Crosstalk: January 2, 2017

Jim hosted this final news round-up and comment program for 2016 by concentrating on the following news stories:

--The Obama administration announces sanctions against Russia's intelligence services in response to efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

--Moscow dismisses Obama's order concerning alleged 'hacks'.

--Obama has unproven accusations that the Russians interfered with the U.S. presidential election.

--President Obama to open a post-presidential office at the World Wildlife Fund Headquarters.

--A U.N. nuclear watchdog revealed that the Obama administration gave Iran secret exemptions allowing them to stockpile Uranium in larger amounts than the limits imposed by the 2015 nuclear deal.

--Taxpayers foot the bill for 96 million dollars in mostly personal travel expenses for President Obama and his family over the 8 years he's occupied the White House.

--The White House has published a series of brief reports outlining what the administration considers to be President Obama's record of achievement in various areas of pubic policy.

--President Obama protected two massive areas in the American West including a swath of Southern Utah that's been at the center of a contentious battle over land protections.

--The White House took to Twitter Wednesday to promote a monument designation but sent out the wrong picture.

--New 30 year permits to be issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will quadruple the number of bald eagles that wind farms will be collectively allowed to kill per year while avoiding prosecution under the 1940 Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

--The Obama administration is trying to include a pricey climate change initiative costing taxpayers a potential 90 million dollars if it survives its unveiling in Asia next month.

--On the Tuesday before Christmas, President Obama ordered U.S. owned waters in the Arctic Ocean and certain areas of the Atlantic Ocean to be indefinitely placed off-limits for future oil and gas leases.

--Ohio Governor John Kasich used his veto power to kill a bill that would have made renewable energy benchmarks voluntary rather than mandatory over the next two years.

--President-elect Trump to have a scaled-down inauguration event so that he can concentrate on getting right to work for the American people.

--Trump announced that Sprint and a new company known as OneWeb to add 8,000 jobs in the U.S.

--Trump will be able to reshape the judicial system once he takes office.

--A Federal appeals court opens the door for Donald Trump's U.S. attorney general, (which will be Jeff Sessions, if confirmed) to intervene in the case of Hillary Clinton's use of an unsecured private computer server in her home for classified information.

--Trump taps a national security aid to former president George W. Bush as his counter-terrorism adviser.

--The nation saw 135 police officers die in the line of duty in 2016.

--Jay Obernolte is sponsoring a bill to make attacks on law enforcement a hate crime in the State of California.

--Beginning on January 1st, child prostitution will be legal in the streets of California.

--Nine people accused of supporting ISIS were arrested in the posh suburbs of Northern Virginia. Upon closer inspection many of them don't fit the profile of a supporter of jihad.

--Fake hate crimes on the increase. The new twist is that they are said to be caused by Islamaphobia.

--ISIS state general flees to Europe with 400 soldiers disguised as refugees according to an Italian intelligence report.

--In the last full month in office, the Obama administration has admitted 1,307 more Syrian refugees, pushing the 2016 calendar year total to 15,479, a 606.1% increase from the number resettled in the U.S. in 2015. Of the 15,479 Syrian refugees admitted by the end of Thursday, 98.9% are Muslim.

--Cub Scouts facing a transgender controversy.

--For the next week, not only will there be no U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in the Middle East, there will be no American aircraft carrier deployed at sea anywhere else in the world despite a host of worldwide threats facing the United States.

Significant issues mentioned from 2016 included:

--Islam's advancement around the world.

--The Influx of Islamic refugees into the U.S.

--The recent betrayal of Israel by the Obama administration.

--LGBT issues across the U.S.

--The Obama administration forcing transgenderism on the public schools.

--The push to normalize gender disphoria.

--Transgenderizing of the military.

--The Clinton Foundation e-mail scandal.

--The Trump victory.

--The push to eradicate the electoral college.

--The death of Antonin Scalia.

--The Trans Pacific Partnership.

--The further decimation of our military and their equipment.

--The growing push for Common Core.

--Students taken to mosques for field trips and being required to memorize the Shahada.

--Schools beginning to host satanist after-school clubs.

--The war on police.

--Britain's withdrawal from the European Union known as 'Brexit'.