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Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Domino effect lands Andrew Toles in Dodgers" leadoff spot

10/13/16: Jansen, Kershaw power Dodgers to NLCS

LOS ANGELES >> Andrew Toles started the season in left field at Dodger Stadium instead of in Oklahoma City. He can probably thank Andre Ethiers herniated disc for that.

Toles also started the season batting leadoff for the Dodgers and he can probably thank Yasiel Puig for that.

The Dodgers main offseason acquisition, Logan Forsythe spent most of the Cactus League schedule batting leadoff. but dodgers manager dave roberts put Toles in the top spot of his first lineup this season, allowing him to move Forsythe to fifth.

We like Andrew in the batters box against right-handed pitchers, Roberts said of Toles, who stepped into the left-handed half of a left-field platoon when Ethier was sidelined by a back injury this spring. To get at-bats there with the speed element, the athletic ability there with Corey behind him.

And also the other component there is to have Logan somewhere in the middle to break it up. If you look at Adrian (Gonzalez) and Joc (Pederson) and Yasmani (Grandal), theres a lot of similarities with those guys (all three left-handed hitters). Its good to have a grinder type at-bat in there. It also sandwiches Adrian between two right-handed bats so I think strategically it helps us. It puts the onus on the opposing manager to make a decision. It makes our lineup pretty tough to navigate.

But Roberts acknowledged there would not have been the same need for Forsythe in the middle of the lineup if Puig hadnt had such a poor spring. The Dodgers right fielder hit .232 this spring and showed few signs of reversing the downward slide his offensive game has taken the past three seasons (leading to a month-long demotion to Triple-A last August).

I think thats fair, Roberts said of the domino effect Puigs poor spring had on his lineup construction. With Yasiel, were looking for him to be consistent and I think the at-bat quality needs to be consistent vs. left(-handed pitchers) and vs. right(-handed pitchers). I really didnt see that throughout the spring against right-handed pitching.

With Andrew against a right-handed pitcher, I like the at-bat quality and I like the same with Logan. I hope Yasiel makes it tough on me to hit him down. If he does that and he plays to what we all know he can and I know he expects that from himself then it could change the construction of the lineup.

With everyone in the Dodgers starting lineup getting a hit and scoring at least once in Mondays 14-3 win, Toles was 2 for 5 with a run scored and Puig was on base three times (two walks and a double).

Roberts was supportive of Puig throughout most of the spring, dismissing the idea of a platoon in right field and praising Puig as an elite defender. But Puig spent time during the final week in Arizona doing extra work on his hitting (so much so one day that he was scratched from the lineup for the Cactus League game) and getting at-bats in minor-league camp games. Roberts tone began to change when asked about Puig.

Right now, I dont see him in the middle of the lineup, Roberts said when he dropped Puig to eighth in the order for the games in Anaheim. That can change with production but right now I dont see him in the middle of the order.

Puigs on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS have all dropped each of the past three seasons.

Big bucks

For the fourth consecutive season, the Dodgers opened the season with the highest payroll in baseball but that payroll is going down.

Depending on which formula is used (and how signing bonuses are spread out), the Dodgers season-opening payroll was between $225 million and $235 million (including approximately $50 million owed to players released or currently playing for other teams).

That represents the Dodgers lowest season-opening payroll since 2013.

Baezs road back

Reliever Pedro Baez opened the season on the disabled list because of a bone bruise in his right hand suffered early in spring training. He is currently in extended spring training but will be joining Triple-A Oklahoma City later this week after the OKC Dodgers open their season on Thursday.

Baez is expected to rehab with OKC and then join the Dodgers next week when he is eligible to come off the 10-day DL. The Dodgers are currently carrying two starting pitchers as long relievers (left-hander Alex Wood and right-hander Ross Stripling) but will likely reset their bullpen after the weekend series in Colorado.

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20170403/domino-effect-lands-andrew-toles-in-dodgers-leadoff-spot

Watch: This film on H1B visas starring Chatur from 3 Idiots is causing ...

programmers and coders are not eligible for H1B visas henceforth: Trump Administration | INS TV 2017

Moneycontrol News

From The Namesake to Outsourced, films and sitcoms about immigrant Indians in the US are not a new phenomenon. But a new film on the theme is causing a stir with its subject matter.

Starring Ali Fazal (Fukrey) and Omi Vaidya (3 Idiots), For Here Or To Go? highlights the struggles by Indian immigrants who live in the US on the H1B temporary work visa and reflects on how ambition is affected by immigration status. It claims to be inspired by true immigrant stories.

The protagonist of the comedy-drama is Vivek Pandit (Ali Fazal), a young techie set to become a top hire at a healthcare startup. However, everything falls apart when the company realises that he has less than a year remaining on his work visa.

As he tries all means possible to get his visa extended, he encounters fellow immigrants who are considered temporary workers.

The film comes at a time when the US government has strongly hinted at implementing strict visa curbs to crack down on foreign workers, as the new regime pivots towards an "America First" policy. A bill was introduced in the US House of Representatives proposing to double the minimum wage limit for highly skilled workers from abroad.

Indian IT workers would be the worst affected by this reform and tech companies are now making efforts to step up their local hiring in light of the uncertainty. But White House spokesperson Sean Spicer said recentlythat the US may take longer than expected to tighten the laws as it undertakes a "comprehensive" review of the policy.

The film was directed by Rucha Humnabadkar and is written by Rishi Bhilawadikar, an IIT graduate who experienced the H1B uncertainty first-hand and currently works in San Francisco as an interaction designer.

While it has received moderate reviews from the mainstream media, the film has ruffled the feathers of American right-wingers.

The movies basic message is that foreigners are entitled to live in the US if they want to do so, regardless of American law or Americans wishes, reads an article on Breitbart News headlined "Cheap-Labor Lobby Funds New H-1B Song-and-Dance Movie".

The H1B visas are meant for highly-skilled foreign workers, but the articlesays the movie offers a very flattering image of the almost 1 million H-1B middle-skill contract-workers holding white-collar jobs throughout the United States.

Until recently, Breibart News was headed by President Donald Trumps Chief Strategist Steve Bannon.

The movie was released just four days before the US starts issuing H1B visas from April 3. In all, 85,000 h1b visas are up for grabs in this financial year. More than 2.36 lakh petitions were submitted last year and the recipients will be decided by lottery.

Source: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/watch-this-film-on-h1b-visas-starring-chatur-from-3-idiots-is-causing-a-stir-2251753.html

Mike Cernovich Beats Everyone To Rice Scoop | The Daily Caller

WIKILEAKS BREAKING NEWS: SUSAN RICE UNMASKED TRUMP TEAM. Obama Spied On Trump, Allies, Journalists

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Mike Cernovich, a journalist who has promoted conspiracy theories and was deemed fake news by 60 Minutes, was the first to break the news that Obamas former national security advisor Susan Rice made requests to unmask the identities of Trump associates.

Cernovich said in his reportSunday that New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman knew about the rice requests, and has chosen to sit on it in an effort to protect the reputation of former President Barack Obama. A New York Times spokeswoman told The Daily Caller, Cernovichs claim regarding Maggie Haberman is 100 percent false.

Bloombergs Eli Lake confirmed Cernovichs report Monday, but did not include any details about Haberman sitting on the story. Cernovich told TheDC in an interview that Lake also sat on the story over the weekend. Lake did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Bloomberg story didnt give Cernovich any credit for his scoop and he said he wasnt upset as he has more influence than Bloomberg.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway also tweeted out a transcript Monday of Cernovichs recent interview on 60 minutes, in which he battled Scott Pelley.

Pelley confronted Cernovich about a story that said Hillary Clinton had Parkinsons disease. Cernovich stood by the report and Pelley said, It isnt true. Cernovich asked, How do you know?

Pelley replied, Well, the campaign told us that.

Cernovich told TheDC that a lot of things other people consider fake, perhaps they need to reexamine what they think about the world. He said that Maggie Haberman works for the Democratic National Committee, and that people want to see a check on media excesses, right now few people are keeping the fake news media like The New York Times accountable.

Source: http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/03/trump-supporter-called-fake-news-by-60-minutes-beats-everyone-to-susan-rice-scoop/

Ted Kennedy Killed the Judicial Filibuster

Schumer: Democrats WILL Filibuster Neil Gorsuch

Every news outlet in America is reporting that the Democrats have secured enough votes to filibuster Judge Gorsuch. At the same time, it is equally universally understood that the GOP is almost certainly planning to invoke the so-called nuclear option to confirm him through majority vote. No doubt the next several days will be dominated by thinkpieces wondering What This Means and pondering How We Got Here, but let me make a modest suggestion. This is Ted Kennedys fault.

I was eighteen years old when he delivered his infamous summary of Robert Borks America:

Robert Borks America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists would be censored at the whim of government, and the doors of the federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is often the only protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy.

This wasnt a legal critique, it wascharacter assassination, and it was character assassination that worked. One of the most thoughtful and qualified judges ever nominated for the Supreme Court was defeated as part of a pure political power play, one justified through slanderous and scandalous rhetoric.

Senate traditions like the filibuster are maintained not just throughinertia but also by good faith. While the system can tolerate the occasional exploitation, it cant tolerate systematic exploitation, and Borking help transform the advise and consent process from a safeguard against unqualified nominees to an exercise in pure power politics. For almost 30 years, that transformation benefited Democrats exclusively. They consistently obtained the Supreme Court judges they wanted, while Republicans were often forced to nominate less well-known juristsin an effort to find someone who would embody conservative judicial values while still securing sufficient votes for confirmation. Democratsbatted a thousand with their nominees.The GOP struck out more than once.

This one-sided political war ended in 2016 when Senator McConnell decided to behave exactly as he knew the Democrats would and blocked Merrick Garland while he waited on the results of the 2016 election. The Democrats howled, but no honest person in DC thought that if the roles were reversed Harry Reid would have allowed a vote on, say, a replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The war continues in 2017. The Democrats are on the verge of a filibuster justified by incandescently idiotic arguments. The Republicans will almost certainly respond with yet another power move. A Senate tradition likely dies this week. I wonder if Ted Kennedy would be proud of this part of his legacy? Time will tell, I suppose.

Source: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/446377/ted-kennedy-killed-judicial-filibuster

Susan Rice requested to unmask names of Trump transition officials, sources say

Spicer Comments on Susan Rice Unmasking Controversy

Multiple sources tell Fox News that Susan Rice, former national security adviser under then-President Barack Obama, requested to unmask the names of Trump transition officials caught up in surveillance.

The unmasked names, of people associated with Donald Trump, were then sent to all those at the National Security Council, some at the Defense Department, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and then-CIA Director John Brennan essentially, the officials at the top, including former Rice deputy Ben Rhodes.

The names were part of incidental electronic surveillance of candidate and President-elect Trump and people close to him, including family members, for up to a year before he took office.

It was not clear how Rice knew to ask for the names to be unmasked, but the question was being posed by the sources late Monday.

"What I know is this ... If the intelligence community professionals decide that theres some value, national security, foreign policy or otherwise in unmasking someone, they will grant those requests," former Obama State Department spokeswoman and Fox News contributor Marie Harf told Fox News" Martha MacCallum on "The First 100 Days. "And we have seen no evidence ... that there was partisan political notice behind this and we cant say that unless theres actual evidence to back that up."

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, asked about the revelations at Mondays briefing, declined to comment specifically on what role rice may have played or officials motives.

Im not going to comment on this any further until [congressional] committees have come to a conclusion, he said, while contrasting the medias alleged lack of interest in these revelations with the intense coverage of suspected Trump-Russia links.

When names of Americans are incidentally collected, they are supposed to be masked, meaning the name or names are redacted from reports whether it is international or domestic collection, unless it is an issue of national security, crime or if their security is threatened in any way. There are loopholes and ways to unmask through backchannels, but Americans are supposed to be protected from incidental collection. Sources told Fox News that in this case, they were not.

This comes in the wake of Evelyn Farkas television interview last month in which the former Obama deputy secretary of defense said in part: I was urging my former colleagues and, frankly speaking, the people on the Hill it was more actually aimed at telling the Hill people, get as much information as you can, get as much intelligence as you can, before President Obama leaves the administration.

Meanwhile, Fox News also is told that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes knew about unmasking and leaking back in January, well before President Trumps tweet in March alleging wiretapping.

Nunes has faced criticism from Democrats for viewing pertinent documents on White House grounds and announcing their contents to the press. But sources said the intelligence agencies slow-rolled Nunes. He could have seen the logs at other places besides the White House SCIF [secure facility], but it had already been a few weeks. So he went to the White House because he could protect his sources and he could get to the logs.

As the Obama administration left office, it also approved new rules that gave the NSA much broader powers by relaxing the rules about sharing intercepted personal communications and the ability to share those with 16 other intelligence agencies.

Rice is no stranger to controversy. As the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, she appeared on several Sunday news shows to defend the adminstration"s later debunked claim that the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks on a U.S. consulate in Libya was triggered by an Internet video.

Rice also told ABC News in 2014 that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl "served the United States with honor and distinction" and that he "wasn"t simply a hostage; he was an American prisoner of war captured on the battlefield."

Bergdahl is currently facing court-martialon charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy for allegedly walking off his post in Afghanistan.

Adam Housley joined Fox News Channel (FNC) in 2001 and currently serves as a Los Angeles-based senior correspondent.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/04/03/susan-rice-requested-to-unmask-names-trump-transition-officials-sources-say.html

Monday, April 3, 2017

FLASHBACK: Susan Rice Said in March "I Know Nothing" About Unmasking of Trump Officials

Susan Rice Unmasked Trump Transition Team, NY Times Sat On Story | Mike Cernovich Periscope

BY: Alex GriswoldFollow@HashtagGriswoldApril 3, 2017 2:29 pm

Susan Rice, former President Barack Obama"s national security adviser, reportedly requested on several occasions the identities of "masked" U.S. persons in intelligence reports linked to President Trump"s transition and campaign.

White House lawyers discovered Rice"s dozens of requests last month during a National Security Council review of the "government"s policy on unmasking" the identities of individuals in the U.S. who are not targets of electronic eavesdropping, but whose communications are collected incidentally," Bloomberg"s Eli Lake reported Monday, citing U.S. officials.

But Rice, who Newsweek once called Obama"s "right-hand woman," denied having any knowledge of the intelligence community"s reported incidental surveillance of Trump"s transition team during a PBS interview last month.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R., Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee,charged in Marchhe had seen evidence that some of the Trump transition team"s communications with foreign actors weresurveilled by the Obama administration.

"What I"ve read seems to be some level of surveillance activity, perhaps legal, but I don"t know that it"s right and I don"t know if the American people would be comfortable with what I"ve read," Nunes said.

Judy Woodruff asked Rice about Nunes" claims on "PBS NewsHour" on March 22.

"I know nothing about this," rice responded at the time. "I was surprised to see reports from Chairman Nunes on that count today."

"So, today, I really don"t know to what Chairman Nunes was referring, but he said that whatever he was referring to was a legal, lawful surveillance, and that it was potentially incidental collection on American citizens," added Rice, who went on to criticize Trump for his accusation that Obama wiretapped him during the presidential campaign.

Lake"s reportingon Monday appears to contradict Rice"s answer last month.

Lake"s sources told him that Rice wanted to"unmask" the names of the Trump team members in the intelligence reports, who otherwise would show up with generic titles like "U.S. Person One." "Unmasking" is not illegal when tied to a legitimate investigation, but civil liberty advocates worry the practice allows for backdoor surveillance of U.S. citizens.

"One U.S. official familiar with the reports said they contained valuable political information on the Trump transition such as whom the Trump team was meeting, the views of Trump associates on foreign policy matters, and plans for the incoming administration," Lake reports.

The House Intelligence Committee is expected to soon receive top-secret documents that investigators believewill show whether private communications of Trumpand his transition team were improperly gathered.

Source: http://freebeacon.com/national-security/flashback-susan-rice-said-i-know-nothing-unmasking-trump-officials/

WrestleMania 33: Randy Orton on his epic feud with Bray Wyatt

Randy Orton achieves his master plan at WrestleMania: WrestleMania 4K Exclusive, April 2, 2017
WrestleMania 33: Randy Orton on his epic feud with Bray Wyatt - CBSSports.com

hear what randy orton had to say to Brian Campbell as he prepares to take on Bray Wyatt (c) in the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 33.

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Source: http://www.cbssports.com/wwe/video/wrestlemania-33-randy-orton-on-his-epic-feud-with-bray-wyatt/