in fuel taxes, but has since spread to take in other issues, including education reforms. Dozens of people have already been arrested this Saturday. A seventh person had died on Friday in an accident resulting from a blockade by protesters. BBC
Trump’s inauguration paid Trump’s company
President Trump’s organization reportedly received money from the Presidential Inaugural Committee in 2017, and at least one organizer expressed concern that they were being overcharged, which could be a tax law violation. ProPublica reported Friday that the inaugural committee paid the Trump Organization for rooms, meals, and event space at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., and Ivanka Trump was involved in working out the price.
Federal prosecutors are reportedly investigating whether the committee misspent any of its record $107 million haul and whether any of the committee’s biggest donors sought access to or special favors from the incoming Trump administration for their donations. Donating money for political favors or diverting funds from a nonprofit like an inaugural committee could both run afoul of federal law. The Week
US Federal Judge rules Obamacare unconstitutional
A US federal judge has ruled that the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare, is unconstitutional. US District Court Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas ruled Friday that a change in the US tax law last year eliminating a penalty for not having health insurance invalidates the entire ACA. Last year’s $1.5 trillion tax bill included a provision eliminating the individual mandate. VOA
Sandy Hook Elementary receives bomb threat
Exactly six years after 28 people, mostly children, were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, another threat to the school forced its evacuation. At around 9 a.m. Friday, police say the Newtown, Connecticut school received a bomb threat and evacuated everyone inside. Police later said the threat was likely not credible, but school was still canceled for the rest of the day. A wave of bomb threats were emailed to businesses, schools, and government buildings across the US on Thursday, but were determined to be a hoax. Sandy Hook’s threat didn’t seem to be connected to these widespread threats, police said. The Week
Ukraine to establish independent Orthodox Church
Ukrainian Orthodox priests are holding a historic synod in Kyiv’s Saint Sophia’s Cathedral to establish a new national church, one that does not have ties to Russia.
The clergy gathering Saturday follows a landmark decision by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodoxy, to remove the Ukrainian Orthodox church from under the Moscow Patriarchate, which has overseen the Ukrainian branch for hundreds of years. The decision infuriated the Russian church, prompting it to cut all ties with Constantinople. VOA