Advice For Beleaguered Battleground State Residents: Leave Town

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Declared and potential candidates are already in New Hampshire. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and others spoke at the First in the Nation Republican Leadership Summit this week in Nashua. Darren McCollester/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Darren McCollester/Getty Images

Declared and potential candidates are already in New Hampshire. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and others spoke at the First in the Nation Republican Leadership Summit this week in Nashua.

Darren McCollester/Getty Images

We are moving into the election season — feels like we're moving faster and faster, candidates are already in the early states — notably the newly announced Hillary Clinton. She headed right to Iowa for some close encounters with voters. Republicans, reportedly a score or so, are in New Hampshire this weekend, taking turns shaking hands with voters,

I've spent a fair amount of time over the years covering presidential campaigns, and there's an order of march for this parade. First in the "early states" — politicians are thick on the ground. Then the rest of the primaries and caucuses, some more important than others, followed by the conventions, and then the real deal, the race to win the general election.

Along the way, the professional politicians and the people who watch them — including me — are creating categories. Red states and blue states; states always loyal to their parties. A new term, purple states, we used to call them swing states, for those places that might go either way.

And then, the category that will really do the deciding: the so-called "battleground states." Now, if you live in a battleground state, you will have a ringside seat. If you want to see your candidate, you can. If you want to meet him or her, not impossible. If you've always wondered why pollsters never ask you what you think, that's about to change.

Here is my advice for residents of battleground states: think about leaving home. First apply for an absentee ballot — we all must do our civic duty. But if you stay, you will be called on the phone every night by recorded candidates, lots of times, usually during dinner. Your favorite TV shows will be drenched in political ads, the doorbell will keep ringing as nicely-dressed young people try to find out how you're voting. If you go out for coffee, pols will be right there with you.

Now here's something to think about; the sharing economy. Tourists looking for a place to stay can now find an apartment on the Internet. Why not rent your home to a political tourist, or maybe a political operative. And you can keep up with the political news without being pursued by politicians. You can make a little money to offset the expense of your escape. Think about it. Beach or battleground? Beach or battleground?

ISF bust Jordanian prostitution ring

BEIRUT: Internal Security Forces arrested Thursday two Jordanian women and a Jordanian man for allegedly running a prostitution ring, a statement said Saturday.

The two women were arrested in an unidentified hotel where they were set to meet with their clients.

The women were identified as A.M, 24, and Z.A, 19.

The female suspects are accused of fishing for clients using Whatsapp and prostituting themselves in return for a fee ranging between 300 and 500 dollars.

Police also arrested the husband of the 24-year old Jordanian woman, who was identified as M.A..

The man was arrested while dropping off the two women at the unnamed hotel.

During interrogations, the 24-year old Jordanian woman confessed to offering sexual services in return for money and claimed that she was forced into prostitution by her husband who threatened to prevent her from seeing her child if she objected.

The 19-year old also confessed to being a prostitute and said that the Jordanian man facilitated her work.

The man denied both accusations levied against him.

As a result, authorities charged the man with human trafficking and facilitating prostitution.

The 19-year old was charged with prostitution while the 24-year old woman was released because she was deemed to be a victim of human trafficking.

O'Malley, Possible Clinton Rival, Says A President Can't Let Polls Lead

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Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat who is considering a 2016 presidential campaign, is interviewed by NPR's Steve Inskeep. Ariel Zambelich/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Ariel Zambelich/NPR

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat who is considering a 2016 presidential campaign, is interviewed by NPR's Steve Inskeep.

Ariel Zambelich/NPR

Hillary Clinton is inauthentic, not transparent and will have trouble connecting with younger voters. And Republican economic theory is "bull- - - -."

That was essentially the argument Martin O'Malley made in an interview with NPR for why voters should choose him to be president over Clinton — the overwhelming favorite for the 2016 Democratic nomination — as well as whichever candidate survives the Republican primaries.

"The bigger issue is, do we have the ability as a party to lead by our principles?" O'Malley told NPR's Steve Inskeep. "Or are we going to conduct polls every time we try to determine where the middle is on any given day?"

O'Malley argued that as governor of Maryland he, unlike Clinton — who officially declared she is running for president April 12 — has led the charge on some issues dear to progressives.

"I'm glad she's come around to those positions on the issue of marriage equality, which we passed in Maryland," O'Malley said. "I'm glad she's come around to the issue of drivers licenses for new American immigrants so that they can obey the rules of the road. This was something we did also in Maryland. So I'm glad she's come around to those positions."

Clinton, like many other Democrats and the country at large, has evolved in her position on whether gay and lesbian couples can marry. On driver's licenses, during her last run for president, she declined in a 2007 debate to back a proposal by then-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to grant licenses for immigrants in the country illegally. Recently she reversed her position and said she was in favor of them.

Politics

As Clinton Defends Email Policy, Department IG Finds Flaws

It's All Politics

Hillary Clinton's Privacy Problem

Clinton found herself embroiled in controversy earlier this year because of her exclusive use of a private email account to conduct official business as secretary of state. She kept a private server in her home and turned over to the State Department what she and her lawyers had determined to be 30,000 work-related emails. The rest of the emails, which she deemed to be private, were deleted.

The scandal is something O'Malley, who said he will decide whether he runs for president by the end of next month, alluded to in why he could better appeal to a younger generation. Though he rarely criticized Clinton directly, his remarks seemed tailored to her.

"I see — having spoken to younger people, people under 40 — where our country's headed, and it is not the sort of siloed and bureaucratic and ideological world of many of us baby boomers and our siblings," he said. "It is a more connected world, and it is a more collaborative and open and transparent world. That's the way I've always governed and that's the way that you have to govern in order to get things done today.

"I believe that differences will become apparent, and over the next month, I am sure she will start to roll out her policy choice."

At 52, O'Malley is 15 years younger than Clinton. She who would be the second-oldest president sworn in for a first term, trailing only Ronald Reagan.

Still, O'Malley said Clinton would be better than any of the likely Republicans running for president. He dismissed Sen. Marco Rubio's assertion that a reason to reduce regulations is because the rich benefit more than the less well off as they are better able to navigate the system. O'Malley also panned collective GOP economic theory as something akin to fertilizer.

"Our tax code's been turned into Swiss cheese," O'Malley said when asked about GOP arguments regarding how to fix things like income inequality. "And, certainly, the concentrated wealth and accumulated power and the systematic deregulation of Wall Street has led to this situation where the economy isn't working for us. All of that is true. But it is not true that regulation holds poor people down or regulation keeps middle class from advancing. That's kind of patently bull- - - -."

NPR's full interview with former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley will be broadcast Monday on NPR's Morning Edition.

The Cat-And-Mouse Game Of The Great Clinton Chase, Iowa Edition

"Guy in the orange pants is pretty quick!" remarked MSNBC host Thomas Roberts, as media run after Hillary Clinton's "Scooby" van in Iowa. MSNBC hide caption

itoggle caption MSNBC

Editor's Note: This is a reporter's notebook from NPR's Tamara Keith, who is covering the Hillary Clinton campaign.

The e-mail from the Clinton campaign came late on Monday. Meet at the Panera Bread in Davenport, Iowa, at 9:45 in the morning. I was to be one of about a dozen reporters in a press pool given access to an unpublicized stop. What we quickly learned was that the restaurant was a decoy. The unannounced meet and greet was happening at a small coffee shop 20 minutes away in Le Claire.

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Reporters and campaign staffers rush to their cars to get to Hillary Clinton's first Iowa campaign stop. Tamara Keith/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Tamara Keith/NPR

Reporters and campaign staffers rush to their cars to get to Hillary Clinton's first Iowa campaign stop.

Tamara Keith/NPR

So, we all jumped in our rental cars and dashed to the Jones Street Java House where we packed into the kitchen waiting for the candidate.

One of the store's owners captured the absurdity of the whole thing when she snapped a selfie with the press throng as her backdrop.

When Hillary Clinton kicked off her campaign in Iowa, her team said she would be going small — intimate events, conversations in coffee shops with just a few people. That's easier said than done when the candidate is one of the world's most famous politicians.

When Clinton arrived, she walked up to the counter facing the tangle of reporters, who were really just a small share of those trying to cover her.

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Hillary Clinton meets her barrista. She ordered a chai tea, a caramel latte and a water. Tamara Keith/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Tamara Keith/NPR

Hillary Clinton meets her barrista. She ordered a chai tea, a caramel latte and a water.

Tamara Keith/NPR

She shook hands with a few unsuspecting customers, and then sat down to chat with three invited guests. And that's about the time the press pool was kicked out.

So, I can't tell you if they had a deep discussion about policy, or if one of her guests asked about the personal e-mail server she used while secretary of state. For the campaign, the point was simply to show Clinton relaxed and comfortable, chatting with Iowans. And, for Clinton to get a chance to sit back, relax and hear from Iowans.

It turns out the reporters weren't the only ones given decoy locations. The Democratic activists, who Clinton met with in cafes around the state, weren't told they would be meeting with her until the last minute. They turned over their cell phones before being taken to the meetings.

And such was the game of cat and mouse that characterized Clinton's return to Iowa. This was the campaign's effort to keep things small — to do Iowa the Iowa way.

"In order to have somebody like Hillary Clinton, who is huge, to be able to do that with these intimate settings, they really had to really make some compromises," said Kathie Obradovich, a political columnist for the Des Moines Register. "And one of them was not really telling everyone exactly where she's going to be. One of them was severely restricting the number of people who are in these events."

Reporters flew in from all over the country and around the globe. But because her events were in small venues, many of those reporters were left outside. When the black van she calls Scooby pulled up to the back entrance (instead of the front) of Kirkwood Community College, reporters and photographers gave chase, as captured by MSNBC.

It was comical. And embarrassing. Was that really the Iowa way?

Or was it like taking a gondola ride in the Venetian hotel in Vegas instead of Venice? To hear the people Clinton met with tell it, though, from the inside, it felt like the real deal. Yes, they were all hand-picked. But they weren't all supporters.

Before Clinton had even left the state, her campaign sent out images of front pages from all the local papers. And there she was with a cup of coffee smiling and chatting with Iowans.

The chase continues on Monday in New Hampshire. According to a campaign aide, Clinton will hold roundtable discussions and meet privately with elected officials and Democratic activists around the state. Luckily for the reporters giving chase, New Hampshire is a much smaller state.

Guards freed in Roumieh as fears of riots persist

BEIRUT: Twenty prison guards were released overnight Friday, hours after they had been taken hostage by Islamist inmates in Roumieh Prison during a riot protesting strict detention regulations, security sources told The Daily Star.

“The situation in [Roumieh] is back to normal and the officers who were taken hostage have been released,” Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said in remarks published in the As-Safir newspaper Saturday.

Despite the interior minister's assurances, security sources expressed concern over the fraught situation in Block D.

A source said that the 20 guards taken hostage constituted the total number of personnel tasked with monitoring the facility, meaning that prisoners managed to take every single guard in Block D captive during the riots.

"This is evidence of a gap in prison security," the source said.

Another source inside the prison expressed his frustration with the situation since Fridays riots had severely damaged the newly rehabilitated Block D.

Cell doors were broken down, surveillance cameras were destroyed while cell partitions were also removed by the prisoners, the source said, noting that current conditions would allow for very lax security in the facility.

The devestation wrought in Block D is raising fears over the possibility of the resumption of riots, especially since the inmates are no longer confined in cells, the source added.

The release of the captive guards was secured at 2 am Friday after hours of fraught negotiations between security forces and Islamist inmates, according to the security source.

It remains unclear whether the guards were released by force or if an agreement was reached during negotiations.

Riots began during Friday's evening meal, after which inmates are usually confined to their cells for the night.

A number of prisoners in the newly rehabilitated Block D set their mattresses ablaze, and a fire spread throughout the second floor, prompting Civil Defense teams to intervene.

The inmates then escalated their riot by blocking all entrances and taking the guards hostage, the source said.

Anti-riot police stormed Roumieh prison and surrounded all entrances to Block D, issuing a warning to the prisoners.

After negotiations with the prisoners hit a dead end, police units stormed the prison as well.

The riots come in response to the stricter regulations that the prison authorities have adopted to prevent the smuggling of drugs and weapons to inmates.

The security source said the prisoners responsible for the riots were mostly Islamists who had been incarcerated in Roumieh’s notorious Block B building, which was emptied and shut down after a large-scale police operation in January.

Inmates had enjoyed relative autonomy in Block B and prevented security forces from entering.

After the clearing operation took place, television footage showed that prisoners had no cell doors and operated a barber shop and a coffee shop in Block B.

Footage also showed inmates on Block B had a large amount of electronic equipment, including TV sets and mobile phones.

Some of the prisoners are members of Islamist groups and had been imposing Shariah law inside Block B, reports said.

Roumieh prison has been the scene of repetitive riots in past years, with inmates protesting crowded cells and slow trials.

The largest riot occurred in April 2011, when inmates set their beds on fire and broke down cell doors, in protest over subpar living conditions.

Nasrallah’s anti-Saudi tirade draws Hariri rebuke

BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah Friday kept up a blistering tirade against Saudi Arabia over its military intervention in Yemen, vowing to maintain his party’s unwavering support for Iranian-backed Houthi rebels regardless of the consequences.

He also blamed Saudi Arabia for the spread of extremist ideology in the Arab world and called on Hezbollah’s rival, the Future Movement, to cooperate to prevent the Yemen conflict from spilling over into Lebanon.

However, Nasrallah’s anti-Saudi diatribe quickly drew a rebuke from former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who accused the Hezbollah chief of following in the footsteps of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in making “fabrications, distorting [facts], misleading [the public], [putting on] shows of strength and sectarian incitement.”

“What we heard was a coordinated event of slander and an act of digging up the graves of hatred,” Hariri said on his Twitter account Friday night, shortly after Nasrallah ended his speech. “It has exposed the hatred in [Nasrallah’s] heart against Saudi Arabia, its founder and its leadership.”

Hariri warned that offending the founder of Saudi Arabia, the late King Abdel-Aziz, would trigger a counterattack against the highest spiritual leader in Tehran and the lowest in Beirut’s southern suburbs. “Political tension will not succeed in distorting the image of Saudi Arabia, its role and standing,” he said.

Despite the escalating rhetoric, Hariri said his Future Movement would continue the dialogue with Hezbollah. “Hezbollah’s continuing escalation will not drag us into stances that will undermine the rules of dialogue and civil peace,” he said. “We are guardians to ward off strife in Lebanon and they [Hezbollah] are champions to rescue the Bashar Assad regime and the Iranian role to infiltrate into Yemen and intervene in Arab affairs.”Addressing a Hezbollah rally in Beirut’s southern suburbs to show solidarity with the Yemeni people, Nasrallah waged yet another fierce diatribe against Saudi Arabia, blaming it for the rise of extremist ideology in the region and for funding ISIS and Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

“The aim of this rally is to announce our rejection and condemnation of the Saudi-U.S. aggression on Yemen and to declare our solidarity and sympathy with the oppressed people,” Nasrallah said via video link.

“It is our humanitarian, moral and religious duty to take this stance ... Nothing will stop us, neither intimidation nor threats, from continuing our condemnation of the Saudi-U.S. aggression on Yemen and declaring our support for the Yemeni people regardless of the repercussions,” he said.

Nasrallah dismissed Saudi labels that the intervention was designed to defend “Arabism” and confront “Iranian hegemony” in the region. “I said in my previous speech that the real goal of this war is to regain Saudi-U.S. tutelage over Yemen after the Yemeni people have recovered their sovereignty.”

Nasrallah scoffed at claims that the war in Yemen was designed to protect the two holy mosques in the Saudi cities of Mecca and Medina. “Yes, the two holy mosques are threatened by Daesh [Arabic acronym for ISIS] when the caliphate state announced it would destroy the Kaaba,” Nasrallah said.

But Hariri said Nasrallah’s speech would not affect Saudi-Yemeni ties.

“Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s shared history and destiny is deeper and greater than the speeches of Iranian wailing and crying that we hear from Tehran to Beirut’s southern suburbs,” he said. Hariri linked Nasrallah’s “mad” escalation against Saudi Arabia to operation “Decisive Storm.”

Saudi Arabia is spearheading a regional coalition, which since March 26 has carried out airstrikes as part of operation “Decisive Storm” against the Houthis who overran the capital Sanaa in September and have expanded to other parts of Yemen.

Nasrallah noted that after 22 days of airstrikes, operation “Decisive Storm” has failed to bring Yemeni President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi back to Sanaa or Aden, adding that any political settlement would not reinstate him as president of Yemen. The war has also failed to prevent the spread of rebels across Yemen, he added.

Ruling out a ground operation in Yemen, Nasrallah said the Houthis have not yet responded to the Saudi-led intervention. “The Yemenis have not resorted to their real options while the aggression has reached the end of the line,” he added. Despite voices in the world calling for a political solution in Yemen, he said: “The prospects of a political settlement do not seem to have ripened.”

Referring to soaring tensions between Hezbollah and the Future Movement over Yemen, Nasrallah said the two sides should respect each other’s diverging views over the conflict in order to insulate Lebanon from any spillover.

“We have had our differences over Yemen and over Syria and before that over Lebanon,” he said. “We in Lebanon want to live together and work together. We do not want the dispute over Yemen to spill over into Lebanon.”

Nasrallah said he advocated a Saudi-Iranian dialogue as this would leave a positive impact on regional conflicts. “Iran has for years been seeking to reach understanding with Saudi Arabia but Saudi Arabia has always refused,” he said. “Iran is ready today for dialogue with Saudi Arabia. But Saudi Arabia has defiantly refused because it had failed in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon and is searching for success in Yemen before going to the dialogue table.”

French weapons to land in Beirut Monday

BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army will receive its first shipment of French weapons Monday, part of a $3-billion military aid package funded by Saudi Arabia to assist the poorly equipped military in its war against jihadi militants.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi said during a tour of the southern border that the armed forces would not, under any circumstances, allow militants to infiltrate Lebanese border towns.

A ceremony to mark the arrival of the shipment will take place at Rafic Hariri International Airport at 8:30 a.m. Monday, according to a statement issued by the Army Friday.

Speaking to The Daily Star, a senior Army source refused to confirm reports that the shipment would include MILAN anti-tank missiles, as claimed by local media outlets Friday.

A source close to French President Francois Hollande told The Daily Star last week that the first shipment of arms would include light equipment and military accessories such as goggles, which will be transported to Beirut from French arms warehouses.

The arming process will take three years, with lighter equipment being shipped first. Heavy weapons such as warplanes and cruisers are currently unavailable, and will take time to be manufactured and transported to Lebanon.

The arrival of the first shipment comes 11 months after an initial agreement was struck by Hollande and the late Saudi king, Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz al-Saud. The delay in delivering the arms was attributed to technical reasons.

According to the Army statement, Defense Minister Samir Moqbel, his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, Gen. Kahwagi and Saudi Ambassador Ali Awad Asiri will attend the ceremony.

In addition to this military aid, Saudi Arabia promised an additional $1 billion to the Lebanese security services last August. Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri was tasked with overseeing its disbursement. Hariri currently resides outside Lebanon, but visited Beirut in August to follow up on the implementation of the grant.

The Army is engaged in an ongoing battle against jihadi groups, including ISIS and the Nusra Front, in the rugged mountains outside the northeastern border town of Arsal.

Last summer, jihadi fighters overran Arsal, before withdrawing to its outskirts with more than 30 hostages from the Army and security forces.

There are fears that jihadi groups could attack border towns again and force a decisive battle with the Army this spring, once the snow in the mountains has melted.

But Kahwagi said Friday that the Army would not, under any circumstances, allow militants to infiltrate Lebanese towns, noting that Lebanon’s stability was a priority for the military.

The Army commander spoke during an inspection of military units in the southern district of Marjayoun, where he was updated on security and defense measures being taken to preserve stability on the border.

Kahwagi said the arming and training of Lebanese soldiers undertaken by friendly states was ongoing, adding that it demonstrated the international community’s faith in the Lebanese Army and its combat efficiency.

Kahwagi highlighted the importance of cooperation and coordination between Lebanese troops and UNIFIL in implementing U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701.

He explained that the difficult circumstances Lebanon were witnessing and regional turmoil affecting the country required the highest level of readiness by the Army to be able to face upcoming challenges and dangers, particularly those posed by Israel and terrorism.

Kahwagi said the Army was now stronger than any time before, and there is consensus among Lebanese factions on backing it.

On Links As In Life, D.C. Bipartisan Relations Are Deep In The Rough

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Hill staffers and PGA professionals mingle Wednesday at this year's National Golf Day event on Capitol Hill, which included an annual Democrats versus Republicans putting challenge. Emily Jan/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Emily Jan/NPR

Hill staffers and PGA professionals mingle Wednesday at this year's National Golf Day event on Capitol Hill, which included an annual Democrats versus Republicans putting challenge.

Emily Jan/NPR

Earlier this week, members of Congress and their staffs were greeted by a makeshift golf expo set up on the Rayburn House Office Building.

The event included golf shot simulators, certified golf instructors and a putting challenge between Democrats and Republicans. It was all part of National Golf Day, an annual event organized by the industry that promotes the economic and health benefits of the sport.

American politicians have had an affinity with golf dating back at least as far as William Howard Taft, the first-known president to hit the links. Since then, Democrats and Republicans alike have enjoyed game. But as hyperpartisan politics have become more commonplace in Washington, bipartisan golf outings have disappeared like a shanked tee shot into a water hazard

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South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn talks with PGA professional Bob Dolan Jr. at the National Golf Day event on Capitol Hill. Clyburn is an avid golfer, and the Democrat says that earlier on in his career, he learned a lot about bipartisanship on the golf course. Emily Jan/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Emily Jan/NPR

South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn talks with PGA professional Bob Dolan Jr. at the National Golf Day event on Capitol Hill. Clyburn is an avid golfer, and the Democrat says that earlier on in his career, he learned a lot about bipartisanship on the golf course.

Emily Jan/NPR

Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the third ranking Democrat in House leadership, said that when he first came to Washington in the early 1990s, golf was something political rivals did together regularly.

"I really learned bipartisanship up here on the golf course, and it allowed me to develop relationships across the aisle. And sometimes I'd be the only Democrat there — often the only African-American — but it taught me a lot. And I hope the experience taught some of them a lot," he said.

Clyburn, who took part in the event's putting challenge, admits that as years have passed, golf has stopped being used to chip away at bipartisan divides.

One needs to look no further than the closely watched relationship between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner. Shortly after Republicans regained control of the House following the 2010 midterm elections, many wondered if the two would get together for a round of golf to iron out their differences.

It finally happened in June 2011. According to reports at the time, it was a cordial outing — Boehner clapped when the President sank a putt, and Obama put his hand on Boehner's shoulder as they were exiting a green.

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President Obama points to Vice President Biden's putt as they and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, golf at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., in June 2011. Charles Dharapak/AP hide caption

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President Obama points to Vice President Biden's putt as they and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, golf at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., in June 2011.

Charles Dharapak/AP

But a month after that golf outing, the negotiations between the two on raising the nation's debt ceiling collapsed.

Sweetness And Light

Golf May Be Too Polite A Sport For Presidential Politics

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, is an avid golfer, and still has a lot of power in his swing for an 81-year-old. Like Clyburn, he believes the decline in across-the-aisle golf outings has led to missed opportunities.

"It's still one of the best ways to communicate with one another and solve a problem — on the golf course," Young said.

Young admits there are still some bipartisan outings, but far fewer than there used to be. He said one reason is that members don't stick around Washington on weekends, when Congress isn't in session.

Former Republican Rep. Michael Oxley, who represented Ohio's 4th Congressional District for a quarter-century, said he played golf with many Democrats before his retirement in 2007, including former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill.

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A staffer participates in the annual Democrats vs. Republicans putting challenge. Emily Jan/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Emily Jan/NPR

A staffer participates in the annual Democrats vs. Republicans putting challenge.

Emily Jan/NPR

"When I ran for Congress, of course, Tip was the boogeyman among Republicans," Oxley said.

Oxley said the two golfed together and hit it off. He even remembers O'Neill's odd device at the handle end of his putter — a suction cup, so O'Neill didn't have to bend down to pick his ball up out of the hole. He admits there wasn't a whole lot of good golf played, but says it wasn't about that — it was about laying the groundwork for a good working relationship.

"I can't remember one time when I've cut a deal specifically on a specific piece of legislation on the golf course, because it's just generally frowned upon," Oxley said. "But the prearranged relationship that you've developed over time on a golf course gives you that avenue to make deals at a later date."

Any chance current members of Congress can learn something from their predecessors?

Rep. Clyburn will golf in Hilton Head, S.C., this weekend, and his trip suggests the lack of links bipartisanship will persist a bit longer: The list of House colleagues who will join him is all Democrats.

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Eric Werwa, left, Deputy Chief of Staff for Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., gets some tips on his swing from a PGA professional at the National Golf Day event on Capitol Hill. Emily Jan/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Emily Jan/NPR

Eric Werwa, left, Deputy Chief of Staff for Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., gets some tips on his swing from a PGA professional at the National Golf Day event on Capitol Hill.

Emily Jan/NPR

A Ticking Clock Threatens Obama's Immigration Plan

A federal appeals court in New Orleans heard oral arguments in a case that could determine the viability of President Obama's plan to temporarily shield more than four million undocumented immigrants from deportation and issue them work permits.

At stake is whether the president will get to implement his plan before his term expires.

In a rare hearing before a three-judge panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, government lawyers asked the judges to issue an emergency stay of the February ruling by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen. Such requests are usually confined to written briefs. Each side was allotted an hour to argue—twice as much as is generally heard in a Supreme Court case.

Hanen, based in Texas, had ruled the president had overstepped his authority and violated the law governing administrative procedures in announcing his executive action on immigration back in November. Judge Hanen also said that the state of Texas would incur costs associated with issuing driver's licenses to immigrants who gained legal status.

Texas is leading a 26 state coalition suing to challenge the president's executive action.

Arguing for the Justice Department, Benjamin Mizer, said Texas had no standing because immigration policy is set by the federal government.

"If Texas is right, it could challenge an individual's right to seek asylum," Mizer said. "The states do not have standing in the downstream effects of a federal immigration policy."

But Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller argued that his state does have a stake in immigration policy. In a statement issued after the more than two hour hearing, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said:

"President Obama's executive amnesty program would grant legal status to individuals who are unlawfully in this country, making them eligible for benefits under federal and state programs. These benefits include work permits, tax credits, Social Security, Medicare, driver's licenses, unemployment insurance and the right to international travel."

Attorneys for both sides were frequently questioned by two of three panelists. Judge Jennifer Elrod, a George W. Bush appointee, appeared skeptical of the administration's defense of the President's executive action. Similarly, Obama appointee Judge Stephen Higginson appeared more open to the government's arguments.

A third judge, Jerry Smith, a Reagan appointee, was mostly silent throughout the hearing, according to MarieElena Hincapie, Executive Director of the National Immigration Law Center, who attended the hearing. Her group supports Obama's executive action.

The sounds of several hundred immigration activists protesting outside could be heard from inside the courtroom.

Going into this hearing, many court watchers had noted that the administration could face a tough time since the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considered the most conservative appellate court in the country.

The judges did not rule. A decision is not generally expected for another few weeks.

The hearing is only one act in the legal drama over the president's immigration plan. If the panel rules against the president, his administration could request an en banc hearing or take an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Hanen is still scheduled to hold a trial on the constitutionality of Obama's executive action. The administration would certainly appeal an adverse ruling from a judge who has already thrown one roadblock in front of the president's plan.

Ultimately, time may not be on President Obama's side, says Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond.

"All of this legal jousting will probably consume many months and may well run out the clock, as the Obama Administration draws to a close," said Tobias.

President Obama Welcomes Italian Prime Minister Renzi to the White House

President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy participate in a press conference in the East Room of the White House, April 17, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Earlier today, President Obama hosted Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi at the White House for a bilateral meeting and a working lunch.

At the press conference between the two events, President Obama praised Prime Minister Renzi's energy and vision as well as his "willingness to challenge the status quo and to look to the future," noting that these qualities have made the Prime Minister a leading voice in Europe.

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Police storm Roumieh block to quell riot

BEIRUT: Anti-riot police stormed a block in Lebanon’s largest prison Friday evening in a bid to end a riot by Islamist inmates who took several guards hostage to protest the prison’s strict regulations, a security source told The Daily Star.

After surrounding all entrances to Block D of Roumieh prison and issuing a warning to the prisoners, police units stormed the prison once negotiations hit a dead end. The operation continued till late Friday.

The riots began during the evening meal, after which inmates are usually confined to their cells for the night.

A number of prisoners in the newly rehabilitated Block D set their mattresses on fire, and a blaze spread throughout the second floor, prompting Civil Defense teams to intervene.

The inmates then escalated their riot by blocking all entrances and taking the guards hostage, the source said.

The riots come in response to the stricter regulations that the prison authorities have adopted to prevent the smuggling of drugs and weapons to inmates.

Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk posted on his Twitter account that “the situation is under control and Roumieh prison will not return to its past chaos, whatever the price.”

The security source said the prisoners responsible for the riots were mostly Islamists who had been incarcerated in Roumieh’s notorious Block B building, which was emptied and shut down after a large-scale police operation in January.

Inmates had enjoyed relative autonomy in Block B and prevented security forces from entering.

After the clearing operation took place, television footage showed that prisoners had no cell doors and operated a barber shop and a coffee shop in Block B.

Footage also showed inmates on Block B had a large amount of electronic equipment, including TV sets and mobile phones.

Some of the prisoners are members of Islamist fundamentalist groups and had also been imposing Shariah law inside Block B, reports said.

Roumieh prison has been the scene of repetitive riots in past years, with inmates protesting crowded cells and slow trials.

The largest riot occurred in April 2011, when inmates set their beds on fire and broke down cell doors, in protest over subpar living conditions.

In memory of Basil Fuleihan,10 years on

Ten years after my beloved brother Basil’s passing I can still remember that morning in the U.S., when amid the business of the morning rush to work and school on Feb. 14, 2005, we heard the NPR news mention a big explosion in Beirut. It was already afternoon in Beirut. The report was vague but ominous. The phone call that followed corroborated my worst fears. Basil survived the blast that took the life of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and many others, however, after a valiant struggle and the best efforts of the medical community, my brother succumbed to his injuries on April 18 that year.

Basil and I grew up in Beirut in a small nuclear family surrounded by many cousins, second cousins and friends with whom we still share dear memories of that idyllic childhood and the games we played during our summers in the mountains and at the beach. With time, our friendship grew stronger and continued on, growing across continents in spite of the Civil War that forced us to live in distant places. Basil never waivered to play his role as brother and uncle to my three daughters by keeping in touch and visiting as much as possible. When he and Yasma became parents to two beautiful children, I could feel his deep pride and love for his own family.

From an early age, Basil had strong opinions and the confidence to express and defend them. His sharp mind thrived, encouraged by our parents, who had a profound respect for our thinking and points of view. His devotion to Lebanon was clear from a very early age when, barely 7, he made the case for the necessity of our family returning to Lebanon after my father was offered the opportunity to continue his medical career in the United States. Such was Basil’s love for his country. It brought my father back to Lebanon, where we continued our schooling and later steered Basil toward his career choice.

Throughout his short life, Basil distinguished himself with his strong sense of fairness and justice and an ability to bring people together. He loved life and laughter and never missed an opportunity to tease. He loved his friends and family, who all respected him and loved him back. Mostly he believed in fairness for all regardless of their religion, gender or race. He had a skill to solve problems in order to achieve harmony and happiness among a group of people, be it family, friends or co-workers. His sense of humor and optimism put people at ease and paved the way to surmount obstacles. This undoubtedly helped his career in government where he worked to make a difference in people’s lives and help in the economic recovery of Lebanon.

Even though Basil was my younger brother, I looked up to him, literally, for he always made sure to point out the two extra inches that nature gave him over me and figuratively, as he approached life with optimism, humor, courage, love and passion. His loss has left a huge gap among his family, friends and colleagues. I am comforted seeing his personality and intellect expressed in his beautiful children, Rayna and Rayan.

“Dear Basil, although your life was cut short by a ruthless and criminal act, you demonstrated all the qualities of true leadership and achieved more than many of us can dream of. You have touched and enriched our lives and your example will continue to inspire us and give us strength. We miss you dearly; your smile will not fade from our memory; your light shines brightly in your beautiful children, Rayna and Rayan and in all our hearts.”

Your Loving Brother Ramsay

Dr. Ramsay Fuleihan is a professor in pediatrics-allergy and immunology living in Chicago, United States.

Yasma Fuleihan struggles on without her husband Basil

BEIRUT: Yasma Fuleihan has been interrupted by a phone call from a well-known U.N. official. She greets the voice on the other end of the receiver with a lightheartedness honed over the last 10 years and lists her engagements matter-of-factly – ambassadors, dinner, family, the children. As she listens, Yasma’s eyebrows rise and fall. “You know how Basil is,” she says, using the present tense to describe her deceased husband.

The widow of Basil Fuleihan, the former economy minister who died from wounds sustained in a bomb that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others on Feb. 14, 2005, has maintained a low profile in Geneva since his death. She returns to Lebanon periodically on April 18 to commemorate Basil’s death publicly. Privately, that fateful day remains a vivid fixture in her mind – when she retells it, her body seems to relive it.

After Yasma had dropped the kids, now 15 and 13, to school, Basil called from Beirut to wish her a happy Valentine’s Day. Despite having the option of flying directly to Beirut from Geneva Feb. 15, Basil chose to take the route via Paris two days earlier so he could get to the Lebanese capital in time for the parliamentary session Feb. 14, the day Hariri’s motorcade was attacked. When Basil said goodbye, he said he would call her back once he left Parliament.

Yasma was shopping when her mother called and asked frantically whether Basil was with her. She said he was in Beirut and her mother fell silent. She described the following hours as like “being in a tsunami.” Immediately Yasma called her husband’s mobile and got an out of service signal. Terrified of what awaited her at home, she went to a friend’s house. The calls poured in, the panic of uncertainty set, plane tickets were purchased and two months beside her dying husband’s side in a hospital in Paris went by. Ten years later, Yasma says her sense of reality, as she once knew it, is irretrievable and altered.

“It’s a struggle, because you have to be strong for the children. It’s not easy, sometimes I fall,” she says.

“And then I dream of Basil, like he came back and feel,” she searches for the words, “like a release, and the dream feels so real.

“Then I wake up and realize. But I feel stronger somehow.”

The couple had grown up in houses facing each other in Beirut but didn’t meet until they were young adults in Washington D.C., where Yasma was attending university and Basil was working with the International Monetary Fund. After a six-year engagement, they were married.

“Life is irony,” Yasma says, recalling how months before his death Basil had marveled at how the seating area in Hariri’s new private plane could be converted to an intensive care unit. The plane would eventually transport Basil’s burned body out of Lebanon to France.

The children bear a striking resemblance to their father, and like him have excelled in math and science. Both are adept young musicians, playing piano and violin at a conservatory while completing high school studies in a rigorous Swiss program. The siblings have expressed interest in pursuing engineering as a career, but Yasma is reluctant to carve out a definite path for their futures.

“The children, they know what they want,” she says, adding philosophically, “No matter what we think, we don’t realize that we humans are fragile.”

Her daughter Rayna wants to pursue studies at the Ecole Polytechnique in Lausanne. Yasma says the precocious young teen already has preferences about which one of her girlfriends she wants to dorm with.

To deal with their father’s passing, Yasma had the children write poems about their feelings. “We talk about everything, I tell them everything,” she says. When they were younger, they drew pictures for him which their mother would dutifully hang on the trees surrounding his grave. They learned the details about his death as they got older. Initially Yasma told her children their father had died because “God had an economic issue,” she says.

“I’ve had to become not just their mother, but their father and also friend,” she says. “But even with that, no one can replace a father.”

Her son Rayan complains that he is “always surrounded by women” in the house. When the kids asked if they could have another sibling, Yasma got them a pet dog. “Each one deals with it differently – my daughter because she is the oldest asks more questions, her brother listens.”

In her efforts to keep the memory of their father alive – Rayna’s WhatsApp profile picture is of her with Basil on the last ski trip they took together a week before his death – Yasma cautions them not to harbor hatred for those responsible for his murder. “The criminal, once they kill someone, they kill everyone [who loved that person]. If you fall into that trap, you will want revenge and it becomes a never-ending cycle,” she says. “It would destroy everything.”

Taking over full responsibilities for the household and rearing the children sometimes can almost prove too much for Yasma. “It’s hard when a part of you is missing,” she says. “At every event, when they graduate from school, we think about how Basil isn’t here.”

Week In Politics: Trans-Pacific Partnership, 2016 Presidential Candidates

Audio for this story from All Things Considered will be available at approximately 7:00 p.m. ET.

NPR's Robert Siegel speaks with political commentators E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post and Brookings Institution and David Brooks of The New York Times about a busy week in Washington, D.C. with progress on trade. They also take a look at the 2016 presidential candidates so far.

Lawmakers Approve Bill To Help Finalize Asia-Pacific Trade Deal

Audio for this story from All Things Considered will be available at approximately 7:00 p.m. ET.

Senate negotiators move forward on legislation that would give President Obama the authority to negotiate a sweeping trade accord. That deal, however, will align Obama with Republicans and pit him against Democrats.

Oklahoma City Bombing A 'Wake-Up Call' For Government Security

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The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was "literally right up against the road so it was extremely vulnerable," said architect Barbara Nadel. One of the government's first responses was to close a two-block stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. AFP/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption AFP/AFP/Getty Images

The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was "literally right up against the road so it was extremely vulnerable," said architect Barbara Nadel. One of the government's first responses was to close a two-block stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House.

AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Twenty years ago this Sunday, a truck bomb exploded next to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. One hundred sixty-eight people were killed in the blast, hundreds were injured.

The bombing prompted heightened security at federal buildings — around the nation, and especially here in Washington.

One of the government's first responses to the bombing was closing a two-block stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House.

It had been a major thoroughfare in Washington, dubbed "America's Main Street." It was busy with car and truck traffic from the Capitol, to the White House and west to Washington's original commercial center, Georgetown.

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The road in front of the White House, seen here in 1941, was a major thoroughfare dubbed "America's Main Street." AP hide caption

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The road in front of the White House, seen here in 1941, was a major thoroughfare dubbed "America's Main Street."

AP

But the blast in front of the Murrah building changed all that. The Secret Service feared that someone could park a truck bomb yards from the White House. So in May 1995, President Clinton announced its closing. "Clearly, this closing is necessary because of the changing nature and scope of the threat of terrorist actions. It should be seen as a responsible security step necessary to preserve our freedom, not part of a long-term restriction of our freedom," he said.

The Oklahoma City bombing "was the wake-up call," said Barbara Nadel, a New York-based architect and author of Building Security. "It was almost a precursor to 9/11 and many of the things we've seen around the world since then."

She says the Murrah building in Oklahoma City was an inviting target for an attack. "That building was smack up against the street. It was literally right up against the road so it was extremely vulnerable."

According to Nadel, the government had no standards for security design before Oklahoma City.

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After the Oklahoma City bombing, President Clinton announced the closure of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. It remains closed to cars today. Brian Naylor/NPR hide caption

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After the Oklahoma City bombing, President Clinton announced the closure of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. It remains closed to cars today.

Brian Naylor/NPR

Les Shepherd disagreed. He's the chief architect for the General Services Administration, the landlord for most federal agencies. He said the GSA has "always addressed security. I think we've gotten more specific about the minimum security requirements so it's always been part of the consideration, but I think we've just looked to ensure that it doesn't happen again."

After Oklahoma City, the GSA determined that federal buildings from now on should be set back from the street, that blast-resistant glass should be used and the buildings themselves engineered to prevent floors collapsing.

But has the government now gone too far in the other direction? After Oklahoma City and the 9/11 attacks six years later, cement flower planters sprouted and, concrete jersey barriers rose up in front of federal buildings. It seemed as though the government was walling itself off from the people.

U.S. Commission of Fine Arts Secretary Thomas Luebke called the debate over security versus openness and aesthetics "the issue of the decade." His agency reviews designs for federal buildings in Washington.

"How can we tame this stuff, how can we make these barriers not seem so intrusive" and "not degrade the public experience?" he asked.

The GSA's Shepherd said it is a balancing act. "If you look at the new buildings that we've done in the last 20 years" there has been "a special emphasis that the buildings do not look like a fortress," he said. "They are public buildings, we recognize that."

Luebke said the government has gotten better at taming what he calls the security beast, using landscaping to disguise barriers, and removing the big cement flower planters.

The Two-Way

Florida Mailman Who Flew Gyrocopter Onto Capitol Lawn Charged

Architect Nadel said the government, architects and engineers need to design buildings "that are welcoming, accessible open and humane, and there is a lot of support for creating wonderful architecture that really is emblematic of the American spirit and democracy."

Still the challenge of protecting government buildings continues to evolve. Now officials have to worry about things like drones landing on the White House grounds and an auto-gyrocopter that landed near the Capitol building earlier this week.

5 Things You Should Know About Mike Huckabee

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Huckabee greets supporters ahead of his victory in the 2008 Iowa caucus. Eric Thayer/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Eric Thayer/Getty Images

Huckabee greets supporters ahead of his victory in the 2008 Iowa caucus.

Eric Thayer/Getty Images

When former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee ran for president in 2008, he surprised many political watchers with a big a victory in the Iowa caucus. "What we have seen is a new day in American politics," he said after he was declared the winner. "This election will start a prairie fire of hope and zeal."

An ordained baptist minister, Huckabee drew in one of the party's key constituencies — evangelicals. Of course, John McCain went on to secure the Republican nomination, and Huckabee went on to become a talk-show host.

Huckabee didn't run in 2012, but could make a comeback in 2016 — he says he'll make an announcement Friday "about my 2016 decision."

Here are five things you might not know about the former governor:

1. He's run marathons.

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Huckabee ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2005. Kevin Wolf/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Kevin Wolf/AP

Huckabee ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2005.

Kevin Wolf/AP

In 2003, Huckabee took up running after he says a doctor scared him straight about his weight and he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. He's run marathons in Arkansas, New York and Washington D.C.

"I didn't want to be one of those obnoxious reformed people. I'm just a beggar telling other beggars how to find bread — whole grain, of course," he told Runner's World in 2005. "I'm someone who did it wrong for 47 years, digging my grave with a knife and fork."

2. He commuted the sentence of a man who later allegedly killed four police officers.

Huckabee's pardon record has been scrutinized, and could very well come up during a 2016 run. As governor, he issued more than 1,000 pardons and commutations, more than his three predecessors combined, per the Washington Post . One man was later suspected of shooting four police officers in Takoma, Wash.

"If I could have known nine years ago this guy was capable of something of this magnitude, obviously I would never have granted a commutation," Huckabee told Fox News.

3. He has a $3 million beachfront home.

The home was subject of a Reuters investigation last year, which reported that it lay on a severely eroding beach, where state regulations wouldn't have allowed him to build. However, permits were approved after he agreed to move the home site back by five feet. As Reuters wrote, Huckabee and his neighbors have "been able to work around some of the most restrictive beach development laws in the country."

4. He plays bass in a band called "Capitol Offense."

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Huckabee (right) plays bass guitar with a member of the Boogiewoogers band at a rally in Iowa in 2008. Jeff Chiu/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Jeff Chiu/AP

Huckabee (right) plays bass guitar with a member of the Boogiewoogers band at a rally in Iowa in 2008.

Jeff Chiu/AP

Huckabee has played music since he was 11. The band was formed in 1996 with members of his staff. "In the course of our playing ... we offend just about everybody," he said of how the band got its name.

He took his musical act on the campaign trail in 2007, playing multiple stops in Iowa.

5. He had beef with Beyonce.

Huckabee's book God, Guns, Grits and Gravy criticized a provocative Grammy performance by Beyonce and Jay Z. Huckabee wrote:

Author Interviews

Huckabee Serves Up 'God, Guns' And A Dose Of Controversy

"Beyonce is incredibly talented — gifted, in fact. She has an exceptional set of pipes and can actually sing. She is a terrific dancer — without the explicit moves best left for the privacy of her bedroom. Jay-Z is a very shrewd businessman, but I wonder: Does it occur to him that he is arguably crossing the line from husband to pimp by exploiting his wife as a sex object?"

He told NPR earlier this year that the comment was not a value judgement, but that he was trying to point out America's cultural divide. "What is completely, maybe, normal and not the least bit distressing to people in the cultural bubbles of New York, D.C. and in Hollywood," Huckabee said, "is appalling to those who live out here and have to pay for this nonsense."