ANALYSIS/OPINION:

 ANALYSIS/OPINION:

 “I am sending this Congress a plan that you should pass right away. It’s called the American Jobs Act. There should be nothing controversial about this piece of legislation. Everything in here is the kind of proposal that’s been supported by both Democrats and Republicans — including many who sit here tonight. And everything in this bill will be paid for. Everything. (Applause.)”

 That’s what President Obama told lawmakers Sept. 8 in a hastily called joint session of Congress. But it was — and is — a flat-out lie, and Mr. Obama knows it.

 He has since then traveled the country to pitch the plan, exclusively to partisan Democratic crowds that whoop and cheer at the brilliance of it all. He even got wealthy donors to chant “pass this bill!” even though it substantially raises taxes.

 Now, however, we are beginning to see the truth behind the fiction. Not only is the president’s job bill not “the kind of proposal that’s been supported by both Democrats and Republicans,” it’s not even the kind of proposal that Democrats can currently support.

 On Monday, senators passed a bill to keep the government open into the next fiscal year and then headed out on vacation for the rest of the week. Majority Leader Harry Reid said when they return they’ll get back to work — not on the jobs bill, but on a measure to punish China over its currency valuation. Mr. Reid said that bill is a bigger priority right now.

 There’s a story making the rounds in Washington that explains Mr. Reid’s dyspeptic countenance. On a secret meeting at the White House after the debt-ceiling deal collapsed (mainly because Mr. Obama doubled the amount of taxes he wanted), the president sat with the top Republican and Democrat from both the House and Senate. They offered a deal, one that all four agreed on and that all four vowed could get through the two chambers.

 Mr. Obama nixed it. In one version of the story, a peeved Mr. Reid said, “I’m not going to do anything for that [expletive] again.”

 By the end of the week, Democrats were in open revolt. Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, asked whether his party had the votes to pass the president’s bill, said flatly: “Not at the moment, I don’t think we do, but, uh, we can work on it.” He added: “We’re not going to have 100 percent of Democratic senators [support the bill], that’s why it needs to be bipartisan.”

 The reason is simple: Democrats in the House and Senate stand for re-election in just 13 months, and their campaigns will be difficult enough without raising taxes just before voters go to the polls. Said a blunt Mr. Durbin: “There are some senators who are up for election who say ‘I’m never gonna vote for a tax increase while I’m up for election, even on the wealthiest people.’”

 Makes sense. It’s a hard sell for lawmakers if they pass the bill, which would raise taxes by $467 billion on wealthier Americans and corporations.

 And Mr. Obama knew that when he delivered his big speech last month. His strategy is clear (if simple-minded): blame Congress for the mess America’s in. But in so doing, he has caught up his fellow Democrats who, pressed to the wall, are fully prepared to bail on him and save their own skins. They want no part of the amateurish strategy to try to blame Congress, half-controlled by Democrats.

 In fact, even some of the most rabidly liberal Democrats are planning to abandon the president because they see he’s only interested in saving his job, not theirs. More, Mr. Obama is throwing his former Senate colleagues under the bus as he scrambles to win another term.

 So, this jobs bill is dead. And no matter how many times Mr. Obama repeats the lie that his “is the kind of proposal that’s been supported by both Democrats and Republicans,” it will be House Republicans who write a bill that can actually pass the Senate.

 • Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times. He can be reached at [email protected]

 Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission. ||||| The president’s friends (and foes) on what prompted his lurch to the left—and whether it will work. Plus, Michael Tomasky on Obama's new centrist battle plan .

 Editor's Note: An earlier version of the story included a comment erroneously attributed to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, criticizing the White House’s efforts at political messaging. Newsweek and The Daily Beast regret the error.

 The populist reincarnation of President Obama since Labor Day—with his stinging attacks on tax-coddled millionaires, corporate-jet owners, and oil companies—emerged from a moment of reflection during a summer of discontent.

 For months after the Democrats’ “shellacking” last November, Obama resisted bashing corporate America and the GOP as he had done so effectively as the “hope and change” orator in 2008 and as a young president who pushed through Congress an $800 billion stimulus, a universal-health-care law, and sweeping Wall Street reform.

 But by the end of June, with the nation teetering near the brink of default and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor walking away from negotiations over a debt deal, the president summoned his top aides for a frank assessment of how to get back on track.

 Senior adviser David Plouffe told Obama it was time to “draw some lines in the sand” by launching an aggressive assault on tax breaks for corporate high fliers and hedge-fund managers.

 The president was energized, saying such loopholes were “indefensible” while spending was being slashed and that “this is a public argument we can and should win.” He tested the message with reporters soon afterward.

 President Obama holds his American Jobs Act as he speaks in Denver on September 27, 2011. (Mandel Ngan / AFP-Getty Images)

 Thus began a full-throated return to Obama’s populism, which had been muffled by frustrating attempts at bipartisanship and a stop-and-start effort with Republicans and the business community that one adviser says had become a “road wreck.”

 At a meeting with his staff to draw up a new jobs bill, Obama warned against playing small ball. “I do not want the first filter to be whether it can get the support of House Republicans,” he told his staff.

 Obama’s revised strategy came into full focus in a fiery speech last month in which he laid out a $450 billion plan clearly aimed at generating middle-class jobs while targeting millionaires and big business for tax hikes.

 That strategy may do little to break the political paralysis gripping Washington or solve the riddle of joblessness, but it has returned the president to a message and style that fits more comfortably than his long, and often awkward, courtship of corporate America and its Republican allies in Congress.

 At first Obama interpreted the midterm election losses as a call from voters to engage the business world and compromise with Republicans. The election results made clear that voters—especially independents—were angry with Obama for failing to deliver the jobs he had promised. The administration responded by looking for new ways to stimulate demand and ease regulatory burdens that business executives claim are keeping them from reinvesting stockpiles of cash and hiring more workers.

 Obama met privately with CEOs at Blair House—across the street from the White House—in December 2010. He was told bluntly but politely that big business wanted fewer regulations, new tax incentives, and the resurrection of long-delayed trade agreements.

 Obama soon trekked across the street again to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to make amends with a pro-business lobby that had been the object of many Democratic attacks. “Maybe we would have gotten off on a better foot if I had brought over a fruitcake when we first moved in,” Obama quipped.

 By February, the president was reaching out to Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurs in a private dinner that reaffirmed the disconnect between Obama’s approach and what business titans believed was necessary for a lasting recovery.

 At a white-clothed table in the California dining room of venture capitalist John Doerr, Obama dined with a dozen gurus from Silicon Valley’s hottest companies. Flanked by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg on his right and Apple’s Steve Jobs on his left, Obama was among friendly faces—Oracle’s Larry Ellison across from him, along with the chieftains of Google, Yahoo, Netflix, and Cisco—eager to offer advice on solving the maddening riddle of joblessness and economic decline.

 The guests urged Obama to offer major companies that have kept overseas profits offshore a one-time tax holiday to repatriate their earnings and pay a rate well below the normal 35 percent corporate tax. The payoff, the executives argued, would come in reinvestment in capital projects, R&D, and new hiring, as well as new distributions to stockholders and investors—essentially a stimulus of private money that also would fill the U.S. Treasury with elusive tax dollars. (The firms represented in the room held more than $100 billion offshore, with Apple alone sitting on $47.6 billion.)

 The president politely listened, then edged toward an objection.

 “He starts to say, ‘Here are a few of the concerns I’ve heard. It didn’t create many jobs last time,’?” says one person familiar with the event, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because the event was closed to the press. (Congress and the Bush administration tried a similar tax incentive in 2005.) “It wasn’t a hard sell and it wasn’t a pushback. It was a gentle discussion of each side’s talking points.”

 The tone was far different from Obama’s more bombastic approach toward business in 2009. “The one time I saw him visibly angry, it was over the bank bonuses during all the bailouts,” says former White House economist Jared Bernstein. “It really rankled him.”

 Bringing on former JPMorgan Chase executive Bill Daley as chief of staff last January didn’t hurt his relations with business. But one challenge remained: Obama’s Chicago confidant Valerie Jarrett had been acting as a liaison to the business community from the beginning—with few positive results. “She tells us whatever she thinks you want to hear and then there is no follow-up,” claims one business executive with frequent contact with Jarrett. “There is lots of happy talk ... but then nothing comes of it.”

 AOL founder Steve Case counters that Jarrett has been “very responsive” to executives, often emailing back within minutes, but concedes progress has been slow. “The first two years the business community felt the White House team didn’t really engage in business and not enough people on the team had the kind of experience we really needed. We thought they were tone deaf,” he says.

 Even some of Obama’s staunchest supporters acknowledge a perceived gap between promise and performance. They see a president who underestimated the challenge of the economic recovery and whose background as a law professor lacking real-life business experience left him unprepared to improvise on policy in a productive way.

 Jason Reed, Reuters / Landov

 Also in Newsweek The Search for Bold Leadership

 It fell to top environmental adviser Carol Browner, for instance, to tell the president-elect early on why he couldn’t spend much more than $3 billion building a high-tech electrical grid. Browner knew all the obstacles, that local laws would have to be circumvented and permits obtained. You can’t just build power wires where you want, she explained to a frustrated Obama.

 Andy Stern, who as the longtime head of the powerful SEIU union in 2008 relentlessly fought for Obama’s candidacy, sees a president who until recently tried to solve economic problems with abstract ideas rather than pragmatic solutions.

 “The administration has suffered from the large macroeconomic theories of Larry Summers and Tim Geithner that look more at formula and financing than day-to-day job creation,” says Stern, an advocate of the repatriation holiday. “They thought they had done what they needed to do, and they were wrong.”

 Democrats in Congress add to the indictment, charging that the president failed to sell his successes more aggressively, letting the opposition define them.

 In response to such criticism, former White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee says the president is contending with adversaries who are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to ensure his failure. “Some of his opponents didn’t seem to care whether what they were advocating seemed to do grievous harm to the economy if they could get some political win out of it,” Goolsbee says.

 Other defenders note that Obama inherited a financial disaster after the Wall Street meltdown. “A lot of things were done right, and we avoided an economic calamity,” says Peter Orszag, Obama’s former budget director. “One of the mistakes was to put much too little weight on the hard slog that typically follows financial slumps.”

 But officials concede the administration’s frequent mantra—things could’ve been worse—isn’t exactly bumper-sticker material. “When people see really dark clouds, no matter how good a line in a speech is, you’re not going to convince them the sky is blue,” Plouffe says.

 Press Secretary Jay Carney also downplays the importance of spin, saying that the president wields “the biggest megaphone there is in politics, but it doesn’t have the reach it once had” in a media world flooded with information and quickly consumed by the next crisis.

 White House officials insist Obama’s agenda hasn’t changed. But he is done playing nice with the Republicans as he rallies the troops for 2012. Plouffe contends the corporate community backs Obama on some issues, and “there are a lot of business leaders who are Republicans who don’t identify with this brand of Tea Party Republicanism.”

 Campaign adviser David Axelrod says Republicans have done “diabolically well” at creating “a dysfunctional political system” and blaming it on Obama. Still, the return to a harder line against big business and the wealthy could have repercussions as Democrats try to raise the money they need to win next year.

 Washington sports-team owner Ted Leonsis, an Obama donor in 2008, says he now cringes at the latest “class warfare” language: “Someone needs to talk our president down off of this rhetoric about good vs. evil,” he says.

 The larger question is whether the fired-up president can persuade a country that is losing patience with him and ease the only number that may matter on Election Day: 14 million unemployed. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Is President Obama facing a revolt from his Democratic generals? Nancy Pelosi certainly doesn’t seem happy. She offered a surprisingly blunt critique of the president and his team recently, buried within this Howard Kurtz Newsweek piece on Obama’s newfound populist punch. “I think you need to talk about how poorly they do on message,” Pelosi grouses. “They can’t see around corners; they anticipate nothing." Rumor has it that Harry Reid isn’t happy, either. Take this one with a grain of salt, but conservative Washington Times columnist Joseph Curl writes today that there’s a “story making the rounds in Washington” that Reid and Obama have been on the outs ever since Obama, in a secret meeting, nixed a debt ceiling deal that both the House and Senate thought could pass. “I’m not going to do anything for that [expletive] again,” Reid is rumored to have declared afterward. Curl does not cite any sources.


Article:

CLOSE While 'American Sniper' has been a hit with audiences, its subject matter is causing controversy among some in Hollywood for its perceived pro-war message. VPC

 Seth Rogen (Photo: Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images)

 Clint Eastwood's American Sniper is continuing to make waves across Hollywood.

 While the film has been a hit with audiences — with a record-setting debut at the box office, and A-plus CinemaScore rating — its subject matter is causing controversy among some in Hollywood for its perceived pro-war message.

 Seth Rogen, whose latest film caused its fair share of controversy, tweeted about Sniper:

 American Sniper kind of reminds me of the movie that's showing in the third act of Inglorious Basterds. — Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) January 18, 2015

 Rogen is referring to the fake film that showed up in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, about a German sniper killing Allied soldiers from a clock tower, essentially comparing Eastwood's film to Nazi propaganda.

 Later, Rogen clarified his tweet.

 I just said something "kinda reminded" me of something else. I actually liked American Sniper. It just reminded me of the Tarantino scene. — Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) January 19, 2015

 Director Michael Moore, who famously criticized the Iraq War in his 2003 Oscar acceptance speech, also took to Twitter to express his views, calling snipers "cowards".

 My uncle killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren't heroes. And invaders r worse — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 18, 2015

 But if you're on the roof of your home defending it from invaders who've come 7K miles, you are not a sniper, u are brave, u are a neighbor. — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 19, 2015

 Director Michael Moore, shown in 2010. (Photo: Charles Eshelman, FilmMagic)

 Although on Monday he claimed his tweets weren't in reference to the film, saying that he never tweeted one word about the film or Chris Kyle specifically. Moore then linked to a lengthy Facebook post where he explained why he was tweeting about snipers in the first place, and criticized the media for drawing connection to the Clint Eastwood movie:

 Lots of talk about snipers this weekend (the holiday weekend of a great man, killed by a sniper), so I thought I'd weigh in with what I was raised to believe about snipers. ... But Deadline Hollwood and the Hollywood Reporter turned that into stories about how I don't like Clint Eastwood's new film, "American Sniper." I didn't say a word about "American Sniper" in my tweets.

 He then went on to say quite a few words about the film:

 So here's what I think about "American Sniper": Awesome performance from Bradley Cooper. One of the best of the year. Great editing. Costumes, hair, makeup superb! Oh... and too bad Clint (Eastwood) gets Vietnam and Iraq confused in his storytelling. And that he has his characters calling Iraqis "savages" throughout the film. But there is also anti-war sentiment expressed in the movie. And there's a touching ending as the main character is remembered after being gunned down by a fellow American vet with PTSD who was given a gun at a gun range back home in Texas -- and then used it to kill the man who called himself the 'America Sniper'.

 Soon after his first tweets were sent, Moore' did attract ire from big names, including Newt Gingrich and Rob Lowe:

 Michael Moore should spend a few weeks with ISIS and Boko Haram. Then he might appreciate@AmericanSniper. I am proud of our defenders. — Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) January 19, 2015

 Sniper is based on the best-selling book of the same name by Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the most lethal sharpshooter in history. The film nabbed six Oscar nominations last week, including best picture and best actor for Bradley Cooper.

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1BttYRv ||||| While audiences across America united to give "American Sniper" the biggest ever opening weekend for a movie in January, the Clint Eastwood film has some in Hollywood at odds.

 The war drama, which grossed over $100 million over the weekend and received six Oscar nominations, is based on the life of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle who served four tours in Iraq and was called the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history.

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 While Kyle's actions earned him multiple commendations of valor for his service in the military, one Hollywood documentary-maker was not impressed.

 "My uncle killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren't heroes. And invaders r worse," "Farenheit 9/11" creator Michael Moore tweeted Sunday.

 Actor Rob Lowe fired back at Moore's comments.

 Moore later took to social media to walk back his original post, arguing his tweets were not about Chris Kyle or "American Sniper," but instead only about his uncle's death.

 Hmm. I never tweeted 1word bout AmericanSniper/ChrisKyle. I said my uncle killed by sniper in WWII; only cowards would do that 2 him, others — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 19, 2015

 But Moore wasn't the only Hollywood type who seemed to snub the film. "The Interview" star Seth Rogen also took to Twitter to criticize "Sniper" for what he seemed to characterize as a pro-war stance. He compared the Bradley Cooper-starring movie to a scene in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" where a German sniper "heroically" killed more than 200 Allied soldiers.

 American Sniper kind of reminds me of the movie that's showing in the third act of Inglorious Basterds. — Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) January 18, 2015

 Eastwood's film also got support from what may seem an odd source, the Oscar-winning actress Jane Fonda, whose appeararonce in Western Maryland Friday drew protests from veterans for her Vietnam visit in the 1970s. Fonda tweeted her support for the movie.

 Just saw "American Sniper" Powerful. Another view of "Coming Home." Bradley Cooper sensational. Bravo Clint Eastwood. http://t.co/l94zY5Gh8Q — Jane Seymour Fonda (@Janefonda) December 21, 2014

 "American Sniper" star Bradley Cooper told FOX News "it became quite a responsibility to tell the story" after Kyle was killed last year at a shooting range in Texas. He also said he hopes the film will provide insight into the lives of soldiers and their families.

 "It was a keyhole into that life," Cooper said. "One thing that we were able to do was explore this man's life and this woman's life and their children and their family and in doing so hopefully get just a nugget, a kernel of truth, that people who actually have gone through it and are going through it can relate to it and not feel alone."

 Warner Bros., who distributed the movie, had no comment on the matter.

 WATCH: Academy Award nomination snubs and surprises ||||| Add a location to your Tweets

 When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more ||||| Add a location to your Tweets

 When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more ||||| Moore tweeted Sunday that his uncle was killed by a sniper.

 Michael Moore has taken to Twitter to share his thoughts on snipers.

 The Fahrenheit 9/11 director wrote that he grew up being told that snipers are cowardly. "My uncle killed by sniper in WW2," Moore wrote. "We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot you in the back."

 "Snipers aren't heroes," he continued. "And invaders are worse."

 Moore spoke directly about director Clint Eastwood's film American Sniper on his Facebook page. He praised the film for star Bradley Cooper's performance and for its antiwar sentiment, but he also wrote: "Too bad Clint gets Vietnam and Iraq confused in his storytelling. And that he has his characters calling Iraqis 'savages' throughout the film."

 His comments come on the same weekend that the film earned $105.2 million over four days, marking the biggest opening haul ever for a nontentpole film. It landed six Oscar nominations Thursday, including best picture and best actor for Cooper.

 American Sniper centers on real-life Iraq War soldier Chris Kyle, who tried to balance his career as the most prolific U.S. sniper with his family life.

 Moore's tweets can be seen below.

 My uncle killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren't heroes. And invaders r worse — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 18, 2015

 But if you're on the roof of your home defending it from invaders who've come 7K miles, you are not a sniper, u are brave, u are a neighbor. — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 19, 2015

 Jan. 18, 6:20 p.m. Updated to clarify that Moore had not mentioned American Sniper in his tweets. THR regrets the error.

 Email: Ryan.Gajewski@pgmedia.org

 Twitter: @_RyanGajewski |||||
What is a summary?

– American Sniper didn't just set a box-office record this weekend. It also triggered debate among Hollywood honchos apparently offended by the flick—who then said they really weren't, USA Today reports. Seth Rogen, for one, tweeted yesterday that the film "kind of reminds me of the movie that's showing in the third act of Inglorious Basterds," a reference to Nazi propaganda of a German sniper shooting Allied soldiers. But Rogen today tweeted, "I just said something 'kinda reminded' me of something else. I actually liked American Sniper." Enter Michael Moore, who posted: "My uncle killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren't heroes. And invaders r worse" That inspired tweets from Newt Gingrich ("Michael Moore should spend a few weeks with ISIS and Boko Haram") and Rob Lowe ("He's kidding, right?"). So Moore wrote a Facebook post in which he blamed Deadline Hollywood and the Hollywood Reporter for making it seem like "I don't like" the film. He goes on to laud Bradley Cooper, the costumes, hair, makeup, and editing, but adds: "Oh... and too bad Clint [Eastwood] gets Vietnam and Iraq confused in his storytelling. And that he has his characters calling Iraqis 'savages' throughout the film." Fox News reports on an "odd source" of American Sniper support—Jane Fonda—who tweets: "Powerful. Another view of 'Coming Home.' Bradley Cooper sensational. Bravo Clint Eastwood." (See how many calories Cooper ate per day to play the part of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle.)


President Obama as he walks with China’s President Xi Jinping on Tuesday. This clip has been slowed down. (Source: AP)

 In June, President Obama’s physician dispatched the results of his third physical examination of the commander in chief. The doctor noted Obama was in “excellent” health except for one minor problem: his history of smoking. But Obama, the report found, was now “tobacco free,” buoyed by the “occasional use” of “Nicotine Gum.”

 It’s difficult to find a larger advocate of gum-chewing than the president. Obama chews gum while ensconced in Air Force One watching football. He chews gum while in the throes of a campaign. He chews gum when presiding over World War II commemorations. And to the horror of conservatives, he chewed gum this week at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Beijing. Amid the gallantry of Vladimir Putin and the accusations of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, there was Obama, chewing away.

 President Obama arrived in Burma, the country which the junta renamed Myanmar, on Wednesday but is still being chewed out in China for chomping on Nicorette gum during APEC summit ceremonies in Beijing. (Reuters)

 It’s kind of his thing. And regardless of the criticism facing Obama over the habit, he’s obviously hooked.

 For Obama, gum isn’t about vanity. His aides described his quest to kick cigarettes as a “lifelong struggle.” “I was one of these teenagers” who smoked, he said in 2009. “And so I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it’s been with you for a long time.” And even as late as mid-2010, his medical team reported he was still smoking. Navy Capt. Jeffrey Kuhlman, the White House physician, recommended Obama stick with “smoking cessation efforts,” such as “the use of nicotine gum.”

 In 2010, Obama chewed gum en route to Gulfport, Miss., for a tour of areas of the Gulf Coast affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

 Of course, not everyone is sympathetic — certainly not the French. “One thing: OBAMA was chewing gum almost uninterrupted,” one Twitter user bleated after Obama was caught chewing gum at a World War II ceremony. “How disrespectful!” Another added, “And #Obama welcomed the Queen with chewing gum in his mouth… #shocking #boor.”

 The Chinese, too, weren’t so keen on the president’s jaw workouts. “This is the American manner and humor, but in traditional Chinese culture, it is immature and not serious behavior!” the Wall Street Journal quoted one blogger saying. Another said it spoke to something bigger: “No wonder he doesn’t get any support.”

 Republicans seized on the gum-chewing as another example of Obama’s fecklessness. On Fox News, columnist Charles Krauthammer was particularly unforgiving, castigating Obama for chewing gum at this pivotal moment in history: “My mother used to say, ‘Don’t chew gum.’ And that was just in class. Look, the Chinese of all people have been extremely sensitive to the rituals, the decorum, the subtleties, the deference of diplomacy. This goes back 3,000 years! In China, chewing gum is a sign of disrespect.”

 There is cause to dispute that assertion, given the wild popularity and eclectic nature of gum in China. (Taijixing Double-Deck Lunch Box Chewing Gum, anyone?) The economic gods have been kind to gum in the Middle Kingdom, where industry behemoth Wrigley controls 45 percent of the gum market. In 2005, the Asia Times even ran a graphic of Mao Zedong blowing a giant bubble above a Tiananmen Square covered in gum. Today, gum in China enjoys “dynamic growth,” the Wall Street journal found earlier this year.

 Obama at the East Asia Summit plenary session in Bali on Nov. 19, 2011. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

 If the East chews this much gum, China and the president have found more common ground than just controlling greenhouse gases. Basketball diplomacy, meet gum-chewing diplomacy.

 “Since 1999, China has become Wrigley’s second-largest market, behind only the United States,” the Asia Times reported. “If ever there was an American company that has actually cashed in on the mythic slogan, ‘If every one of China’s billion people bought just one …’ it is Wrigley’s. As a matter of fact, they buy more than one: Chinese, on average, buy 10 sticks of gum a year.” That means the Chinese consume a whopping 14 billion sticks of gum per annum.

 “Chinese food has so much garlic,” one man confessed in an interview with the Journal following the purchase of a 40-piece container of chewing gum. “I need to freshen my breath after eating.”

 Obama may have separate gum ambitions, but that hasn’t stopped others from finding it odd. Like when he met with David Remnick of the New Yorker, who found the president’s jaws working away on Air Force One. “Obama chewed furtively on a piece of Nicorette,” Remnick wrote. “His carriage and the cadence of his conversation are usually so measured that I was thrown by the lingering habit, the trace of indiscipline. ‘I’m not a purist,’ he said.”

 Indeed, he’s not.

 Related: ||||| Obama's gum-chewing in India called 'ungainly sight'

 President Barack Obama became the first president honored as chief guest for India’s Republic Day parade with an old habit: gum chewing.

 Obama popped in a piece of chewing gum during Monday’s parade, according to pool reports and local press.

 Story Continued Below

 The president could be seen “at certain points” chewing gum while watching the procession, which celebrates that day the Constitution of India came into force in 1950, one pool report said.

 Obama was also spotted chewing upon his arrival as he greeted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in video posted by The Times of India. The outlet called it an “ungainly sight.”

 This wasn’t the first time Obama has received criticism for chewing gum at public events.

 The president, who has been known to use nicotine chewing gum, chewed gum during a trip to China in November, at a ceremony in France for the 70th anniversary of D-Day and during his inauguration in 2013. ||||| By Caitlin Taylor

 “Each day, 1,000 young people under the age of 18 become new regular, daily smokers, and almost 90 percent of all smokers began at or before their 18th birthday,” President Obama said this afternoon as he prepared to sign a bill granting authority over tobacco products to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

 “I know; I was one of these teenagers,” the president said. “And so I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it’s been with you for a long time.”

 Though he promised his wife as a condition of his running for president that he would quit the vile weed tobacco, the president has struggled with smoking. During the campaign he admitted falling off the tobacco wagon a few times.

 Asked earlier this month if the President had smoked cigarettes since moving into the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs would say only, “I think the president would likely tell you, as I think anybody would that has smoked or been addicted to smoking, that it is — it is a lifelong struggle.”

 The president today, however, suggested that today’s young smokers are actively being recruited, which is why the new legislation is necessary.

 “Kids today don’t just start smoking for no reason,” the president said. “They’re aggressively targeted as customers by the tobacco industry. They’re exposed to a constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn, and where they play. Most insidiously, they are offered products with flavorings that mask the taste of tobacco and make it even more tempting.”

 Under the new law, the federal government will ban all cigarettes from having candy, fruit, and spice flavors as their characterizing flavors, to take effect this October. In addition, the law will stop youth-based marketing such as tobacco manufacturers sponsoring sporting, athletic, and entertainment events using tobacco product brand names and logos, or giving away clothing bearing the brand name or logo of a tobacco product.

 -jpt

  ||||| WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama hasn't kicked the smoking habit, takes anti-inflammatory medication to relieve chronic tendinitis in his left knee and should eat better to lower his cholesterol, his team of doctors concluded Sunday after the 48-year-old's first medical checkup as commander in chief.

 The hoops-happy chief executive, who has endured an exhausting White House run and yearlong battles with congressional Republicans, was otherwise declared in excellent health and fit for duty.

 The White House physician, Navy Capt. Jeffrey Kuhlman, said Obama should stick with "smoking cessation efforts," the use of nicotine gum, and come back in August 2011 after he turns 50.

 Obama cholesterol levels have crept up to borderline high and he should alter his diet accordingly, according to a report the White House released after the 90-minute examination at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. While at the facility, he visited 12 military service members receiving treatment and rehabilitation for injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 The president is the picture of health, eats modest portions and exercises regularly. He is an avid basketball player and golfer. The slightly elevated cholesterol levels, tendinitis in his left knee and occasional smoking were the only negatives noted.

 Obama said at a June news conference that he still had an occasional cigarette. It was his first public acknowledgment that he hadn't kicked the habit. He chews nicotine gum to avoid regular smoking, and his doctor said that should continue.

 Kuhlman also said the president should modify his diet to bring his LDL, or bad cholesterol, below 130. At the time of his last exam, Obama's total cholesterol was 173, while his LDL was 96 and HDL, or good cholesterol, was 68.

 This time, total cholesterol was up to 209, with HDL down slightly at 62. LDL was up to 138. Borderline high cholesterol starts at 200, with LDL considered in the same category at 130.

 Kuhlman said Obama last checkup was in July 2008 when he was seen by the attending physician to Congress when Obama was an Illinois senator. During the 2008 White House race, his campaign released a statement from his longtime Chicago doctor saying Obama was in excellent health when examined January 2007.

 Sunday's report said Obama is 6-foot-1 and weighs 180 pounds in shoes and exercise clothing. His pulse rate is 56, which is very good, as is his blood pressure – 105 over 62. The doctor said Obama's vision was 20/20 in both eyes for both distance and near vision.

 The president was checked for and found free of colon cancer with a virtual colonoscopy, a scan that avoids the more invasive visual inspection with a camera device that is passed into the large intestine.

 The tendinitis that Obama suffers in his left leg could be the result of his regular basketball playing.

 Kuhlman said that there was mild popping and grinding in Obama's left knee and "some weakness" in his left hip, also possibly a result of rigorous and extended periods on the basketball court.

 The doctor said Obama should:

 _Have another exam for colon cancer in five years

 _Continue smoking cessation efforts, a daily exercise program, a healthy diet, moderation in alcohol intake, periodic dental care, and remain up to date with recommended immunizations.

 _Keep up a modified exercise regimen to strengthen his legs to ward off more difficulties with his knee.

 _Modify his diet to lower his LDL cholesterol below 130. |||||

Write a summary.

– It's got to be better than smoking in public, but President Obama's gum-chewing habit keeps getting him in trouble. The latest kerfuffle came in India, where Obama was watching a parade; reports noted his chewing of what was likely Nicorette. That incident has now made a number of headlines, with Politico reporting that the chewing occurred multiple times during the event as well as when Obama greeted PM Narendra Modi; the Times of India called it an "ungainly sight." The gum prompted some commentary on Twitter, noted by the Times. "Seriously—gum during a formal parade?" asked author Shobhaa De, while filmmaker Shekhar Kapur posted: "Glad to see @BarackObama is so human." Previous such moments have occurred in France and China, Vocativ reports, pointing to a Washington Post article from last year which noted, per earlier reports, that it was a doctor-recommended activity. Amid Obama's "lifelong struggle" to get off cigarettes, his physician recommended he stick with the chewing.


Write an article based on this summary:

– Something is turning healthy coral into ghostly skeletons along the Florida Reef Tract. As the third-largest barrier reef in the world, the 360-mile stretch of vitally important sea life provides a buffet of nutrients for plants and animals along the state's Atlantic coast. Now, scientists are racing to find a cure, as detailed in a piece by NPR. To be sure, reefs are struggling worldwide, and coral diseases have been rising over the last decade, per NOAA, probably caused by pollution and rising ocean temperatures, which provide a warm home for pathogens. But growing swathes of coral from as far north as Pompano Beach in Broward County to as far south as Biscayne National Park are turning into watery graveyards, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection says in a report. Since 2015 the department has been working with a team of federal, state, and local groups to identify the likely pathogen, find a treatment, and address underlying problems—but that identification hasn't yet happened. Scientist William Precht, who was hired by the state to monitor the health of reefs off the port of Miami, has watched the disease move from one patch of coral to another. He says that whatever is killing the coral is especially deadly for brain and star coral, which create the underlying structure for many reefs. The death of the coral, he tells NPR, is having a lasting impact. "When you go out and swim on the reefs of Miami-Dade County today, it would be a very rare chance encounter that you'd see some of these three or four species." (There's bad news about the Great Barrier Reef, too.)

Coral Disease Outbreak Across Florida Reef Tract

 (2014-present)

 Florida’s coral reefs are experiencing a multi-year outbreak of coral disease. While disease outbreaks are not unprecedented, this event is unique due to the number of coral species affected across a large portion of the Florida Reef Tract, and the ongoing nature of the event. The disease outbreak is highly prevalent and is estimated to have resulted in the mortality of millions of corals. In fall 2014, isolated sites with significant coral disease were reported near Key Biscayne in Miami-Dade County by DEP’s Coral Reef Conservation Program staff as well as local scientists. By fall 2015, widespread disease was confirmed across approximately 55 linear miles of reef, including locations as far north as Pompano Beach in Broward County and as far south as Biscayne National Park with a few isolated reports in Palm Beach County. Disease continued to spread north and south into the Florida Keys throughout 2016, and by summer of 2017 reports of widespread disease were confirmed as far north as St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County and to the southern boundary of the upper Keys. In 2018 the disease front reached Looe Key, in the lower Keys (Figure 1).

 For a general FAQ involving the disease outbreak, please click here .

 For a summarization of the disease and response efforts click here .

 Response Efforts

 Since 2015, DEP and numerous partners from federal, state and local governments, universities, nongovernmental organizations and the South Florida community have been communicating regularly and working together on a multifaceted response effort to:

 Document the distribution, prevalence, severity and impacts associated with the disease outbreak;

 Identify likely pathogens;

 Understand potentially contributory environmental factors;

 Experiment with treatments and other interventions;

 Seek additional capacity and funding to support more comprehensive response efforts; and

 Facilitating stakeholder assistance by creating a region-wide Reef Ambassador program and maintaining SEAFAN and C-OCEAN citizen science programs.

 The exact cause and contributing factors for this event will likely take years to identify; however, addressing other known coral stressors (i.e., water quality, turbidity and sedimentation, etc.) will increase the ability of the corals to recover. For information on how you can help the corals recover, check out our Coral Reef Ambassador Initiative page!

 Regional Coordination Calls

 To improve communication about the status of the coral disease outbreak and coordination among reef managers, scientists and interested members of the community regarding these response efforts, DEP initiated coordination phone calls in summer 2015. Although initially focused on mainland southeast Florida where the disease outbreak originated, these coordination calls were re-established during summer 2016 to include the entire Florida Reef Tract and are currently ongoing. Follow the links below to review a meeting summary from any of these calls:

 Regional Southeast Florida Calls:

 Florida Reef Tract-Wide Calls:

 Completed Projects

 Disease Workshop (July 24-25, 2017)

 DEP’s Florida Coastal Office staff partnered with coral disease experts Great Aeby from the University of Hawaii and Blake Ushijima from Oregon State University to deliver a two-day coral disease workshop. Approximately 125 participants representing a variety of agencies, organizations, universities and the South Florida community attended. The workshop included information on coral disease identification, ecology and investigation techniques. To review the workshop material and recordings, please follow the links below:

 For 508-Compliant versions, please email Kristi.Kerrigan@dep.state.fl.us.

 Disease Planning Workshops (November 6-8, 2017)

 DEP’s Florida Coastal Office Southeast Region collaborated with staff from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to lead a three-day coral disease workshop to discuss the next phase of coral disease response efforts. Made possible by funds appropriated by the Florida Legislature and Governor Scott, the workshop was attended by approximately 40 participants, including leading coral disease scientists and animal health experts. To review the summaries and objectives from these workshops, please see below and click on the following links:

 Intervention Methodologies Workshop: November 6, 2017

 Objectives: (1) Discuss coral disease intervention and treatment methodologies, and identify the constraints that may limit them from application. (2) Collaborate with animal health experts regarding additional data needs or other strategies to proceed with interventions within the current regulatory framework.

 Priority Sampling Plan Workshop: November 7-8, 2017

 Objectives: (1) Create a Florida Reef Tract-wide coral disease priority sampling plan, to include both single event biological collections and fixed station assessment. (2) Develop a plan for how existing and future samples should be analyzed across all disciplines and identify labs/personnel with the expertise to complete those analyses.

 Have you observed coral disease on the Florida Reef Tract?

 Report coral disease observations anywhere in Florida to SEAFAN:

 In-house graphic-Southeast Florida Submit report button.jpg

 If you want to learn more about this coral disease outbreak, please follow this link for a full detailed summary. ||||| Corals

 Coral Diseases

 Coral diseases generally occur in response to biological stresses, such as bacteria, fungi and viruses, and nonbiological stresses, such as increased sea surface temperatures, ultraviolet radiation and pollutants. One type of stress may exacerbate the other (NMFS, 2001).

 The frequency of coral diseases has increased significantly over the last 10 years, causing widespread mortality among reef-building corals. Many scientists believe the increase is related to deteriorating water quality associated with human-made pollutants and increased sea surface temperatures. These factors may allow for the proliferation and colonization of microbes. However, exact causes for coral diseases remain elusive. The onset of most diseases likely is a response to multiple factors (NMFS, 2001).

 While the pathologies, or mechanisms by which many diseases act upon the coral polyp are not well known, the effects that these diseases have on corals has been well documented. Black-band disease, discolored spots, red-band disease, and yellow-blotch/band disease appear as discolored bands, spots or lesions on the surface of the coral. Over time, these progress across or expand over the corals surface consuming the living tissue and leaving the stark white coral skeleton in their wake. Other diseases, such as rapid wasting, white-band, white-plague and white-pox, often cause large patches of living coral tissue to slough off, exposing the skeleton beneath. Once exposed, the corals limestone skeleton can be a fertile breeding ground for algae and encrusting invertebrates. The colonization and overgrowth of the exposed coral skeleton by foreign organisms often results in the health of the entire colony taking a downward spiral from which it seldom recovers.

  ||||| Battered By Bleaching, Florida's Coral Reefs Now Face Mysterious Disease

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

 At Mote Marine Lab's Center for Coral Reef Research and Restoration in the Florida Keys, Joey Mandara is like a baby sitter. But instead of children he tends to thousands of baby corals, growing in large, shallow tanks called raceways.

 Mote has been doing this work for five years, raising corals from embryos into adult colonies, then planting them on Florida's reefs. Now, the emergence of a new, debilitating coral disease makes his work more important than ever.

 In one raceway, Mandara says fragments of brain coral have grown quickly in this controlled environment.

 "The brain coral were eight fragments," he says. "And over time, they've grown out and have now fused into each other, becoming one coral that will hopefully over time become sexually mature."

 Mote lab's science director Erinn Muller calls such progress "our beacon of hope."

 Around the world, coral reefs are facing trouble. Coral bleaching, due in part to rising ocean temperatures, has stressed reefs, leaving them weakened and susceptible to disease. Now, in Florida, scientists are struggling to combat a mysterious disease that's threatening the future of the world's third largest coral reef.

 In just four years, the so-far unidentified disease has already had a dramatic impact on Florida's reef tract, which extends some 360 miles down the state's Atlantic coast. Muller says it appears to be a bacterial disease, and for about half of the state's species of coral it's deadly.

 "When they're affected by this, the tissue sloughs off the skeleton," she says. "And we see that once a coral is infected, it usually kills the entire coral, sometimes within weeks. And it doesn't seem to stop."

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Greg Allen/NPR Greg Allen/NPR

 A 'local extinction' that's on the move

 William Precht was one of the first scientists to spot the outbreak and the impact it was having on corals. In 2014, he was hired by the state to monitor the health of reefs off the port of Miami, where a dredging project was underway. He saw the disease move from one patch of coral to another.

 Precht says it's proved especially deadly for species of brain and star coral, which form the foundation for many reefs. In some areas now, he says almost all of those corals are dead.

 "This is essentially equivalent to a local extinction, an ecological extirpation of these species locally," he says. "And when you go out and swim on the reefs of Miami-Dade County today, it would be a very rare chance encounter that you'd see some of these three or four species."

 Scientists believe ocean currents help spread the disease. Since it was first discovered, it's moved north, affecting reefs all the way up to the St. Lucie inlet. It's now moving south, through the Florida Keys.

 A large number of researchers are working to tackle the disease on many fronts. Some are using DNA analysis to try to identify the pathogens involved. Muller of Mote Marine says others are looking for ways to stop the disease from spreading.

 "Anything from... looking at chlorine-laced epoxy as an antiseptic, and even looking at how antibiotics interact with the disease," she says. "Because if it is bacterial, then antibiotics would be a way to stop it."

 This disease outbreak is the latest blow to a reef system that has been stressed and battered by decades of development, poor water quality and rising sea temperatures. After a long decline in Florida, coral reefs have been decimated, leaving too few species to successfully reproduce and rebuild the population on their own.

 That's why Muller believes the best hope now is to raise healthy corals in the lab and transplant them onto reefs. "We're really at a critical juncture right now, where we have corals left on the reef," she says. "Before we lose more corals, now is the time to start making a change."

 Mote Marine Lab hopes to plant 35,000 of its lab-raised corals onto reefs in the Keys this year. Muller says so far, corals raised in the lab have shown resistance to the mystery disease, giving scientists hope they may yet be able to save Florida's reefs. |||||


Summarize this article:

Halle to Gabriel You're Trying to Make Our Daughter White!

 Halle Berry to Gabriel Aubry -- You're Trying to Make Our Kid White!

 EXCLUSIVE

 just tookto court ... claiming he's trying to make their 6-year-old daughter white.Halle was furious Gabriel was straightening Nahla's naturally-curly hair, lightening it with highlights and she is convinced it's because he does not want the girl to appear to be African American.Halle didn't show in court Monday morning, but her lawyer Steve Kolodny did, along with Gabriel and after a lot of arguing the judge ruled NEITHER Halle nor Gabriel could change Nahla's look from its natural state.So the judge is allowing Nahla's hair to grow back naturally.Score one for Berry. ||||| A lot of mothers don't want just anyone touching their kids' hair. And when it comes to Halle Berry, that includes her kid's father.

 Attorneys for the Oscar winner and her ex, model Gabriel Aubry, were in court Monday morning to settle a disagreement over their 6-year-old daughter Nahla's hair, E! News confirms.

 Apparently Berry objected to Aubry to having the child's hair straightened and highlighted when she's in his care, charging that the French-Canadian model, who is white, was trying to make Nahla appear less African-American. (Berry herself is the daughter of a white mother and a black father.) ||||| Halle Berry has reportedly made a move aimed at decreasing her child-support payments to ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry, the father of her daughter Nahla, and motivating him to get a job.

 The "X-Men: Days of Future Past" actress is claiming that her ex has been living entirely off her $16,000-a-month child-support payments and has asked a judge to reduce her obligation to just over $3,000 a month, according to TMZ, which cited confidential court documents.

 The Oscar winner is alleging that the French model has stopped working, despite being capable of getting a job, and is abusing the system by living off the payments meant to support their 6-year-old daughter. The parents have joint custody.

 Aubry, 39, and Berry, 48, dated for two years before Nahla was born in 2008. They broke up in 2010 and have been embroiled in a custody dispute since then. In 2012, a judge blocked Berry from moving Nahla to France with her and Olivier Martinez, who would become her third husband in July 2013. (Berry and Martinez welcomed their first child together, son Maceo, in October 2013.)

 The former couple reached a settlement in May that outlined the nearly $200,000 a year the "Extant" star would pay in child support, in addition to paying for Nahla's tuition until she turns 19 or graduates from high school. She and Aubry must split her healthcare expenses.

 Photos The extreme things celebrities do to be good parents: the good, the bad and the ugly. By Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times

 Berry's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 I'd consider sitting pretty for $16,000 a month. Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad. ||||| Their 6-year-old's hair is the latest point of contention in Halle Berry and Gabriel Aubry's contentious shared custody arrangement.

 The Oscar-winning actress took ex-boyfriend Aubry, the father of her daughter Nahla, back to court Monday because he allegedly had the child's hair straightened and colored, TMZ and E! News reported.

 Though Berry didn't appear in court, her attorney accused the French-Canadian model of straightening Nahla's curly mane and lightening it with highlights in an attempt to make her appear less African American, the reports said.

 The "X-Men: Days of Future Past" star, now married to French actor Olivier Martinez, had lawyer Steve Kolodny appear in court to argue her case, TMZ said, and a judge decided that neither parent could alter Nahla's hair color or texture and ruled that her hair be allowed grow back naturally.

 Berry, 48, and Aubry, 39, who dated for two years before splitting in 2010, have joint custody of Nahla and have been embroiled in bitter court and physical battles over her care since then. In November 2012, Aubry was arrested after getting into a fistfight with Berry's then-fiance, Martinez, and just last month, Berry reportedly moved to reduce her child-support payments to the unemployed model from $16,000 a month to less than $4,000 to motivate him to get a job.

 Halle Berry and Gabriel Aubrey in 2009 Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images Gabriel Aubry and Halle Berry arrive at the 2009 Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Feb. 22, 2009 in West Hollywood. They're no longer a couple but they have a child together, Nahla. Gabriel Aubry and Halle Berry arrive at the 2009 Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Feb. 22, 2009 in West Hollywood. They're no longer a couple but they have a child together, Nahla. (Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images)

 Back in 2011, at the height of their custudy dispute, the mixed-race actress told Ebony magazine (via E!) that she wanted her daughter to choose how she's identified but considered Nahla to be black. Aubry is white.

 "I think, largely, that will be based on how the world identifies her. That's how I identified myself," Berry said at the time. "But I feel like she's black. I'm black and I'm her mother, and I believe in the one-drop theory."

 The actress was referring to the controversial legal and sociological notion of the "one-drop rule," pre-dating the civil rights movement, by which any person with even "one drop" of blood from a black ancestor was deemed to be black.

 "If you're of multiple races, you have a different challenge, a unique challenge of embracing all of who you are but still finding a way to identify yourself, and I think that's often hard for us to do," she continued. "I identify as a black woman, but I've always had to embrace my mother and the white side of who I am too.

 "By choosing, I've often [wondered], 'Well, would that make her feel like I'm invalidating her by choosing to identify more with the black side of myself?'"

 Berry's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 For more celebrity news, follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad. |||||

– Halle Berry and Gabriel Aubry have long stood as models of how not to treat the person with whom you're co-parenting a child (see: brawl, citizen's arrest, insane child support), but they've taken their bickering over daughter Nahla to a new low: As TMZ reports, Berry hauled Aubry back into court on Monday, and the subject of contention was Nahla's hair, which Berry claims Aubry has been straightening and lightening in an apparent attempt to make the 6-year-old look less African American. (Aubry is white and Berry is biracial, notes E! Online). The judge ruled that neither parent can alter Nahla's hair. Berry identifies both herself and her daughter as black, notes the LA Times, saying in a 2011 interview that "I feel like she's black. I'm black and I'm her mother." Berry last month sought to reduce her child support payments to Aubry, adds the Times; she currently pays $16,000 a month and reportedly wants it cut to less than $4,000 to prompt the unemployed model to get a job.


Summarize this article:

'Christmas' Winning War on Christmas in Marketing Messages

 But AFA Carries on Fight by Targeting Dick's Sporting Goods, as Retailer Promotes 'Holiday Shop'

 NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The War on Christmas may be in its final days.

 This season, merry Christmas -- not happy holidays or season's greetings -- will dominate retailer's marketing messages. There will be Christmas sales and Christmas trees and Christmas carols galore. That has the American Family Association, arguably one of the loudest voices advocating the use of Christmas in retailer's marketing messages over the past few years, predicting that its crusade could conclude in the next year or two.

 Dick's Holiday Shop Dick's Holiday Shop

 Randy Sharp, director-special projects at the AFA, said that in the past five years the group has seen the percentage of retailers recognizing Christmas in their advertising rise from 20% to 80%. Just eight retailers are left on the group's list of " Companies Against Christmas ."

 It's also become more challenging to find a large, national retailer to single out for the group's annual boycott. This year, Dick's Sporting Goods, which boasts an online "Holiday Shop," will be the target of the boycott. The AFA is expected to send an Action Alert to its 2.3 million supporters on Friday morning. That alert will urge shoppers to boycott Dick's between now and Dec. 25. It also calls for consumers to email President-Chief Operating Officer Joseph Schmidt and then call Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Hennion. The retailer declined to comment. In the past, Target, Sears, Gap Inc. and Walmart have been targets.

 "We've had a complete flip," Mr. Sharp says. "The politically correct holiday verbiage is going away. Companies are getting the message."

 Indeed, retailers that have found themselves the target of boycotts or media and consumer scrutiny have responded swiftly in recent years. Lowe's "Family Trees" were renamed "Christmas Trees," while Walmart's "Holiday Shop" is now a "Christmas Shop." Midway through the 2005 holiday season, Target, facing a boycott, announced its advertising messages would become more specific and include references to Christmas. And last year, Gap Inc. responded to a boycott by issuing a press release highlighting the use of the phrase "Merry Christmas" in its upcoming Old Navy ads.

 Mr. Sharp stopped short of saying that he was surprised by how quickly and readily most retailers have changed their marketing. But he did point out that, especially in this type of economic environment, retailers are being careful not to alienate customers.

 "Shoppers vote with their wallets every day," said Ellen Davis, a VP at the National Retail Federation. "[When it comes to boycotts,] retailers realize, 'It could just as easily have been us.'"

 The NRF does not formally advise retailers on whether they should use the word Christmas, but Ms. Davis said it does provide statistics. This year's NRF/BigResearch survey found that 91% of consumers plan to celebrate Christmas, compared with 5% for Hanukkah and 2% for Kwanzaa.

 "Retailers dipped their toe into the Christmas waters again last year, and there wasn't much push back. There wasn't a huge outcry from groups offended that retailers were saying Merry Christmas," said Ms. Davis. "We see the word Christmas being used much more this year than three or four years ago. The pendulum seems to have swung back."

 The "extreme backlash" to generic holiday messaging likely caught retailers off guard in years past, Ms. Davis added. Now, phrasing around the holidays is much more strategic. "At this point, it's a conscious decision. It's not just whimsical phrases being tossed around in the marketing department," she said. "These are conversations that are now probably taking place in the C-Suite."

 Retailers certainly tread carefully when it comes to the subject of Christmas. Major retailers such as JCPenney and Target said they don't have formal policies on in-store greetings. And retailers ranging from Gap to Macy's and RadioShack to Sears emphasized their inclusion and respect for shoppers of different beliefs, while noting that at least some of their marketing messages include the word Christmas. RadioShack, however, still appears on the AFA's list of "Companies Against Christmas." A RadioShack spokesman declined to comment on that distinction.

 Plenty view the tactics of the AFA and other groups as bullying, but Mr. Sharp rejects that. "It's not bullying, it's consumer advocacy," he said. The AFA's stance is that retailers should not profit from Christmas, if they refuse to clearly acknowledge it. "When your advertising has trees and ornaments and gift wrapping, you're advertising Christmas, so don't call it holiday," Mr. Sharp said, adding that the group is not at all offended by Happy Hanukkah messages.

 AFA's Naughty or Nice List*

 *Incomplete list, click here for complete list.

 Companies for Christmas

 Company uses term "Christmas" on a regular basis.

 Amazon

 Best Buy

 Cabella's

 JCPenney

 Kmart

 Kohl's

 Lowe's

 Macy's

 Nordstrom

 Petsmart

 Sears

 Target

 Walmart

 Companies Marginalizing Christmas

 Company refers to "Christmas" infrequently or in a single advertising medium.

 Banana Republic

 Gap

 Old Navy

 Limited Brands

 Starbucks

 Toys R Us

 Whole Foods

 Companies Against Christmas

 Company may use "Christmas" sparingly in a single or unique product description. ||||| Naughty or Nice?

 AFA's 2012 listing of top retailers and how they recognize Christmas

 Color Code:

 BLUE : An AFA "5-Star" rated company that promotes and celebrates Christmas on an exceptional basis.

 GREEN : Company uses the term "Christmas" on a regular basis, we consider that company Christmas-friendly.

 YELLOW : Company refers to Christmas infrequently, or in a single advertising medium, but not in others.

 RED : Company may use "Christmas" sparingly in a single or unique product description, but as a company, does not recognize it.

 List updated on 11-12-12

 Companies For "Christmas" AFA Online Store

 ACE Hardware

 Amazon.com

 Bass Pro Shops

 Bed Bath & Beyond

 Belk

 Best Buy

 Big Lots

 Books-A-Million

 Cabella's

 Collective Brands

 Costco

 CVS Pharmacy

 Dick's Sporting Goods

 Dilliards

 Dollar General

 Dollar Tree

 H.E.B. Stores

 HSN.com

 Hallmark

 Hancock Fabrics

 Harris Teeter Stores

 Hobby Lobby

 Home Shopping Network

 JoAnn Fabrics & Crafts Stores

 Kmart

 Kohl's Kroger

 L.L. Bean

 Lowe's

 Macy's

 Marshals

 Meijer

 Menard's

 Michael's Stores

 Neiman Marcus

 Nordstrom

 Office Max

 Petsmart

 Pier One Imports

 ProFlowers.com

 Publix

 QVC.com

 Rite Aid

 Sam's Club

 Sears

 Scheels Sporting Goods

 Super D Drug

 Target

 TJ Maxx

 Toys R Us

 Wal-Mart

 Zappos.com Companies marginal on "Christmas" 1-800-Flowers.com

 Bath & Body Works

 Cooking.com

 Hy-Vee Stores

 Safeway

 Starbucks

 True Value

 UncommonGoods.com

 Walgreens

 Whole Foods Companies AGAINST "Christmas" Banana Republic

 Barnes & Noble

 Family Dollar

 Foot Locker

 Gap Stores BOYCOTT!

 Limited Brands

 Maurice's

 Office Depot

 Old Navy BOYCOTT!

 Radio Shack

 Staples

 Supervalu

 Victoria's Secret

 Based on current advertising, below is a list of companies that avoid, ban, or use the term "Christmas" in their advertising. We will continually update the list, so check back often.

 Criteria - AFA reviewed up to four areas to determine if a company was "Christmas-friendly" in their advertising: print media (newspaper inserts), broadcast media (radio/television), website and/or personal visits to the store. If a company's ad has references to items associated with Christmas (trees, wreaths, lights, etc.), it was considered as an attempt to reach "Christmas" shoppers.

 If a company has items associated with Christmas, but did not use the word "Christmas," then the company is considered as censoring "Christmas."

 Want to report on a company? Send your detailed report to christmas@afa.net. Please know that we receive hundreds of reports (emails) each day. We are unable to respond to each one personally, but your report will be read by one of our staff.

 Note: AFA does not list local or regional companies. Only nationally-recognized companies will be listed. This list only reflects a company's "Christmas" advertising and does not take into account other corporate policies AFA may not agree with.

 SPECIAL ALERT! Legal group offers valuable resources |||||

– Dick's Sporting Goods gets the unlucky honor of being this year's villain in the “War on Christmas” campaign. The American Family Association has singled it out for a boycott this holiday season because the chain is “against” the holiday, reports Advertising Age. One of its offenses is having a "Holiday Shop” section on its website, with no mention of Christmas. All in all, though, the defense of Christmas has been going splendidly for the AFA, says a spokesman; over five years, the percentage of retailers acknowledging Christmas has soared from 20% to 80%, he says. And while Dick's may be "the 'most anti-Christmas' of all," only eight retailers remain on the “Companies Against Christmas” list, including Barnes & Noble, CVS, and RadioShack. The campaign is “not bullying," says the rep. "It's consumer advocacy." More at the Consumerist.


Here is a news article: Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, a leading contender to be Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's pick for vice president, waves to the crowd before attending a private fundraiser event in Newport,... (Associated Press)

 Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, a leading contender to be Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's pick for vice president, waves to the crowd before attending a private fundraiser event in Newport,... (Associated Press)

 WASHINGTON (AP) — Delegates to the Democratic National Convention gave mostly positive reviews to Hillary Clinton's choice for vice president Friday, saying he will appeal to moderates but also do little to soothe disenchanted Bernie Sanders supporters.

 Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine received praise for his wide-ranging experience, even as many delegates acknowledged that he would not generate the level of enthusiasm or party unity as a progressive or first-ever Latino pick. Sanders delegates in particular hoped for the selection of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who aligns more closely with Sanders on positions such as regulating Wall Street.

 "People are going to discount Tim Kaine, and have in the past, and it's going to be a lot more exciting than maybe what Bernie Sanders delegates will think," said Katie Naranjo, a Clinton superdelegate from Austin, Texas. She said that while Kaine may seem like a "conventional choice," he will balance the ticket well for the general election.

 Delegates were heading to Philadelphia for the convention starting Monday, with those who support Sanders indicating uncertainty about embracing a Clinton ticket. Sanders endorsed Clinton last week.

 It "was a horrible pick," said Angie Morelli, a Sanders delegate from Nevada. "In a time when she is trying to cater to Sanders supporters, it was more catering to conservative voters and she's not going to get any wave from it." She said she's bothered by Kaine's association with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a global trade pact that Sanders and Clinton oppose.

 Dwight Bullard, a Florida state senator, said not one of the 70-plus Sanders delegates in his state including himself is happy with Kaine's selection. He worried that the centrist choice could magnify progressives' view that Clinton will backtrack on issues important to them, such as climate change and tuition aid for college students.

 "If you bring in someone with great credentials, that's fine, but inclusivity of the progressive agenda can be a more important message," Bullard said.

 Sanders delegates were mulling ways to show support for Sanders during the convention, such as a walkout after the roll call of states Tuesday, according to excerpts of a Slack thread Friday obtained by The Associated Press. But many others also said they wanted to get direction from Sanders, who was scheduled to meet privately with his delegates Monday.

 "Delegates are intensely discussing and considering options," said Norman Solomon, a San Francisco delegate who called Kaine's selection "unacceptable." Solomon leads the Bernie Delegates Network, a loose organization of more than 1,200 delegates.

 Clinton settled on Kaine after vetting a diverse group of candidates that included Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and Labor Secretary Tom Perez. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, one of two black senators, was also considered.

 Clinton delegate Roger Salazar of California said he was rooting for Clinton to select Rep. Xavier Becerra, a Hispanic and one of the most powerful Democrats in the House. But Salazar, a longtime party strategist, called Kaine "a pretty solid choice."

 Jocelyn Bucaro, an Ohio superdelegate and Clinton supporter, praised Kaine as someone who will appeal to a broad range of voters in swing states, even Republicans uncomfortable with Trump.

 "The most important consideration is his ability to step in as president, and he clearly has the experience, knowledge, intelligence and temperament to do that," Bucaro said.

 ___

 Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Austin, Texas; Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas; Michael Blood in Los Angeles; and Dan Sewell in Cincinnati, Ohio, contributed to this report.

 ___

 Follow Hope Yen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/hopeyen1 ||||| Tim Kaine's support of the TPP is not sitting well with some liberal groups. | Getty Kaine pick draws mixed reviews from liberals While Wall Street lobbyists rejoice, progressive groups are less than thrilled.

 Hillary Clinton’s unveiling of Tim Kaine as her vice presidential pick was greeted by mixed reactions from liberal groups on Friday night. But one constituency breathed a sigh of relief: Wall Street.

 While some praised his consistent support of labor and women’s rights, several progressive organizations were quick to criticize Clinton's newly minted running mate, urging the Democratic ticket to adopt a more “populist” stance on trade and financial regulation.

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 “The mood of the country is a populist one,” said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of Progressive Change Campaign Committee, in a statement emailed minutes after Kaine was announced. “Unfortunately, since Tim Kaine voted to fast track the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Republicans now have a new opening to attack Democrats on this economic populist issue.”

 Taylor said that Clinton, who supported the 11-country Pacific trade pact as secretary of state before reversing her stance last fall, has opened up a line of attack from Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has ripped such agreements as "bad deals" for the United States.

 "As we saw in Donald Trump’s speech last night, Republicans will run hard against Democrats on trade this year,” Taylor said. “Clinton should push the White House to take TPP off the table in a lame duck Congress in order to avoid this vice presidential pick allowing Donald Trump to outflank her on this key issue."

 According to a report in the Huffington Post, Kaine has told Clinton he now opposes the TPP, though he praised the agreement as recently as Thursday.

 The PCCC's criticism comes after another progressive group, Democracy for America, denounced Kaine in a pre-emptive strike issued before Clinton even announced her pick.

 “It should be disqualifying for any potential Democratic vice presidential candidate to be part of a lobbyist-driven effort to help banks dodge consumer protection standards and regulations designed to prevent banks from destroying our economy,” the group’s executive director Charles Chamberlain said in a statement Thursday, referencing a letter Kaine signed urging the Federal Reserve to consider easing regulations on regional banks.

 Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, who backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary, was among those on the left who expressed disappointment with the decision, tweeting: “Att’n Hillary campaign: It’s not Trump who’ll beat u. It’s the people who are going to stay home.”

 While most mainstream groups seemed happy with the choice of Kaine, the risk, some Democratic operatives said, was that Clinton might have just re-opened a rift with the left wing of the party that Trump could exploit.

 “The risk with picking Kaine isn’t about Clinton thumbing her nose to the Bernie Bros, it’s about losing the Rust Belt (where anti-trade and anti-Wall St. sentiment is high),” a Democratic strategist with ties to the region told POLITICO in an email. “Between the Ohio and PA polls and the Brexit vote, this seems like it could be a big risk.”

 Prominent labor groups, however, met the Kaine announcement with open arms. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka praised Kaine’s “strong record on workers’ issues” while the SEIU vouched for the senator’s labor bona fides, saying in a statement: “We know what is in Tim Kaine’s heart.”

 Despite his personal opposition to abortion, Kaine also received strong approval from several women’s rights groups, including the National Organization for Women (NOW), which hailed the senator as a "proven leader" who as vice president would "work to break down the barriers that hold women and marginalized communities back.”

 “The combination of Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine stands in sharp contrast to the turn-back-the-clock, step up the war on women platform of Donald Trump and Mike Pence,” NOW President Terry O'Neill said in a statement. “Women know this is the most important election in a generation, and we also know that we have a steadfast advocate in Tim Kaine.”

 Stephanie Schriock, the influential head of Emily’s List, tweeted, “The strongest ticket for women and families just got even stronger.”

 As if to head off potential criticism, the Clinton campaign cast Kaine as a progressive in its statements on Friday. In an email to supporters explaining her decision, Clinton described Kaine as “a lifelong fighter for progressive causes.”

 And Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon tweeted out a list of Kaine’s ratings from several progressive groups -- all of which have larger followings than either the PCCC or DFA.

 Kaine's ratings from key progressive groups:

 Brady Campaign 100%

 Human Rights Campaign 100%

 Planned Parenthood 100%

 AFL CIO 96%

 NAACP 96% — Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) July 23, 2016

 Wall Street lobbyists, meanwhile, reacted with relief to the Kaine selection on Friday, not because the senator is particularly soft on financial reform but because his name is not Elizabeth Warren.

 “He has demonstrated some interest in banking issues as evidenced by last week’s letter,” one of the top Wall Street lobbyists in Washington emailed POLITICO, referring to the letter to the Fed that Kaine signed. “He's a sign of Hillary being Hippocratic in her pick -- he does no harm. Time will tell if progressives show real angst or if it’s just fringe groups.”

 The lobbyist added that a Warren pick, while never viewed as likely, would have “split the Street” between Clinton and Trump. Now industry cash is likely to keep flowing to Clinton.

 Another lobbyist who had feared for weeks that the Massachusetts senator might be chosen said that Kaine was “certainly more level-headed and substantive than others considered.”

 Dennis Kelleher, CEO of financial reform group Better Markets, said that Kaine was “not going to fire anyone up, but smart safe choice of a really well liked, high-quality guy with good values. He’ll have some work to do on the key issues, but I believe he'll do it effectively and win over those who have doubts or concerns.”

 Authors: ||||| The Fix's Aaron Blake breaks down why Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton chose Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) to be her running mate. (Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)

 The Fix's Aaron Blake breaks down why Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton chose Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) to be her running mate. (Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)

 Even before Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) was unveiled Friday as Hillary Clinton’s running mate, liberal groups were teed up to criticize the pick.

 Kaine’s boosters say that Kaine, a former Virginia governor and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is far more progressive than many of his critics realize.

 But several organizations, including some with ties to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the runner-up in the Democratic primaries, sharply questioned Kaine’s liberal bona fides, pointing to Kaine’s support of trade deals and regulations favorable to big banks.

 Stephanie Taylor, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, worried that Kaine’s support of a pending trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership could allow Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to “outflank” Clinton on trade.

 [Sen. Timothy M. Kaine of Virginia chosen as Hillary Clinton’s VP]

 Sen. Timothy M. Kaine of Virginia waves to the crowd before attending a private fundraiser in Rhode Island on Friday. (Bob Breidenbach /Providence Journal via AP)

 Trump has been trying to reach out to Sanders supporters and blue-collar Democrats, arguing that his protectionist views are more in line with theirs than those of the presumptive Democratic nominee.

 “It’s now more important than ever that Hillary Clinton run an aggressive campaign on core economic ideas like expanding Social Security, debt-free college, Wall Street reform, and yes, stopping the TPP,” Taylor said. “It’s the best way to unite the Democratic Party and stop Republicans from winning over swing voters on bread-and-butter issues.”

 On Thursday, as speculation was mounting that Kaine would be Clinton’s choice, Charles Chamberlain, executive director of the activist network Democracy for America, which backed Sanders in the primaries, said that it should be “disqualifying” for any potential Democratic vice-presidential nominee to “help banks dodge consumer protection standards.”

 That was based in part on a bipartisan letter that Kaine signed on Monday urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to “carefully tailor its rulemaking” regarding community banks and credit unions so as not to “unduly burden” these institutions with regulations aimed at commercial banks.

 [Kaine’s acceptance of gifts in Virginia could create opening for Republicans]

 On Friday, Norman Solomon, the coordinator of a group billing itself as the Bernie Delegates Network, called Kaine “a loyal servant of oligarchy.”

 “If Clinton has reached out to Bernie supporters, it appears that she has done so to stick triangulating thumbs in their eyes,” said Solomon, whose organization claims to represent hundreds of Sanders delegates attending the convention in Philadelphia but is not coordinating with the campaign.

 Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) is Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's running mate. Here's what you need to know about him. (Sarah Parnass,Osman Malik/The Washington Post)

 The group has threatened to protest during the Democratic convention with Kaine on the ticket.

 Winnie Wong, an Occupy Wall Street veteran who founded the group People for Bernie, was also underwhelmed with Kaine’s pick, calling it “unsurprising and predictable.”

 “It shows a woeful disregard to the progressives who fought so hard this year to create conditions for transformational change this country desperately needs,” Wong said. “Team Clinton did the math on this horse race and they are betting on Tim Kaine to court those white male moderate/Indy voters who won’t vote for her. I doubt they can be moved.”

 Kaine’s selection was touted by other traditional boosters of the Democratic Party, including several labor union leaders.

 Marc Perrone, president of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, praised Kaine for a long record of having “supported hard-working families and worked to make their lives better.”

 “When a plan to sell grocery stores in Virginia was announced earlier this year, threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of UFCW families, Senator Kaine stood with us as we successfully rallied the community to save local jobs.” Perrone said.

 Meanwhile, Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, called Kaine “an experienced leader with a proven track record on issues from raising wages to immigration reform and racial justice.”

 In picking Kaine, Clinton passed over two Hispanic candidates who were considered, Julián Castro, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez.

 Though many Latino leaders were disappointed, a leading group praised Kaine as “no stranger to the Latino community,” citing the time he spent as a missionary in Honduras.

 “He has consistently put emphasis on communicating with our community, hearing and addressing their concerns,” said Pili Tobar, advocacy and communications director for the Latino Victory Project.

 The selection of Kaine, meanwhile, received mixed reviews from environmental groups Friday.

 The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund proclaimed him an “awesome choice” in a statement.

 “As mayor, governor and senator, he has a proven track record as an environmental leader who has worked to combat climate change, grow our clean energy economy and protect special places in Virginia and across the country,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld, the group’s senior vice president of government affairs.

 Greenpeace, however, took issue with some of Kaine’s positions on issues related to climate change, with Annie Leonard, the group’s executive director saying “he still has a long way to go” to prove he’s a “progressive force.”

 The group praised Kaine’s early opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline but questioned his stands on fracking and support for natural gas exports.

 David Weigel contributed to this report. ||||| In Orlando, she laid flowers on a makeshift memorial outside the Pulse nightclub, where a gunman who expressed sympathy with the Islamic State killed 49 people last month. At an earlier round-table discussion with emergency medical workers and elected officials, Mrs. Clinton nodded solemnly and hardly spoke, an implicit contrast with Mr. Trump’s 75-minute speech on Thursday night.

 At a rally in Tampa on Friday evening, Mrs. Clinton blasted the bleak vision of America presented by her Republican rival. “The last thing that we need is somebody who is running for president who talks trash about America,” Mrs. Clinton said.

 She showed solidarity with Mr. Trump’s top primary rival, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. “I mean, I never thought I’d say these words, but Ted Cruz was right,” she said, and then quoted Mr. Cruz’s despondent Wednesday night speech. “Vote your conscience.”

 Now some of the job of discrediting Mr. Trump will fall to Mr. Kaine, who wrote on Twitter that he was eager to hit the campaign trail.

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 “Just got off the phone with Hillary,” he said. “I’m honored to be her running mate.”

 Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Kaine have similar positions on many issues, and they are said to share an easy rapport and an interest in policy details. “I do have a fondness for wonks,” Mrs. Clinton said in the PBS interview.

 Asked whether Mr. Kaine was boring, Mrs. Clinton said, “I love that about him.” She added, “He’s never lost an election.”

 Republicans seized on the selection and tried to sow discord among Democrats, arguing that the pick was evidence that Mrs. Clinton had been dishonest with her party’s liberal base.

 “Hillary Clinton’s choice of Tim Kaine does nothing to unify a fractured Democrat base which is repelled by her dishonesty and cronyism,” Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a statement. “After spending last week pandering to grass-roots Democrats with Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton has chosen someone who holds positions that she’s spent the entire primary trying to get to the left of.”

 The Trump campaign quickly labeled Mrs. Clinton’s new running mate “Corrupt Kaine,” pointing to lavish gifts he had received during his years as governor and lieutenant governor of Virginia.

 “It’s only fitting that Hillary Clinton would select an ethically challenged insider like Tim Kaine who’s personally benefited from the rigged system,” said Jason Miller, a spokesman for Mr. Trump.

 While many Democrats swiftly praised the move, some in the party’s liberal wing expressed dismay, claiming that Mr. Kaine was out of step with it on some of its core issues, like trade.

 “As we saw in Donald Trump’s speech last night, Republicans will run hard against Democrats on trade this year,” said Stephanie Taylor, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “Unfortunately, since Tim Kaine voted to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Republicans now have a new opening to attack Democrats on this economic populist issue.”

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 She added, “The mood of the country is a populist one.”

 The son of a welder who owned a small metalworking shop, Mr. Kaine, a Roman Catholic, grew up around Kansas City, Mo. He attended a Jesuit school and took a break from law school at Harvard to spend time as a Catholic missionary in Honduras, an experience that his family has said shaped him and helped him become fluent in Spanish.

 Early in his career, Mr. Kaine worked on fair housing and civil rights issues as a lawyer. He was elected to the City Council in Richmond, Va., in 1994, and proceeded to climb the ranks of elected office in the state. He became the city’s mayor in 1998, the state’s lieutenant governor in 2002 and the governor in 2006. He also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

 As governor, Mr. Kaine drew some support from rural parts of the state as well as strong backing in the state’s Democratic-leaning suburban areas. He led the state through one of its darkest times, the shooting at Virginia Tech that killed 32 people in 2007. In 2013, Mr. Kaine implored the United States Senate to find a “small measure of courage” to fight the gun lobby and impose tougher background checks on gun ownership.

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 Mr. Kaine was an early endorser of Senator Barack Obama’s presidential bid in the 2008 nominating fight against Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Kaine was also considered on Mr. Obama’s shortlist of vice-presidential candidates before Mr. Obama selected Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware. In 2012, Mr. Kaine defeated George Allen, a Republican, to take the Senate seat being vacated by the Democrat Jim Webb.

 Mrs. Clinton’s choice of Mr. Kaine underscores the rising political importance of Virginia, a state with a significant suburban and minority population.

 Mr. Obama defeated John McCain in the state by more than six percentage points, the first time since Lyndon B. Johnson’s victory in 1964 that the state had voted for a Democratic presidential nominee. An NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll from July 15 shows Mrs. Clinton ahead of Mr. Trump for the state’s 13 electoral votes by nine percentage points.

 The search for a running mate began in April, after Mrs. Clinton had decisively won the New York primary, with a number of candidates.

 Mrs. Clinton came to the process with a unique vantage point, having been closely involved in her husband’s selection of Senator Al Gore of Tennessee in 1992, a choice that brought youth and Southern charm to a ticket already overflowing with it.

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 With just days remaining before her announcement of a running mate, Mrs. Clinton had not yet made up her mind as her advisers debated what attributes voters might want in a vice president.

 As the search narrowed, Mrs. Clinton wanted to test her chemistry on the campaign trail with Mr. Kaine. After their Virginia rally last week, she invited him to her home in Washington for a meeting that lasted until 10:30 p.m.

 Last Saturday, the day after meeting with other candidates in Washington, she invited Mr. Kaine and his wife to lunch at her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., with her family.

 At 7:30 p.m. Friday, just after her fiery speech in Tampa, Mrs. Clinton called Mr. Kaine to give him the news, before calling President Obama to let him know that she had chosen his friend. ||||| Who is Tim Kaine? 6 things you need to know about Hillary Clinton's vice presidential pick

 Skip Ad Ad Loading... x Embed x Share As a senator from Virginia, Tim Kaine may be the key to help Clinton clinch the swing state.

 Hillary Clinton picked Tim Kaine for her running-mate. But who exactly is the Virginia senator? Here are six things to know:

 He’s held a lot of public offices

 Kaine — who is now Virginia's junior senator — was previously the governor of the state. Prior to that, he served as lieutenant governor, mayor of Richmond and on the Richmond city council.

 He is one of just 20 people to have served as a mayor, governor and U.S. senator. He was also head of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011.

 His state is very important in November

 Kaine represents a crucial swing state that Clinton will need to win in November. It used to be solidly Republican, but President Obama won in 2008 and 2012. And Virginia's rapidly growing population is making the state more diverse.

 He’s relatively boring, and he's totally OK with that

 Kaine has no problem with critics calling him boring. In fact, he’s milking it for all it’s worth. “I am boring,” he said in an interview with Meet the Press in June. “But boring is the fastest-growing demographic in this country.”

 Fluent in Spanish

 Kaine is fluent in Spanish because he took a year off from Harvard to run a technical school in Honduras for a year. He got major points when he gave a 14-minute speech on immigration entirely in Spanish on the Senate floor in 2013. He was the "first senator of the modern era to deliver a Senate floor speech entirely in Spanish,” according to The Washington Post.

 The gifts

 While Kaine is generally described as scandal free, he does have a snafu on his record. During his time as governor and lieutenant governor, he accepted more than $160,000 worth of gifts, according to Politico. While that was all legal under Virginia law, some critics say the acceptance of a Caribbean vacation, $5,500 in clothes and a trip to watch George Mason University play in the Final Four, among other things, at the very least doesn't look great.

 He's been through this before

 Kaine was among Obama’s top three choices for his running mate in 2008. Obama described it as a coin toss between then-senators Joe Biden and Evan Bayh but added "Kaine is still a distinct possibility,” according to campaign manager David Plouffe’s book The Audacity to Win.

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A summary of this is?

– Hillary Clinton has joined Donald Trump in selecting a white man from a swing state who describes himself as "boring" for a running mate—and liberal Democrats, especially Bernie Sanders supporters, aren't exactly fired up about Sen. Tim Kaine. Clinton, however, describes the former Virginia governor as "a lifelong fighter for progressive causes," and both Wall Street donors and labor groups are happy with the choice. Republicans, meanwhile including RNC chief Reince Priebus, were quick to highlight the party divisions. A round-up of reactions: The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is among the groups not happy about Kaine's past support for the big trade deals criticized by Donald Trump. "The mood of the country is a populist one," group co-founder Stephanie Taylor said in a statement to Politico. "Unfortunately, since Tim Kaine voted to fast track the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Republicans now have a new opening to attack Democrats on this economic populist issue." Union chiefs expressed their support for Kaine, including Service Employees International Union chief Mary Kay Henry, who called him "an experienced leader with a proven track record on issues from raising wages to immigration reform and racial justice," the Washington Post reports. The Trump campaign wasted no time coming up with a nickname for Kaine: It is calling him "Corrupt Kaine," based on gifts he received as governor, the New York Times reports. "It's only fitting that Hillary Clinton would select an ethically challenged insider like Tim Kaine who’s personally benefited from the rigged system," a Trump spokesman says. Wall Street lobbyists are satisfied with the choice, especially since the other candidates being vetted included Elizabeth Warren. "He's a sign of Hillary being Hippocratic in her pick—he does no harm," a top lobbyist tells Politico. "Time will tell if progressives show real angst or if it’s just fringe groups." The National Organization of Women supports Kaine: "The combination of Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine stands in sharp contrast to the turn-back-the-clock, step up the war on women platform of Donald Trump and Mike Pence," NOW President Terry O'Neill said in a statement. "Women know this is the most important election in a generation, and we also know that we have a steadfast advocate in Tim Kaine." Norman Solomon, who says his "Bernie Delegates Network" represents hundreds of Sanders delegates, calls Kaine "a loyal servant of oligarchy." "If Clinton has reached out to Bernie supporters, it appears that she has done so to stick triangulating thumbs in their eyes," he tells the Washington Post. The AP spoke to convention delegates and found that Clinton supporters consider Kaine a "solid" choice who will appeal to a range of voters, while Sanders supporters are deeply unhappy with the choice. It "was a horrible pick," says Angie Morelli, a Sanders delegate from Nevada. "In a time when she is trying to cater to Sanders supporters, it was more catering to conservative voters and she's not going to get any wave from it." USA Today lists some facts about Kaine, who is fluent in Spanish and is one of just 20 people to have been a mayor, a governor and a US senator.