John Boehner Says Trump's Presidency Has Been Mostly A 'Disaster'

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Former House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) isn’t impressed with President Donald Trump.

Speaking at an energy conference in Houston on Wednesday, Boehner did praise Trump on foreign affairs and said he had stepped up the fight against the Islamic State militant group. But he generally gave a grim assessment of the president’s first few months in office, according to energy publication Rigzone

“Everything else he’s done [in office] has been a complete disaster,” Boehner said. “He’s still learning how to be president.”

Boehner, who backed the businessman during the presidential campaign, criticized the Trump’s late-night tweets and said he hadn’t imagined him becoming commander-in-chief. 

The former speaker, who retired from Congress in 2015, suggested investigations into Russian interference in the election were necessary, but said talk of impeaching Trump would only boost the president’s political support.

“I don’t know why either of these [2016 presidential] campaigns were talking to Russians, but they need to get to the bottom of this,” he said. “The crazy left-wing Democratic colleagues of mine bringing up impeachment talks … talk of impeachment is the best way to rile up Trump supporters. Remember, impeachment is not a legal process; it’s a political process.”

Boehner also said he thought a border adjustment tax, favored by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), was “deader than a doornail” and called the prospect of tax reform just “happy talk.”

Since leaving office, Boehner has joined a D.C. lobbying firm and the board of tobacco giant Reynolds American, Inc. He told the energy conference he has no regrets about leaving Congress.

“I wake up every day, drink my morning coffee and say hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,” he said.

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Gentrifiers Want To Rename Harlem Area 'SoHa' And Residents Are Pissed

Developers and real estate agents thought that they could come into the lower area of Harlem and dub it “SoHa,” short for South Harlem. 

As far as residents are concerned, they thought wrong. NY1 reports that developers want to refer to the area between 110th and 125th Streets to make it more trendy, similar to SoHo.

During a press conference on Wednesday, local leaders rejected the name, saying that it was insulting the culturally rich neighborhood and whitewashes the historically black community. They said the name change would only welcome more high-end developers and wealthy white people, leading to the displacement of long-time residents.

“How dare someone try to rob our culture, and try to act as if we were not here, and create a new name, a new reality as if the clock started when other people showed up?” state Senator-elect Brian Benjamin said. 

 The name “SoHa” first appeared in a New York Times story in 1999, according to NY1. Since then, it has increasingly appeared on real estate websites like StreetEasy. Realtor Keller Williams recently dedicated a “SoHa” team in the neighborhood.

“We’re not going to let people who just got here change the name of our community for their profit,” Harlem District Leader Cordell Cleare said. “This is about greed and lust.”

Community Board 10 member and real estate broker Danni Tyson said profit is possible without rebranding the neighborhood.“This is Harlem — a wonderful brand, a brand that is known all over this world,” she said. 

“No real estate company, no coffee shop, no business should be using the term ‘SoHa’ to refer to Harlem. This is a home, this is a culture, this is a place that people visit,” she continued in the video above.

In addition to residents protesting, folks on social media are less than enthused about the proposed name change. 

Benjamin said he’s working on a proposal to legislate the renaming of neighborhoods, according to DNAinfo. It would require a community review of new projects planning to use new name for an area while also receiving local or state subsidies. 

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News Roundup for May 26, 2017

Your daily dose so you can seem more woke than your friends.

1. Jared Kushner is a person of interest in the Russia probe. He’s not suspected of any wrongdoing. Yet. More here.

2. The G-7 is underway in Italy. Will Trump continue to be a schoolyard bully? More here.

3. At least 26 people were killed in Egypt as gunmen fired on bus carrying Coptic Christians travelling to a monastery. More here.

4. Even after his attack on a reporter, Greg Gianforte won a seat in the Montana special election. Chalk that up as another win for Trump and another loss for America. More here.

5. Hey, Jupiter! The planet is more complex than we thought. No promise of aliens yet. More here.

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We Just Can't Stop Looking At These Photos Of Obama And Merkel Together Again

Last year, we had to say goodbye to one of the world’s favorite political couples: President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The pair appeared together again in Germany Thursday to discuss democracy in front of the Brandenburg Gate, drawing a massive crowd.

It was the first time Obama spoke publicly in Europe since leaving office. Things have changed, but the duo didn’t miss a beat. Photos show them sharing smiles and laughs like they were never apart.

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The best turntable for casual listening

By Chris Heinonen

This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. When readers choose to buy The Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its wor…

The exciting world of credit card terminals is coming to VR

In maybe the most boring VR announcement to date, payment processing company WorldPay has decided to bring its services to virtual worlds.

The UK-based company, one of the leading payment processors worldwide, used the HTC Vive for its prototype. In…

The Marc Newson Hourglass For Hodinkee shows us time is a nanoball

 “Can anyone tell me what this is?” the teacher asked. Outside the rust rains had come again and the building reacted by assembling a nano sphere shield. They would be inside until it stopped. None of the children were old enough for the skin adaptation. She might as well keep them busy.
She held up half of a glass object, the top edge crude and sharp.
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What Is My Purpose? You Spray Kitties.

Every cat owner knows that cats love to get up on your countertops. Some are downright hard to train. My cats keep doing it and we have tried everything. CatNani may be able to help.


It is a little robot that patrols your countertops, and scoots your cat off onto the floor. CatNani uses two simple tactics: an ultrasonic warning, and a harmless citronella spray. It senses the edges of the countertop, as well as any objects that may be in its way. It senses when your cat jumps up thanks to a special collar, then it goes after the cat and sprays them.

Or your cat may just bat it it off the counter. Could go either way. So far, this thing has raised less than $1000 of its outlandish $500,000 goal so far on indiegogo, so it’s not looking likely that this thing will go into production anytime soon.

[via Nerdist]

Ellie Kemper's Baby Only Calms Down When He Sees Allison Williams

Ellie Kemper’s baby is keeping his parents busy.

Appearing on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” the actress talked about her adventures as a new mom. Kemper and her husband, Michael Koman, have a 10-month-old son named James.

“James is a … spirited child,” she told Meyers. On a flight to Los Angeles a couple of months ago, Kemper and Koman struggled to calm their fussy baby, but nothing worked … until they showed him the airline magazine with Allison Williams on the cover. 

“Her gorgeous face delighted my child,” the mom said. “It was the only thing that worked.”

Since then, Kemper has used different magazines that feature Williams to make James smile.

Watch the full clip above to see some adorable photos of the baby with pictures of Williams and hear more of Kemper’s parenting experiences.

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Luxembourg's 'First Gentleman' Gloriously Photographed With Partners Of World Leaders

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The Trump administration’s first international trip has given us a gift in the form of a series of photographs.

At the NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday, the wives and partners of world leaders congregated for a photo opp. Included in the mix was Luxembourg’s “first gentleman” Gauthier Destenay.

Destenay is married to Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel and has been since 2015 when marriage equality was passed in their home country. The pair had been in a civil partnership when Bettel won the Prime Ministership in 2013. 

In addition to FLOTUS Melania Trump, Destenay was joined by First Lady of France Brigitte Macron, First Lady of Turkey Emine Gulbaran Erdogan, Queen Mathilde of Belgium, Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg’s partner Ingrid Schulerud, partner of Bulgaria’s President Desislava Radeva, partner of Belgium’s Prime Minister Amelie Derbaudrenghien, partner of Slovenia’s Prime Minister Mojca Stropnik, and First Lady of Iceland Thora Margret Baldvinsdottir. 

We’re not the only ones totally enraptured by these photographs ― Twitter has been enjoying Gauthier Destenay quite a bit. 

Looks like we’re all love, love, loving Luxembourg this week.

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