A Look at the News — 2017.01.12

Elko Daily Free Press – Nevada delegation stands united against Yucca Mountain – U.S. Senators Dean Heller and Catherine Cortez Masto, along with U.S. Representatives Dina Titus, Ruben J. Kihuen and Jacky Rosen teamed Wednesday to introduce legislation to keep the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository from being resurrected. The Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act permits the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to authorize construction of a nuclear waste repository only if the Secretary of Energy has secured written consent from the governor of the host state, affected units of local government, and affected Indian tribes. The act ensures Nevada, and every other state, has a meaningful voice in the process if it is considered for a nuclear waste repository. “Yucca Mountain is not a viable solution for dealing with nuclear waste,” said Cortez Masto. “Nevadans have been clear that they do not want a nuclear dumping site in their back yard and any discussions of sites for nuclear repositories must include the states and key stakeholders. I will continue to work with the Nevada delegation and Governor Sandoval to ensure that the Yucca Mountain project stays dead. We will not allow dangerous proposals that threaten the health and safety of Nevadans to go forward.” LINK

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RJ – Yucca Mountain won’t be site for nuclear waste, energy secretary says

RJ – Steelers owner: Raiders might move to Las Vegas without Adelson investment – The Oakland Raiders might decline Sheldon Adelson’s stadium investment in pursuing relocation to Las Vegas, Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II said Wednesday. Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp., has negotiated for months with Mark Davis, the Raiders’ majority owner and general managing partner, on a stadium lease agreement. They have yet to reach accord. But that hasn’t changed the Raiders’ desire to leave Oakland for Las Vegas. “I think the Raiders are looking at this potentially going without Mr. Adelson,’’ Rooney, chairman of the league’s stadium committee and one of the NFL’s most influential owners, told reporters in New York after league meetings on relocation and stadium issues. LINK

RJ – Downtown Las Vegas leads Nevada gaming markets in percentage increase, new report notes – The downtown Las Vegas gaming market outperformed the state’s other 12 markets by percentage increase over the previous year for total revenue, the state Gaming Control Board reported Wednesday. The board published its 2016 Gaming Abstract, an annually produced document listing casino, hotel, food and beverage revenues and expenses in 13 statewide markets for properties generating $1 million or more in gross revenue by fiscal year. Data aren’t broken out by property, but in Southern Nevada, totals are grouped by Clark County, the Strip, downtown Las Vegas, Laughlin, the Boulder Strip and the balance of the county. LINK

 RJ – Yucca Mountain won’t be site for nuclear waste, energy secretary says – Citing local opposition to the project, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz dismissed speculation Wednesday that a nuclear waste repository could open at Yucca Mountain near Las Vegas. Speaking at the National Press Club, Moniz said congressional mandates in the 1980s that the Department of Energy develop Yucca Mountain as a storage site curbed research, development and the selection of other locations to store waste generated by nuclear reactors. LINK

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KLAS – Energy head: Bid to revive Nev. nuclear waste dump doomed

RJ – Funding approved to start establishing Nevada’s recreational pot industry – A state panel on Tuesday approved a nearly $900,000 request from the Department of Taxation to prepare Nevada for the establishment of recreational marijuana sales by next year. The request for $887,491 from the Legislature’s Interim Finance Contingency Account was approved by the state Board of Examiners on a 2-1 vote. It now goes to the Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee later this month. Gov. Brian Sandoval and Attorney General Adam Laxalt voted in favor. Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske voted no, arguing the request should go to the full Legislature for consideration. The agency expects to repay the startup costs for the implementation of the recreational marijuana law passed by voters in November once tax revenues begin to flow to the state from pot sales. LINK

Pahrump Valley Times – Contract approved for body cameras for Nevada Highway Patrol troopers – Nevada Highway Patrol troopers will soon wear body cameras to record their interactions with the public with the approval Tuesday of a $1.25 million five-year contract to purchase and operate the devices for its uniformed officers. The Board of Examiners, including Gov. Brian Sandoval, approved the contract between the state Department of Public Safety and TASER International. The cameras cost $1,414 each. The cameras are required as a result of the passage of Senate Bill 111 during the 2015 legislative session sought by state Sens. Aaron Ford and Kelvin Atkinson, both Democrats from Southern Nevada. The board was told the cameras should be fully operational on all troopers by the summer. LINK

 KRXI – Attorney blasts investigative report on allegations against former Reno city manager – An attorney involved in the sexual harassment allegations against Andrew Clinger has blasted a recently released report for its significant amount of redactions, among other issues. Mark Mausert, who represents the three women who alleged Reno’s former city manager harassed, said in a statement the report is “biased and inconclusive.” Mausert told News 4 he received the heavily-redacted version of the report when it was publicly released. “The city at every turn has mishandled this case, the latest being the public release of a heavily redacted report,” he said. “And at every turn they have behaved in an advisory manner.” Mausert sent a 14-page response to the city and media, alleging in a statement that City Attorney Karl Hall seemed “to have trivialized the complaints.” LINK

Elko Daily Free Press – BLM seeks comments for Newmont’s Rain Mine closure – The Bureau of Land Management is asking the public to comment on the proposed closure of Newmont Mining Corp.’s Rain Mine. The BLM is in the process of preparing an environmental assessment on the project. Comments will be accepted until Feb. 11. Newmont has submitted an amendment to the Rain Mine Plan of Operations for Final Closure and Alternatives. The Rain Mine is located in Elko County approximately 18 air miles southwest of Elko and 10 miles southeast of Carlin. It ceased operations in 2004 and reclamation and closure of minor mine facilities has continued since then. Approximately 183 acres of public land and 755 acres of private lands were disturbed during mine operations. LINK

El Tiempo Latino – Senator Cortez Masto to Join Other Democrats Worried about Sessions’ Nomination for Attorney General

Telemundo Las Vegas – Senate Takes First Step to Repeal Obamacare

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Univisión Noticias – Senate Approves First Step to Repeal Obamacare

EFE – US Senate Approved first Measure to Repeal “Obamacare”

 El Sol de Reno – Lost-Cost Medical Services and Abortion: The Planned Parenthood Controversy

 Univisión Noticias – With Money and Sexual Favors, Network of Traffickers Opened Doors to US to Undocumented Immigrants

 Univisión Noticias – Ben Carson’s Hearing before Senate, Donald Trump’s Nominee for Housing Secretary

 Univisión Noticias – How Trump’s Every Word Sinks the Mexican Peso

 Univisión Noticias – Undocumented Immigrants’ Last Recourse to Legalization before Trump’s Arrival Vanished

 Univisión Noticias – Washington, DC, to Offer Legal Help to Undocumented Immigrants

 Univisión Noticias – US Catholic Bishops Ask for Humane Immigration Policy

U.S. News & World Report – Elaine Chao Enjoys Lovefest at Confirmation Hearing for Transportation Secretary – As job interviews go, Transportation Secretary nominee Elaine Chao has the skids well-greased for her ascension to the post: she’s got a great resume, knows almost all the people on the hiring committee, and is related to one of the senior managers – who just happened to introduce her as she appeared before a Senate committee Wednesday. By the time the hearing was over, Chao had been invited to visit two states – that of Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev. – and finally accepted Florida Sen. Bill Nelson’s facetious request that she travel to the home states of every member of the committee. LINK

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Tech Crunch – Trump pick for transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, signals support for private innovation

 People Crime – Fort Lauderdale Airport Shooting: How You Can Contact Congress to Discuss Gun Violence – As the shots rang out at Terminal 2 in the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Jan. 6, frantic travelers raced away from the gunfire, searching for safety. By the time the bullets stopped, five people had been killed and six injured. Authorities arrested Esteban Santiago, 26, who had served in the National Guard in Alaska and Puerto Rico, and charged him with federal crimes including murder and airport violence. He has yet to enter a plea, and the FBI continues its investigation into how — and why — the attack took place. Below is a list with updated contact information for all 535 members of Congress so readers can make their voices heard on how to prevent gun violence…Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Phone: 202-224-3542, Twitter: @CatherineForNV. LINK

ABC News – Energy Chief: Bid to Revive Nevada Nuclear Waste Dump Doomed – Any effort to revive the long-dormant nuclear waste dump at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain is doomed to fail because the project lacks support from elected officials in the state, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Wednesday. A 30-year fight over where to store the country’s nuclear waste has convinced him that “a consent-based approach is the only way we’re going to get across the finish line,” Moniz said. President Barack Obama dropped the Yucca plan early in his tenure under intense pressure from Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who made opposition to Yucca Mountain a central part of his political identity. Reid’s successor in the Senate, Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, also opposes Yucca, as do Republican Sen. Dean Heller and Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval.  LINK

The Spectrum – Nevada joins marijuana movement – Effective Jan. 1, Nevada made commercial cultivation, sale and possession of recreational marijuana legal. The state had previously decriminalized the drug for small quantity possession, and marijuana was already legally available for medical use. Question 2 passed in spite of opposition from “big-name” political leaders and organizations. Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval (“categorically opposed”) and Democratic Sen. Harry Reid (“very, very dubious”) were noteworthy opponents. Both Senate candidates, Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican Joe Heck, opposed Q2. LINK

GOP USA – Congressional Black Caucus set to take back racial limelight – For almost eight years, the members of the Congressional Black Caucus existed in the shadow of the first black president. They praised President Barack Obama’s achievements while at the same time pushing him to do more for their constituents who overwhelmingly supported his history-making campaign and administration. But with Obama set to leave the White House on Jan. 20, black lawmakers in the House and Senate are recalculating and reassessing their place in Washington. And realizing they’re regaining the limelight as the most visible and powerful African-American politicians in the nation’s capital. There are more black lawmakers in Congress than ever: 49 African-American men and women were sworn in Tuesday, including Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., just the second black female senator. Also serving on Capitol Hill are the first Indian-American senator, 38 Hispanic lawmakers, including Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, the first Latina senator, and 15 Asian-Americans. LINK

NYT – Donald Trump Concedes Russia’s Interference in Election – President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday conceded for the first time that Russia had carried out cyberattacks against the two major political parties during the presidential election, but he angrily rejected unsubstantiated reports that Moscow had gathered compromising personal and financial information about him that could be used for extortion. In a chaotic news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan nine days before he is to be sworn in as the nation’s 45th president, Mr. Trump compared United States intelligence officials to Nazis, sidestepped repeated questions about whether he or anyone in his presidential campaign had had contact with Russia during the campaign, and lashed out at the news media and political opponents, arguing that they were out to get him. “As far as hacking, I think it was Russia,” Mr. Trump said, his first comments accepting the conclusions of United States intelligence officials that Moscow had interfered in the election to help him win. But the president-elect expressed little outrage about that breach and seemed to cast doubt on Russia’s role moments after acknowledging it, asserting that “it could have been others also.” LINK

WSJ – Donald Trump to Place Business Holdings in a Trust Run by Adult Sons – President-elect Donald Trump said he would put his assets into a trust and relinquish control of his business to his two adult sons in an effort to avoid conflicts of interest during his presidency. Mr. Trump will sever management ties to the Trump Organization and play no role in its operations under the terms of the trust. While he is in office, his real-estate empire will abide by “severe restrictions on new deals,” an attorney retained by the president-elect said. If foreign governments make payments to his hotels—including a new one near the White House—Mr. Trump plans to donate all profits to the U.S. treasury, said the attorney, Sheri Dillon.The announcement drew sharp criticism from ethics experts who said the steps laid out Wednesday are inadequate to create a clean separation between Mr. Trump’s business interests and his presidency. LINK

WaPo – Tillerson calls U.S. intelligence findings on Russian interference in election ‘troubling’ – Secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson called U.S. intelligence findings of Russian interference in the presidential election “troubling” Wednesday but said he has not yet seen classified information about allegations that Russia intended to help President-elect Donald Trump. Tillerson, the former top executive at ExxonMobil, also declined to strongly denounce Russian military actions in Syria that have led to civilian deaths or to broadly condemn alleged human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. He conceded that climate change is man-made and needs to be addressed by world powers — but also that there’s very little he can do to control the potential global fallout of Trump’s tweeting. Tillerson’s hearing was the marquee event on a busy day amid a consequential week for the incoming Trump administration as the president-elect’s top Cabinet picks begin the confirmation process. As Tillerson testified, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Trump’s choice for attorney general, was sitting for his second day of hearings with the Judiciary Committee and Elaine L. Chao, Trump’s choice for transportation secretary, testified before the Senate commerce panel. LINK

NYT – Truth or Insult? Artwork Hung in Capital Spawns a Dispute – A racially divisive fight over a student painting hanging in a dismal hallway of a House office building is not the weirdest thing that has happened in the new Congress. But that is only because it is Congress. The kerfuffle began a few weeks ago, when lawmakers came to realize that a painting that had been hanging in the Cannon House Office Building since June with hundreds of other pieces of student art depicted a confrontation between police officers, some rendered as pigs, and citizens in downtown St. Louis. Republicans have taken it upon themselves to pull the painting off the wall four times and trot it back to the office of Representative William Lacy Clay, Democrat of Missouri, only to have it rehung by Mr. Clay and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The piece is a finalist in the Congressional Art Competition, in which high school students compete to have their artwork hung for a year in the tunnel connecting the office building to the Capitol. It is an annual exercise in the anodyne — think pastels of elephants and brooding self-portraits, selected by local panels. LINK

 WSJ – Cory Booker Testifies Against Colleague Jeff Sessions – In an unusual break with U.S. Senate decorum, Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey testified Wednesday against the confirmation of his Republican colleague Jeff Sessions to be attorney general, saying that Mr. Sessions’s record suggested he wouldn’t aggressively pursue voting or civil-rights cases. “I want an attorney general who is committed to supporting law enforcement and securing law and order, but that is not enough,” Mr. Booker said, speaking at the end of a two-day hearing on President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Justice Department. Mr. Sessions, a former prosecutor from Alabama and one of the Senate’s most conservative members, promised on Tuesday that he would enforce all laws, including those he disagreed with, and forcefully rejected allegations that he was motivated by racial bias. LINK

NYT – Senate Takes Major Step Toward Repealing Health Care Law – Senate Republicans took their first major step toward repealing the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, approving a budget blueprint that would allow them to gut the health care law without the threat of a Democratic filibuster. The vote was 51 to 48. During the roll call, Democrats staged a highly unusual protest on the Senate floor to express their dismay and anger at the prospect that millions of Americans could lose health insurance coverage. One by one, Democrats rose to voice their objections. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington said that Republicans were “stealing health care from Americans.” Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon said he was voting no “because health care should not just be for the healthy and wealthy.” The presiding officer, Senator Cory Gardner, Republican of Colorado, repeatedly banged his gavel and said the Democrats were out of order because “debate is not allowed during a vote.” LINK

NYT – Head of Veterans Health System Is Trump’s Pick to Lead Veterans Affairs  – In a move that left many veterans groups breathing a sigh of relief, President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday selected the current head of the nation’s sprawling veterans health care system, Dr. David J. Shulkin, an appointee of President Obama’s, to become secretary of veterans affairs.  If confirmed, he will be the first secretary to lead the department who is not a veteran. While Mr. Trump’s chosen cabinet is largely made up of Washington outsiders, Dr. Shulkin, 57, is a relative insider. He has helped lead several private health care systems, including Beth Israel Medical Center in New York and the University of Pennsylvania Health System. In 2015, he was appointed under secretary for health by Mr. Obama and told to cut wait times in the troubled health care system, which includes 1,700 hospitals and clinics that serve nearly nine million veterans. In that time, Dr. Shulkin has nearly doubled the amount of health care that veterans receive through private doctors. But he has also rejected calls for broader privatization, saying that it would cost untold billions and undermine the hospital system — a stance that puts him at odds with Mr. Trump. LINK

NYT – Trump Promises Fast Action on Supreme Court Nomination – Pledging to move quickly to fulfill what he has called the most important promise of his campaign, President-elect Donald J. Trump said on Wednesday that he would name a nominee to the Supreme Court “within about two weeks” of his inauguration on Jan. 20. At a news conference in Trump Tower, he thanked the leaders of two prominent conservative groups for their help in vetting candidates, a strong indication that his main priority remains choosing an unwavering conservative to fill the seat of Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last February. Democrats are promising a furious fight over any nominee they consider to be out of the legal mainstream, saying that Republicans effectively stole a Supreme Court seat from President Obama by refusing for almost a year to consider his nomination of Judge Merrick B. Garland, a respected appeals court judge with a moderate record. LINK

NYT – Mike Pompeo, Trump’s C.I.A. Pick, Faces the Balancing Act of His Career – The good news for Representative Mike Pompeo of Kansas, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee to run the Central Intelligence Agency, is that he appears to share the same adversarial view of Russia as most American spies. The bad news for Mr. Pompeo is that he will have to square his views with those of Mr. Trump, who has denigrated American intelligence agencies, praised President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and is now contending with a dossier of unsubstantiated reports that Russia has collected compromising and salacious personal information about him. Known as a pugnacious Republican partisan by his colleagues in Congress, Mr. Pompeo is going to have pull off the political balancing act of his career to keep the confidence of the Trump White House while winning over the C.I.A., an agency that is notoriously hostile to outsiders in the best of times. His Senate confirmation hearing, scheduled for Thursday before the Senate intelligence committee, will be the first test of whether he has the diplomatic finesse to manage it. LINK

NYT – Ben Carson, Shaped by Poverty, Is Likely to Bring Tough Love to HUD – Between the several jobs she worked and the scramble to feed her sons, often with food stamps, Sonya Carson used to recite a poem to keep her son Ben and his brother focused on lifting themselves out of their impoverished neighborhood in Detroit. “If things go bad for you and make you a bit ashamed, often you will find out that you have yourself to blame,” Mayme White Miller’s poem begins. “You’re the captain of your ship, so agree with the same, if you travel downward you have yourself to blame.” Those words, drummed into Ben Carson’s memory, appear to have framed the retired neurosurgeon’s views on urban renewal, mandated racial integration and the proper role of government in addressing the nation’s social woes. Now Mr. Carson, tapped by President-elect Donald J. Trump to become the next secretary of housing and urban development, will most likely have the power and opportunity to apply his mother’s conservative message to people’s lives as he heads an agency with a $47 billion budget and a charge to assist millions of low-income renters, fight urban blight and help struggling homeowners stave off foreclosures. LINK

WSJ – As Crisis That Vexed Obama Fades, Trump Will Benefit – In ways that few appreciate, the financial crisis that ushered Barack Obama into office in 2008 shaped all eight years of his presidency. It drove his regulatory and economic agenda, polarized politics and policy, hobbled output and wage growth, and ultimately helped make Donald Trump president. Ironically, Mr. Obama steps down as the recovery from that crisis is largely complete, which could leave Mr. Trump to preside over the longest expansion since World War II. Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University have documented that recoveries that follow crises are weaker than those after a typical recession; on average, it takes eight years for a country to achieve its previous peak in per-capita gross domestic product. LINK

WSJ – Rex Tillerson May Make Unusual Tax Argument – Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick as secretary of state, aims to use an unusual interpretation of U.S. tax law to spread out taxes owed on his retirement package over the next decade instead of paying more than $70 million immediately. That deferral could save Mr. Tillerson more than $10 million if Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans follow through on their plans to cut individual tax rates. Mr. Tillerson, 64, whose confirmation hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, was owed roughly $170 million when he left Exxon Mobil Corp. in December, but now the company and its former chief executive are breaking financial ties. LINK

WaPo – Decision to brief Trump on allegations brought a secret and unsubstantiated dossier into the public domain – As the nation’s top spies prepared to brief President Obama and President-elect Donald Trump on Russian interference in the 2016 election, they faced an excruciatingly delicate question: Should they mention the salacious allegations that had been circulating in Washington for months that Moscow had compromising information on the incoming president? Ultimately, they concluded they had no choice. A 35-page dossier packed with details of supposed compromising personal information, alleged financial entanglements and political intrigue was already in such wide circulation in Washington that every major news organization seemed to have a copy. “You’d be derelict if you didn’t” mention the dossier, a U.S. official said. To ignore the file, produced by a private-sector security firm, would only make the supposed guardians of the nation’s secrets seem uninformed, officials said, adding that many were convinced that it was only a matter of time before someone decided to publish the material. LINK

AP – Trump’s pick to be top diplomat breaks with him in key ways – Rex Tillerson’s foreign policy doesn’t sound a lot like Donald Trump’s. At his confirmation hearing Wednesday, the former Exxon Mobil CEO selected by Trump for secretary of state called Russia a “danger” and vowed to protect America’s European allies. He rejected the idea of an immigration ban on Muslims. He treaded softly on the human rights records of key U.S. partners like Saudi Arabia. In the words of Sen. Bob Corker, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s GOP chairman, Tillerson “demonstrated that he’s very much in the mainstream of foreign policy thinking.” But doing so forced the former Exxon Mobil CEO to break with a variety of the president-elect’s most iconoclastic statements on diplomacy and international security. Again and again, Tillerson hewed more closely to longstanding, bipartisan positions on America’s role in the world, and who are its friends and foes. LINK

Politico –  Who is James Mattis? – Retired Marine Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis had a military career spanning more than 40 years, including stints in Iraq and Afghanistan and as chief of U.S. Central Command. President-elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary pick, nicknamed for his blunt talking and salty language, was born in Pullman, Wash. He moved as a child to nearby Richland, an eastern Washington community built by the federal government for workers who produced plutonium for nuclear weapons, where his father worked as a power-plant operator. Mattis, now 66, joined the Marines through ROTC at Central Washington University, following in the footsteps of his parents, who were both war veterans. In his storied military career, he led a battalion during the first Gulf War, commanded the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade during the start of the Afghanistan War and led the 1st Marine Division during the initial offensive of the second Iraq War. LINK

WaPo – Obama’s farewell message on democracy: ‘Show up. Dive in. Stay at it.’ – Not long ago, President Obama had expected to use his farewell address to the nation to celebrate his administration’s achievements before handing them off to a Democratic successor. Instead, in the wake of Donald Trump’s stunning upset victory, a president whose political rise was propelled by his ability to inspire hope arrived in Chicago on Tuesday night facing a new reality. Tempering the disappointment of his supporters and soothing their anxiety has become, in his waning days in office, Obama’s last, unexpected campaign. “For every two steps forward,” Obama told the crowd at the McCormick Place arena, “it often feels we take one step back.” LINK

NYT – 6 Volkswagen Executives Charged as Company Pleads Guilty in Emissions Case – Federal prosecutors announced criminal charges on Wednesday against six Volkswagen executives for their roles in the company’s emissions-cheating scandal, a sharp turn by a departing administration that is trying to remake its image of being soft on corporate crime.The six executives include a former head of development of the Volkswagen brand and the head of engine development. One of those charged on Wednesday, Oliver Schmidt, was arrested in Florida last week; the other five are believed to be in Germany. Volkswagen also formally pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to violate the Clean Air Act, customs violations and obstruction of justice. Many of the 600,000 cars in the United States equipped with emissions-cheating software were imported from Germany or Mexico. The automaker is set to pay $4.3 billion in criminal and civil penalties in connection with the federal investigation, bringing the total cost of the deception to Volkswagen in the United States, including settlements of suits by car owners, to $20 billion — one of the costliest corporate scandals in history. LINK

NYT – Anguish, Rage and Mercy as Dylann Roof Is Sentenced to Death – In an extraordinary culmination to the federal death penalty trial of Dylann S. Roof, 35 family members and friends of his nine African-American victims confronted him directly at a sentencing hearing on Wednesday. Some forgave him with Christian grace. Others damned him to hell. But almost all proclaimed defiantly that his murderous church rampage had failed in its mission to sow division and racist hate.“The hate that you possess is beyond human comprehension,” Melvin Graham, a brother of one of the victims, Cynthia Hurd, told the young white supremacist seated across the courtroom. “You wanted people to kill each other. But instead of starting a race war, you started a love war.” At the close of the nearly five-hour hearing, Judge Richard M. Gergel of Federal District Court formally sentenced Mr. Roof, 22, to death, in accordance with the verdict that a jury quickly delivered on Tuesday. Although they were not required to do so, most of the jurors who heard the case attended Wednesday’s proceedings. “This trial has produced no winners, only losers,” Judge Gergel said. “The defendant will now pay for his crimes with his life. But the trial has not been a futile act because the jury, acting as the conscience of this community, has stated clearly and unequivocally that his hate, his viciousness, his depravity will not go unanswered.” LINK

WaPo – Taliban video purports to show American, Australian captives in tearful pleas to Trump – The Taliban released a video Wednesday purportedly showing two Western hostages, including an American, tearfully urging President-elect Donald Trump to negotiate with their captors to secure their release. American Kevin King and an Australian, Timothy Weeks, were abducted in August outside ­Kabul’s American University of Afghanistan, where the two worked as English professors. U.S. Special Operations forces almost immediately launched a raid to rescue them but did not find the hostages at the compound where they were thought to be held. The video emerged hours after the United Arab Emirates announced that five of its diplomats were killed Tuesday in blasts in Kandahar, underscoring the threats to foreigners working and living in Afghanistan.The 13-minute video could not be independently verified, but it was emailed to reporters by a Taliban spokesman and circulated by the group’s social-media accounts. Sitting in front of a light purple curtain, the two professors wept as they urged the U.S. government to agree to a prisoner exchange that would allow them to go free. The men appeared pale and were short of breath when speaking, and they often sobbed. LINK

AP – US troops enter Poland, 1st deployment to Russia’s doorstep – American soldiers are rolling into Poland, fulfilling a dream Poles have had since the fall of communism in 1989 to have U.S. troops on their soil as a deterrent against Russia. U.S. Army vehicles and soldiers in camouflage crossed into southwestern Poland on Thursday morning from Germany and were heading for Zagan, where they will be based. U.S. and other Western nations have carried out exercises on NATO’s eastern flank, but this U.S. deployment will be the first continuous deployment to the region by a NATO ally. Despite the celebrations, a cloud also hangs over the historic moment: anxieties that the enhanced security could eventually be undermined by the pro-Kremlin views of President-elect Donald Trump. Poland and the Baltic states are nervous about Russian assertiveness displayed in Ukraine and Syria. LINK