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Trump promises tax relief, immigration overhaul in Congress address | (Reuters) - President Donald Trump opened the door on Tuesday to a broad overhaul of the U.S. immigration system and vowed to pursue massive tax relief for the middle class in a speech to Congress as he sought to rebound from a chaotic start to his presidency. Trump said he was open to a broad overhaul of the U.S. immigration system, a shift from his hardline campaign rhetoric. He emphasized his desire to focus on problems at home by boosting the U.S. economy with tax reform, a $1 trillion infrastructure effort and an overhaul of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, known as Obamacare. BRIAN REYNOLDS, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, NEW ALBION PARTNERS, NEW YORK “The speech showed the softer side of the President, but I think the media had let investors know this would be the case, so no surprise for markets on that front. “The speech lacked specifics as it related to financial markets. Again I don’t think that is a surprise. “With no surprises and few financial specifics, it is likely that equity investors will focus on how many of his themes can be passed by Congress given how late it is getting in the legislative calendar. Skepticism over the likelihood of policy enactment may create a brief pullback in stocks at some point. “There was nothing in the speech, or in the President’s agenda, that is likely to alter the behavior of corporate bond investors, who have been driving this equity bull market for eight years via debt-fueled buybacks. They bought a strong $18 billion of new corporate bonds on Tuesday in advance of the speech, and they will likely be back at work on Wednesday, putting their cash flows to work. I believe that these flows are likely to keep any stock market pullback brief and shallow.” BUCKY HELLWIG, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, BB&T WEALTH MANAGEMENT, BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA: “The speech was a summary of Trump’s policies. Stocks could move higher tomorrow as nothing has changed and stock investors are still expecting infrastructure build out, tax and regulatory relief, and changes in Affordable Care, but the timetable has not been clarified for these. Republican constituents may pressure Congress to step up the pace in moving the Trump agenda forward. “Some specifics: pressure on drug margins, completion across state lines for healthcare organizations, military expenditures increasing – but nothing new here. “Fed policy will get more attention this week and next. Manufacturing PMI tomorrow and employment report next Friday (March 10) will be watched. Yellen will be speaking this Friday. Fed funds futures showing a higher probability of an increase at the FOMC March 15 meeting.” J.J. FELDMAN, PORTFOLIO MANAGER AT MIRACLE MILE ADVISORS IN LA: “There was nothing really new,” he said. “It was a good speech in that it was more uniting than divisive but from the market perspective it was status quo,” “This probably wasn’t the venue but if new details on tax reform are not coming soon there’s going to be disappointment for sure.“ JUAN PEREZ, SENIOR CURRENCY STRATEGIST, TEMPUS CONSULTING, WASHINGTON: “Trump said a lot of things that are positive for financial markets such as spending a huge amount for infrastructure. Overall there were no real surprises as these are pronouncements that we have heard before. However, I expect that market gains from his speech would be subdued by the continued tone of protectionism in his statements. Anytime, you attack trade deals as Trump did, the market gets nervous.” PAUL CHRISTOPHER, HEAD GLOBAL MARKET STRATEGIST AT WELLS FARGO INVESTMENT INSTITUTE IN ST. LOUIS, MO. “I was impressed though, or at least relieved, that it wasn’t like his inauguration speech, it wasn’t a challenge or a gauntlet thrown down to the opposition or to other countries. It was a speech that was more balanced and more presidential-sounding. “But even as a state of the union address, which it sounded a lot like, it wasn’t very specific. It especially and could have and didn’t prioritize all of these different things he was talking about. Some of the policies are going to be very expensive - a trillion dollars for infrastructure, $100 billion a year, extra defense spending - the budget may not have room for all of that. “He didn’t talk at all about how they were going to fund any of that. He also didn’t talk about tax reform, which I expected he would give Congress some marching orders in terms of what he wants - he hardly said anything about tax reform. “He talked about the Affordable Care Act but again he didn’t talk about any of the directives of are we going to repeal and replace now or repeal and replace later. He did say he wanted continuity but moderate Republicans are not convinced the conservative Republicans have that as a priority. So it may be even difficult to pass the ACA repeal in this budget bill. “He was effective at reaching out to the other side, he was effective at times in being able to connect items. For example, connecting education as the way to break the cycle of poverty and then morphing or transitioning into violent crime and cutting down on that. Those were effective points and effective transitions. But again not enough detail for investors and certainly the markets were chopping around while he was speaking. It wasn’t a big market mover and we still have to wait for the details. I don’t think we are going to see much change. “There is no reason to sell, he didn’t throw water on any of the agenda, he simply didn’t clarify it any.” “I think the market is going to be positive. The market continues to see him as a good-for-business president. He’s very pragmatic when it comes to business. In terms of getting these grand visions done, I don’t think the market gives so much importance to that. When he spoke about cost cutting, that immediately resonates with everyone on Wall Street. That’s easy stuff. That’s low hanging fruit. It’s really hard to grow revenues. But it’s really easy to cut costs. There is so much fat. It’s so over regulated. This is easy stuff. He said enough of that during the speech that he will resonate well. “I think some people were probably looking for some meat on the bones. He definitely covered everything. It was more of a laundry list. There wasn’t a lot of details. “To me, the tax reform is something everybody wants. Repatriation of money abroad is something that ever wants. Why not take care of those and then take care of the dicey things? Like Obamacare and immigration.” OMER ESINER, CHIEF MARKET ANALYST AT COMMONWEALTH FOREIGN EXCHANGE IN WASHINGTON DC “(Trump’s) mention of historic treaties and NATO specifically was reassuring for our allies globally, and in that sense it was probably reassuring for global financial markets as well.” “(The speech) was still probably light on actual details on the fiscal side of things. We got mention of a trillion dollar infrastructure spending package. I think it’s very early so I wouldn’t necessarily hang my hat on that number. It was largely absent of any major focus on the tax side of things. In terms of overall details, on the fiscal side of the equation, it was probably pretty light. But I think despite that on some level the market might be reassured by the more or less balanced tone of the speech. It was much more presidential than some of the previous speeches and commentary we’ve gotten from the president.” PAUL NOLTE, PORTFOLIO MANAGER AT KINGSVIEW ASSET MANAGEMENT IN CHICAGO “The devil is going to be in the details and I think that’s why you didn’t see the futures move too terribly much. The markets are still, show me what you are going to do, how is this all going to work and how are we paying for it. That’s going to take probably a couple weeks to a couple months to get laid out.” “Everybody is looking for more details and we’re still waiting.” “I think expectations right now are really high all the way around and it’s going to be a process. We’re going to have to wait to see some of this develop.” STEVE MASSOCCA, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AT WEDBUSH SECURITIES IN SAN FRANCISCO “I thought it went pretty well, certainly no land mines or explosions.” “From an investor’s perspective there was no new information, no surprises good or bad. From the perspective of where money goes tomorrow, I don’t see what we have learned that’s new or different. ... But he burnished his image, so there’s a positive there. He’s a pro business president so that’s a good thing.” RANDY FREDERICK, VICE PRESIDENT OF TRADING AND DERIVATIVES FOR CHARLES SCHWAB IN AUSTIN, TEXAS “He pretty much didn’t say anything he hadn’t said before so markets have no reason to react overly positively or overly negatively ... Would the market have liked details sure, but I don’t think it was expecting them.” “If anything the market might move moderately higher tomorrow. It pulled back moderately today. The uptick in volatility today was a preparation for the potential for a downside move ... It was a little bit of hedging going on before an event that could move the market.” A key focus for Wednesday will be Personal Consumption Expenditures, a key inflationary measure that the U.S. Federal Reserve watches, Frederick said. BRIAN JACOBSEN, CHIEF PORTFOLIO STRATEGIST AT WELLS FARGO FUNDS MANAGEMENT IN MENOMONEE FALLS, WISCONSIN: “He was surprisingly detailed about what to replace Obamacare with. It’s likely Congress will be able to take that up shortly as part of the 2017 budget and then quickly pivot to the 2018 budget which will deal with tax reform. That plan is much less developed, but he has time.” On taxes, Jacobsen said: “Every deduction and credit that would need to be eliminated to lower tax rates in a budget-neutral way has strong defenders. That’s how those deductions and credits got there. So, we’ll just have to watch and wait to see which special interests President Trump will take on.” TIM GHRISKEY, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER OF SOLARIS GROUP IN BEDFORD HILLS, NEW YORK. “It seemed to be a somewhat kinder and gentler Trump. He wasn’t attacking individuals like he often does.” “This remains a very pro-growth agenda and the markets like that, but I didn’t hear anything new that would make it necessarily move ahead, except that he stuck to his guns to make his agenda items happen.” STOCKS: U.S. stock futures were stronger at the start of Trump’s address, with major indices 0.3 percent higher. They eased those gains as he spoke, with the S&P 500 E-mini futures last up 0.2 percent. BONDS: U.S. Treasury futures TYv1 dipped slightly ahead of his speech, and were last down 0.4 percent. FOREX: The dollar erased its earlier gains in Asia, with the market jittery as Trump’s speech was short on details on his economic stimulus. The dollar/yen eased to around 112.80 yen JPY= from the day’s high of 113.375 yen hit earlier, on hopes the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates this month. | 0fake |
Comment on What’s that strange lump embedded in Hillary Clinton’s face? by mildred.kraus | Posted on October 27, 2016 by Dr. Eowyn
Hillary Clinton is like a chameleon .
Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams , who’s a trained hypnotist and observer of facial nuances, calls it an “unusual level of variability” in her physical appearance. In his words, Hillary “looks like an entirely different person every few days. See “ Chameleon Hillary Clinton is back to looking like sh*t — and the return of her medical handler ” and “ Hillary Clinton’s teeth, tongue-hole & now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t wrinkles ”
On Monday, October 24, 2016, Hillary Clinton was in St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire for a rally , accompanied by “Fauxcahontas” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
Close-up images of her face show that she’s morphed again, back to yellow teeth and a face crisscrossed with wrinkles. What happened to the porcelain-doll Hillary with dazzling-white teeth of the July 2016 Democratic National Convention?
But this time, at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, there’s something even stranger.
Tuesday, Matt Drudge tweeted two close-up images of Hillary at the NH rally, which show something embedded under the skin of her right cheek . Here’s the tweet:
Here are the two images again, enlarged. I painted yellow arrows pointing to the lumps:
According to plastic surgeons , Botox injections don’t cause lumps under the skin. Dr. Richard Baxter explains that “Botox relaxes muscles that are hyperactive and so wrinkles caused by those muscles are smoothed,” but don’t lead to lumps. Dr. Janet Turkle says that although “Botox injections can result in temporary bumps due to the injection,” the bumps last “only a few minutes”.
According to the American Academy of Facial Esthetics , however, “some of the risks of facial injections are lumps (granulomas/nodules) which are a potential risks [sic] associated with Radiesse, Sculptra, Juvederm, and ArteColl.”
Facial injections are injections of facial fillers such as collagen, hyaluronic acid and calcium hydroxyl apatite that rejuvenate facial skin by reducing or eliminating wrinkles, raising scar depressions, enhancing lips and replacing soft-tissue volume loss.
H/t FOTM ‘s TPR
Dr. Eowyn’s post first appeared at Fellowship of the Minds Don't forget to follow the D.C. Clothesline on Facebook and Twitter. PLEASE help spread the word by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks. Share this: | 1real |
Donald Trump Dismisses ’Golden Showers’: ‘I’m Very Much a Germaphobe’ - Breitbart | Donald Trump denounced some of the unsubstantiated rumors published by left wing blogs about Trump receiving “golden showers” from prostitutes while he was in Russia. [“Does anyone really believe that story?” Trump asked incredulously during his press conference at Trump Tower, after he was asked about his behavior in Russia. “I’m also very much of a germaphobe, by the way, believe me,” he added. Trump asserted that as a high profile person, he was “extremely careful” about his activity in hotel rooms and was extremely suspicious about hidden cameras. “I’m surrounded by people and I always tell them anywhere, but I always tell them, if I’m leaving this country, be very careful, because in your hotel rooms and no matter where you go, you’re going to probably have cameras,” he said. | 0fake |
Sessions: 'no reason to doubt' Roy Moore's accusers | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Tuesday he “has no reason to doubt” five women who have accused U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual misconduct with them when they were in their teens. Moore, who is running for the Senate seat that Sessions vacated when he joined President Donald Trump’s administration, has denied the allegations. Sessions, who is the nation’s top law enforcement officer, said he would not comment on the campaign. Numerous other Republican figures have called on Moore to withdraw from the race. | 0fake |
China says North Korea quake not nuclear explosion | BEIJING (Reuters) - China s Earthquake Administration said on Saturday that a small earthquake recorded earlier in the day in North Korea was not a nuclear explosion and had the characteristics of a natural tremor. The administration had said earlier the magnitude 3.4 quake detected at 0829 GMT was a suspected explosion . | 0fake |
Myanmar army drops charges against six journalists amid free speech concerns | YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar s military on Friday dropped charges against six journalists facing trial on offences ranging from defamation to unlawful association, saying it wanted to work with the media in the interests of the country and its people. The legal action had sparked fears over curbs on free speech during Myanmar s transition from decades of military rule, under a government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, following a landmark 2015 election win. The military decided to forgive and drop charges against the media in an effort to work together for the interest of the citizens and the country , it said in a statement. The army had to take legal action because the coverage had disgraced the image, the dignity and the activity of the Tatmadaw, it added, referring to the armed forces by their Myanmar name. Charges were dropped against three reporters arrested in late June for covering an event organized by the Ta ang National Liberation Army, an ethnic militia engaged in a stand-off with government troops. They were charged under a colonial-era law against unlawful association , which rights watchers said has long been used by Myanmar authorities to arbitrarily arrest and detain people. It s injustice from the very beginning, Pyae Phone Aung, one of the reporters arrested on June 26 in northeastern Shan state, told Reuters by telephone from the court where his trial was being held. We journalists were just doing our work, but we were charged and spent more than 60 days in jail. It was not immediately clear when the three journalists would be released. Charges were also dropped against three more reporters, whose articles critical of the military had attracted defamation charges on the basis of several laws, including a telecoms law that rights monitors say restricts free speech. Twenty journalists have been charged or arrested under the controversial law since Suu Kyi s government took power, the advocacy group Research Team for Telecommunications Law said.Despite pressure from human rights groups and Western diplomats, her government has retained the broadly worded law, and has not spoken out against the increasingly frequent arrests of reporters and activists. The military retains control of the police, key ministries and a quarter of lawmakers seats. The courts also still lack independence, some analysts say. | 0fake |
Ice Cube: Trump America loves -Hill called us superpreditors -The Bern whatve you done | link For your enjoyment a very short vid with Ice-Cube talking about the only 3 people in the US capable of taking on the POTUS role. I agree with him. Well, everything except the boss thing. And he makes a some good points in a very short time. In my opinion he should be the next debate commentator. But a month ago it was a different story. While it isn't a ringing endorsement of Trump, he fared much better than the other 2. edit on 27-10-2016 by seasonal because: (no reason given) | 1real |
UN failed to organize evacuation of civilians from rebel-held Aleppo | Thu, 27 Oct 2016 08:27 UTC Aleppo destruction Russia's ambassador to the United Nations has criticized UN's failure to properly organize humanitarian evacuations of the wounded from terrorist-held areas of Aleppo. The UN envoy to Syria defended the team, pinning the blame on the warring parties. "We regret to note that the United Nations has not properly worked out an operation to evacuate the sick and the wounded," Vitaly Churkin noted at the UN Security Council session, according to RIA. The ambassador added that the UN work with various opposition groups in Aleppo and the local council was "left to take care of itself." He stressed that the UN personnel did not "exert the necessary pressure" on "sponsors" of illegal armed groups to convince them to cooperate with the aid workers on the ground. Besides criticizing the UN team, the Russian envoy also accused entities that have influence over fighters in besieged neighborhoods of Aleppo of not applying enough pressure on the militants to make the most of the Russian-Syrian humanitarian pause. "External patrons of entrenched groups in eastern Aleppo could not or did not want positively influence the fighters and convince them to stop the shooting, to release civilians or leave the city themselves," Churkin said. The ambassador noted that militants in Aleppo continue to get supplies and arms, including portable surface-to-air shoulder launchers (MANPADs) and missiles. The humanitarian pause was introduced in Aleppo on October 20, as Syrian and Russian jets halted all strikes in the vicinity of the city. While only an estimated ten percent of the city's populace live in terrorist-held Eastern Aleppo, Moscow is doing everything possible to secure the evacuation of civilians. Those civilians who want to leave jihadist-held areas may use six humanitarian corridors. Fighters can also leave the city with their weapons by using two other corridors established by the Russians and the Syrians. However, terrorists have refused to leave and instead resorted to shelling the civilian escape routes. Russian and Syrian planes have stayed out of the city for eight consecutive days. In that time, only a few dozen civilians managed to escape the terrorist-held areas. Meanwhile, the Russian reconciliation centers continued to pour aid into Aleppo. During the Security Council session, the UN official in charge of humanitarian aid defended the world organization's actions in Syria, laying blame at both the rebels, Damascus, and Moscow for not allowing the UN humanitarian assistance to take place. "The United Nations were ready to launch our operations on Sunday, 23 October. However, objections by two non-State armed opposition groups, namely Ahrar as-Sham and Nureddin Zenki, scuppered these plans. The United Nations made every effort to get assurances from all parties, only for the parties to then fail to agree on each other's conditions about how evacuations should proceed," said Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stepen O'Brien. In the meantime, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent teams working in Aleppo have complained that delivering the humanitarian aid and treating the wounded has been a challenge, as the ICRC failed to "secure the security guarantees of some armed groups." Back at the UNSC, O'Brien painted a clear picture for the members of the UN Security Council of human suffering in Eastern Aleppo where terrorists use civilians as human shields. In a graphic yet poetic account, O'Brien said that civilians - mostly children and elderly - are stuck in basements where "the stench of urine and the vomit caused by unrelieved fear never leaving your nostrils" is omnipresent. "Or scrabbling with your bare hands in the street above to reach under concrete rubble, lethal steel reinforcing bars jutting at you as you hysterically try to reach your young child screaming unseen in the dust and dirt below your feet, you choking to catch your breath in the toxic dust and the smell of gas ever-ready to ignite and explode over you." "These are constant, harrowing reports and images of people detained, tortured, forcibly displaced, maimed and executed," O'Brien added. While mentioning the destructive role of terrorist on the ground, the UN envoy to Syria went out of his way to blame Damascus and Moscow for their air raids. "Aleppo has essentially become a kill zone. Since my last report to this Council less than a month ago, 400 more people have been killed and nearly 2,000 injured in eastern Aleppo. So many of them - too many of them - were children," O'Brien said. "Never has the phrase by poet Robert Burns, of 'Man's inhumanity to man' been as apt. It can be stopped but you the Security Council have to choose to make it stop," the envoy added. Taking the mic at the UNSC meeting, Churkin criticized O'Brien's report, which he said lacked factual information and failed to stress the cessation of Syrian and Russian air raids on the city. He asked O'Brian not to recite poetry but base his reports on concrete facts. "If we wanted to hear a sermon, we would go to church. If we wanted to hear poetry, we would go to a theater," Churkin said. Security Council members wanted to hear "objective analysis" of the situation on the ground from O'Brien, the Russian ambassador stressed. "You clearly did not achieve this," Churkin said, reminding O'Brien that no strikes have been conducted over Aleppo since October 18. Calling O'Brian's statement "provocative and unacceptable," Churkin pointed that in the past eight days Syrian and Russian planes had not flown over Aleppo, staying at least 10 km away from the city. "This moratorium on the flight lasted eight days [now]. Mr. O 'Brian, you did not mention a single word about it. You have built your speech so to paint a picture that aerial bombardment did not stop for one day and that it is happening now, as we speak," said Churkin. US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power also criticized the Russian humanitarian corridors in Aleppo. "Russia made an announcement about 6 humanitarian corridors and urged to take these corridors, including people with arms. But those families were terrified about entrusting their fates to the people who have been bombing their neighborhoods," she said. Churkin replied that Power resorted to her usual tactics - "distorting the Russian stance to the point of absurdity." "It is terrifying to live here [in Aleppo]. And the US is asking: 'What can we do?' We told you what to do - to have both Russian and American military work together on Castello road [in Aleppo]. You said no!" Churkin said. Power and the US delegation, along with the UK, French, and Ukrainian delegations, later staged a walkout as Churkin passed the floor to the Syrian representative. | 1real |
Triathlete Says She Didn’t Cheat. Video Suggests Otherwise. - The New York Times | I recently wrote about the Canadian triathlete Julie Miller, who was disqualified from the Ironman Canada race last summer and stripped of her finish in her age group. Officials said it would have been impossible for her to complete the course as quickly as she claimed. Other athletes suspected her of cutting the course, possibly by failing to complete one of the laps in the marathon, but no one could prove how she did it. Among other things, Miller finished the race without her timing chip, meaning that there was no information about her split times — interim times reflecting an athlete’s progress along the course. Miller emphatically denied the accusations. “I did not cheat in the Whistler Ironman competition,” she said in an email, “nor would I ever cheat or have I ever cheated in any competition. ” After The New York Times published the article, I was contacted by FinisherPix, a company that creates personal highlight videos for athletes competing in Ironman races using video from cameras positioned along the course. The company had six video cameras filming constantly along the marathon course at Ironman Canada — one at the start, four at the finish, and one at a point in the course that runners had to pass twice. FinisherPix shared its video with The Times to help determine whether Miller had completed the race fairly. The first camera was positioned at the start of the marathon, after athletes had finished cycling and were embarking on the next phase of the race. It shows Miller beginning her run exactly eight minutes behind Susanne Davis, a triathlete who went on to win their age group, women ages 40 to 44, after Miller was disqualified. (Miller is identifiable by her bright compression socks.) The second camera was positioned 3. 8 miles into the course. Athletes were required to pass that point twice to complete the run, but the camera recorded Miller passing it only once — 9 minutes 15 seconds before Davis passed it on her second lap. So, according to the video provided by FinisherPix, it appears that Miller skipped the first lap of the marathon course. We still have no way of knowing what she did during that time. But under this possible sequence of events, she the race later, positioning herself far enough in the lead in her age group that she could go on to cross the finish line about five minutes ahead of Davis. I emailed Miller to tell her about the video and ask her if she could explain why it shows her passing the second camera just once. She did not respond. | 0fake |
WOW! New Evidence Shows Event That Sparked Mizzou Racism Controversy Likely Never Happened | It looks like it s safe for everyone to pack up their little victim tents and head back to the dorms Something stinks at the University of Missouri.A reported incident of vandalism at Mizzou sparked university-wide protests, a boycott by the school s 4-5 football team, and eventually the resignation of the university s president and chancellor.There s only one problem: no evidence of the alleged incident, in which a poop swastika on the wall of a dormitory restroom was reported, has ever been made publicly available. Did this incident occur as reported, or was it an immaculate defecation that formed the foundation of an unimaginable deception?According to Billy Donley, the president of Mizzou s Residence Halls Association (RHA), the poop swastika was reported at approximately 2:00 a.m. on October 24, 2015. On Saturday, October 24th, at 2:00am an individual came into one of the restrooms in Gateway Hall and drew a swastika on the wall with their own feces, Donley wrote in a letter several days after the alleged incident. This event happened while many students, including myself, were already asleep. Later in his letter, Donley noted that he only founded out about the alleged vandalism incident via a flyer posted on the walls of the dorm.Although Donley did not respond to repeated requests for comment prior to publication, The Federalist spoke with two RHA staffers while trying to get in touch with Donley. Neither had personally witnessed the poop swastika. When asked if there was any photographic evidence of the alleged incident, one staffer replied, Not to my knowledge. Frankie Minor, the director of residential life at Mizzou, did not respond to repeated requests for comment on whether he personally saw the poop swastika or any photographic evidence of it.The Federalist also attempted to contact Christian Basi, the associate director of the University of Missouri News Bureau, who previously told the Columbia Missourian on Oct. 30 that the incident had been immediately reported to Mizzou police. Basi did not respond to requests for comment prior to the publication of this article.Calls to the University of Missouri Police Department, which responded to and investigated the alleged poop swastika incident, also failed to yield any evidence of the poopstika.Multiple activists on Twitter pointed to this photo as proof that the incident occurred as reported, but a Google search for the same image shows that it has been floating around the Internet for nearly a year. A reddit thread from November of 2014 appears to contain the earliest publication of the photo in question, meaning that it most certainly does not constitute proof of the incident alleged to have occurred at Mizzou on October 24, 2015.Maj. Brian Weimer, the public information officer for the Mizzou police department, told The Federalist that he also did not personally see the poop swastika that was reported to police. When asked if anyone in the police department personally witnessed the swastika, Maj. Weimer clammed up and referred all questions about the incident to the university s custodian of public records.The Federalist also repeatedly contacted @ConcernedStudent1950, the Twitter account representing Mizzou protesters who issued a series of demands of university administrators after the alleged poop swastika incident made headlines. The individuals running the @CS1950 account failed to produce any photographic or documentary evidence of the incident prior to publication of this article.While a mere absence of evidence is not synonymous with evidence of absence, the complete lack of any verifiable photographic evidence of the alleged poop swastika and the lack of any named eye witnesses raises serious questions about the veracity of a racially charged incident of vandalism that eventually led to the resignation of the University of Missouri s two top administrators.Did the incident happen as reported, or did two university administrators resign over protests that were sparked by a hoax? And if the incident did happen as reported, a proposition for which no publicly available evidence currently exists, how did university administrators and law enforcement authorities confirm that the vandalism was driven by racial animosity, as opposed to being promulgated as a public relations stunt meant to tar the university for failing to provide an environment free of racist invective? It would not be the first time a public university fell victim to a high profile PR stunt that was later revealed to be a fabrication. Either way, students, their parents, university employees, and Missouri taxpayers deserve solid, verifiable answers based on clear evidence about what exactly transpired in that Gateway Wall bathroom in the early morning of October 24.Under the provisions of Missouri s broad public records laws, The Federalist has requested from the University of Missouri copies of any and all records relating to the alleged vandalism, including any police or incident reports describing the investigation of the poop swastika by law enforcement authorities, as well as any photographic records of the alleged swastika, and will make that information available if and when it is received from university officials. Via: The Federalist | 1real |
AMEN! BLACK PASTOR Who Marched With Rep. Lewis Denounces Black Lawmakers For Delegitimizing Trump: “On the wrong side of history” [Video] | 1real | |
Trump Won’t Mention That Bush & Cheney Deleted 22 Million Emails | Comments
With Donald Trump obsesses over Hillary Clinton’s e-mail “scandal”, one wonders why he never mentions the Bush Administration and the April 12, 2007 revelation that the White House had “lost” 5 million e-mails related to an investigation into the partisan firing of eight U.S. attorneys . Eventually, the true number was found to be over 22 million e-mails.
Salon reports that:
The emails had been run through private accounts controlled by the Republican National Committee and were only supposed to be used for dealing with non-administration political campaign work to avoid violating ethics laws. Yet congressional investigators already had evidence private emails had been used for government business, including to discuss the firing of one of the U.S. attorneys. The RNC accounts were used by 22 White House staffers, including then-Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who reportedly used his RNC email for 95 percent of his communications.
According to the Washington Post, “Under federal law, the White House is required to maintain records, including e-mails, involving presidential decision- making and deliberations.” But, of course, these millions of e-mails went missing — many of which were important evidence.
Most troubling, researchers found a suspicious pattern in the White House email system blackouts, including periods when there were no emails available from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney.
‘“That the vice president’s office, widely characterized as the most powerful vice president in history, should have no archived emails in its accounts for scores of days—especially days when there was discussion of whether to invade Iraq—beggared the imagination,” says Thomas Blanton, director of the Washington-based National Security Archive. The NSA (not to be confused with the National Security Agency, the federal surveillance organization) is a nonprofit devoted to obtaining and declassifying national security documents and is one of the key players in the effort to recover the supposedly lost Bush White House emails.
As Rove and others were investigated for the partisan “unmasking” of Valerie Plame, a CIA black market specialist, it came to light that Rove’s server was used for official communications — the exact sort required to be preserved under the Presidential Records Act.
“I wouldn’t rule out that there were a potential 5 million e-mails lost,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said at the time. By 2009, it was revealed that Perino’s numbers were a little off when 22 million missing e-mails were discovered.
The partisan nature of this Clinton email investigation is obvious. How is it not relevant that an administration notorious for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity was able to delete millions of emails without a word from Congress? For all their so called concern for our national security, the Republican Party has an appalling double standard. | 1real |
Hillary Clinton Slams Trump Over His Insane Litmus Test | Donald Trump thought he could distract America from his insane, self-destructing campaign by releasing what he called a policy proposal. He thought wrong.See, Trump s latest proposal only did one thing it highlighted the sheer irony of the entire Trump campaign/manifesto/ideology. While himself being an anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-rule of law candidate, Trump wants to put in place a litmus test for immigrants (mostly Muslims) that asks them, point blank, if they support women s rights, gay rights, and the rule of law.Well that didn t go over so well for a lot of people, including Hillary Clinton. While Trump thought he could have everybody fooled, Clinton reminded the public just who he really is an idiot:You oppose reproductive rights, support conversion therapy, and proposed a Muslim ban. https://t.co/H04wanQIub Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 15, 2016In other words: Trump couldn t pass his own litmus test.How can anyone expect a tyrant like Trump to be serious on immigration and combating terrorism when he, instead of proposing actual solutions, throws red meat to the nationalism and xenophobic lot that s his base?The United States already has a stringent process in place, and no one, not even Hillary Clinton, is going to let Trump get away with an asinine, offensive, and blatantly profiled litmus test of American values. That term is subjective anyways, with a wide range of applicability being considered.Hillary Clinton has done a good job of pointing out Trump s faults whether they be his taxes, his fraud of a university, his proposals and so forth.Featured image via Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images | 1real |
The DEA Will Deliver Some Big News About Marijuana This Year | The Drug Enforcement Agency released a 25-page memo on Thursday saying that they hope to come to a decision regarding the reschedule of marijuana sometime in early 2016. The DEA currently considers marijuana to be a dangerous drug with no medical benefits and is Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act.That means that marijuana is considered to be as dangerous as heroin. To further drive home how absurd the United States drug policy is, Methamphetamine is in the Schedule 2 drug category. As far as the DEA is concerned, marijuana is less harmful than crystal meth.Marijuana s current schedule status is a slap in the face to science. At this point, no one can seriously deny the medical benefits marijuana has. Marijuana has already been proven to be an effective treatment for many illnesses, and as a means of managing the side effects of harsher treatments such as chemotherapy. That s why 23 states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes.The U.S. has a major problem with prescription painkillers. Between 1999 and 2014, more than 165,000 have died from overdoses related to prescriptions opioids. Marijuana has not only proven to be an amazing alternative to opioids as a pain management treatment, studies have also shown that marijuana use can help people suffering from opioid addiction.While a decision to reschedule marijuana down from a Schedule 1 controlled substance would help to make it easier for individuals working within the cannabis industry, marijuana advocates say that the rescheduling of marijuana falls well short of reflecting the nation s attitude towards the plant.Paul Armentano, the Deputy Director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) wrote a blog post where he said: Reclassifying the pot plant from I to II (or even to schedule III) continues to misrepresent the plant s safety relative to other controlled substances such as methamphetamine (schedule II), anabolic steroids (schedule III), or alcohol (unscheduled), and fails to provide states with the ability to fully regulate it free from federal interference.Further, the federal policies in place that make clinical trial work with cannabis more onerous than it is for other controlled substances such as the requirement that all source material be purchased from NIDA s University of Mississippi marijuana cultivation program are regulatory requirements that are specific to cannabis, not to Schedule I drugs in general. Simply rescheduling cannabis from I to II does not necessarily change these regulations, at least in the short-term. So yes, it would be great news for the DEA to reschedule marijuana. It would make federal drug policy one step closer to reflecting reality. However, a plurality of people in the U.S. now wants marijuana to be legal for recreational use. Four states and Washington D.C. have already legalized the sale and use of marijuana for recreational use. Those states have had phenomenal success with their marijuana policies. Now is the time for lawmakers to take bold action to write the wrong that is marijuana prohibition.Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images) | 1real |
Trump Is Pretending He Doesn’t Want To Sue The New York Times (TWEET) | Donald Trump reverted to his usual grouchy, unlikable self in another Twitter meltdown on Saturday, ripping into both Maureen Dowd of The New York Times and the paper itself. Dowd told CNN that Trump once told her that the violence at his rallies adds excitement, and the Times ran a separate piece on the nearly $1 billion in tax breaks Trump s real estate empire got from the State of New York. Both seem to have hurt Trump s widdle feewings.In this latest meltdown of his, he posted the following tweet:My lawyers want to sue the failing @nytimes so badly for irresponsible intent. I said no (for now), but they are watching. Really disgusting Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2016That s a load of hogwash if there ever was one. First off, irresponsible intent isn t a crime and his lawyers ought to know that (if they don t, they re terrible lawyers). This is something that Trump himself just made up to sound smart.Besides, if it were a crime he likely would have been locked up for all eternity already.Secondly, Trump is sue-happy to the point that he often gets what he wants in business simply by threatening to sue those who don t do what he wants. He hates the press and has banned outlets from his rallies, in addition to saying he ll open up libel laws after he s elected so that we can sue the media and win lots of money. This also isn t the first time Trump s lawyers have threatened to sue the Times. Earlier this year, the Times ran a story with quotes from an old girlfriend, who later claimed they misrepresented her badly. For its part, the Times issued a statement saying she was quoted accurately, fairly, and at length. Trump s lawyers withdrew their lawsuit threat.So it s not especially likely that Trump doesn t want his lawyers to sue now it s more likely that tweet is a showy lie. He wants to make the threat, but he might want to make it look like he s got hard-hitting lawyers that are somewhat roguish, whom he has to rein in. He s conniving and his image is everything. This might make him look like he s in control.As for us, we can see right through him.Featured image by Joe Raedle/Getty Images | 1real |
Senate's No. 2 Republican eyes healthcare vote next week: The Hill | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate’s No. 2 Republican said on Monday that he hoped a vote could be held next week on a bill to roll back Obamacare and that a revised Republican healthcare plan could be released later this week, The Hill reported. “We’re just trying to get a good picture of what the alternatives are, and hopefully next week we’ll be prepared to take the bill up and vote on it,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn told reporters, according to the publication. Cornyn said Republicans were still waiting to hear back from the Congressional Budget Office on some proposed changes to their initial draft bill, The Hill said. | 0fake |
UNREAL! OBAMA BLAMES SYRIAN CIVIL WAR ON CLIMATE CHANGE…Mocks Those Who Wear Flag Pins [VIDEO] | 1real | |
Does Killing Terrorist Leaders Make Any Difference? Scholars Are Doubtful - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — It seems obvious: Killing terrorist leaders should weaken their organizations, depriving those groups of strategic direction and ideological appeal. The death of someone like Abu Muhammad a senior Islamic State figure reported killed on Tuesday in Syria, should seem like a significant setback for the group. But scholars have struggled to find evidence that killing leaders is an effective way to dismantle terrorist organizations, instead finding ample evidence that it makes little difference. That research seems to apply especially to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, whose attributes make it resilient to losing even a top figure like Mr. Adnani. Two features make a terrorist group able to withstand a senior officer’s death, according to research by Jenna Jordan, a Georgia Tech professor and a leading expert on the subject. The first is popular support. Groups need a steady stream of recruits and a pool of potential new leaders. Support among civilians in areas in which the groups primarily operate also makes them more stable, by broadening support networks and helping them to safely retrench when needed. Leaders are usually killed in or near communities that support them, resulting in those communities rallying behind the terrorist group and against whoever did the killing. While it might be difficult to imagine that a community would support the Islamic State, the group’s continued control over parts of Syria and Iraq and the recruits flooding in from abroad demonstrate its appeal. Religious groups are even better at absorbing attacks, Professor Jordan found, because their appeal is based on a shared identity that transcends any individual leader. The second feature is not something usually associated with groups like the Islamic State: bureaucracy. The more a terrorist group resembles a corporate organizational chart — often with administrative, payroll and logistical staff — the more stable it is, and the better able to handle a leader’s death. Just like any other bureaucracy, such groups have clearly delineated hierarchies, internal rules and divisions of responsibility. That clarity means it is easy to replace a leader with a deputy. It also makes the organization stable: If one cog falls out, the rest of the machine can still function. For a group as large and complex as the Islamic State, the infrastructure is simply too large for any one person, even a top leader, to make or break its future. This is why terrorism scholars have repeatedly concluded that killing or capturing terrorist leaders — a strategy known, colorfully, as “decapitation” — does not work. Robert A. Pape, a University of Chicago professor, wrote in a 2003 study that Israel and other governments had spent “over 20 years” focused on killing or capturing terrorist leaders and found “meager success. ” “Although decapitation of suicide terrorist organizations can disrupt their operations temporarily, it rarely yields gains,” Professor Pape wrote. It can, in some cases, even backfire. Governments that engage in targeted killings risk resetting ongoing political negotiations. Daniel Byman, a Brookings Institution scholar who focuses on Israeli counterterrorism, has written that a policy of “decapitation” may have led Palestinian terrorist groups to decentralize, ultimately making them more of a threat. Still, the research is necessarily fuzzy. As one paper laments, definitive conclusions would require setting up an experimental terrorist group, which “is neither desirable nor feasible. ” That paper, by Patrick B. Johnston, a RAND Corporation researcher, is more supportive of “decapitation” strikes, however. Mr. Johnston found that repeated strikes against a terrorist group can, in some cases, increase the chances of a group’s defeat. But such strikes alone, he found, are not enough. What these studies share is an acknowledgment that terrorist groups are, in at least some important respects, a political phenomenon. They cannot be fully defeated without addressing their political roots, including whatever local support they enjoy. Abu Musab the leader of Al Qaeda’s Iraq branch, was killed in 2006 as Iraqi Sunnis turned against the group in large numbers. His death was the result of his group’s decline, rather than a driver of it. Osama bin Laden’s death, in 2011, similarly came after a ground war to uproot Al Qaeda from Afghanistan and accompanying efforts in Pakistan. If killing terrorist leaders does little on its own to defeat terrorist groups, then why do countries like the United States make such frequent use of this strategy? Consider where this strategy has been deployed: Syria, Somalia, Pakistan’s tribal regions and Yemen. These are places where the United States might believe it has few, if any, options. Targeting terrorist leaders might not make much difference, but it is cheap, it is low risk for the United States (though not always for civilians in the vicinity of strikes) and it allows American leaders to credibly say they are doing something. But there is little evidence that these deaths, whatever their political value in the United States, make much of a difference on the ground. | 0fake |
Afghan officials investigate helicopter wedding deaths | CHARIKAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan authorities are investigating an incident in which two people were killed and two others wounded when a helicopter appeared to come under fire from guests at a wedding party near Kabul and fired back, local officials said. Kabul police spokesman Basir Mujahid said the circumstances of the incident in Qarbagh district outside the capital Kabul late on Monday were still being investigated and it was unclear if the victims were members of the wedding party or not. Wedding parties and similar gatherings in Afghanistan, where many people outside major city centers carry guns, sometimes feature guests firing into the air in celebration. If confirmed, the deaths would be the latest in a series that has seen at least 24 civilians killed in Afghan and U.S. air strikes over the past week. Afghan officials said the helicopter came from the NATO-led Resolute Support coalition but there was no immediate confirmation from Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul that U.S. or coalition aircraft were involved in the incident. We are aware of reports, but have no further information at this time, a spokesman said in an emailed statement. Last week, local officials said at least 13 civilians were killed in an Afghan air force strike in the western province of Heart, while another 11 were killed in a U.S. strike in the eastern Loghar province. [nL4N1LF3TJ] [nL4N1LG4VP] Fears have grown that civilian casualties will rise as a result of an increase in air strikes in Afghanistan following the U.S. decision to step up military action against the Taliban and other insurgents. Already in the first half of the year, United Nations figures showed a 43 percent spike in civilian casualties, with 95 killed and 137 wounded as the pace of air operations increased even before U.S. President Donald Trump announced his new strategy in Afghanistan. | 0fake |
Factbox: Price resignation is latest Trump administration departure | (Reuters) - U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned under pressure from President Donald Trump on Friday in an uproar over Price’s use of costly private charter planes for government business. The following is a partial list of officials who have been fired or have left the administration since Trump took office on Jan. 20, as well as people who were nominated by Trump for a position, but did not take the job: * Stephen Bannon - Trump’s chief strategist, who had been a driving force behind the president’s anti-globalization and pro-nationalist agenda that helped propel him to election victory, was fired by Trump in mid-August. He had repeatedly clashed with more moderate factions in the White House. * Philip Bilden - a private equity executive and former military intelligence officer picked by Trump for secretary of the Navy, withdrew from consideration in February because of government conflict-of-interest rules. * James Comey - the Federal Bureau of Investigation director leading a probe into possible collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia to influence the election outcome, was fired by Trump in May. * James Donovan - a Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker who was nominated by Trump as deputy Treasury secretary, withdrew his name in May. * Michael Dubke - founder of Crossroads Media, resigned as White House communications director in May. * Michael Flynn - resigned in February as Trump’s national security adviser after disclosures that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. * Mark Green - Trump’s nominee for Army secretary, who had served in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, withdrew his name from consideration in May. * Gerrit Lansing - White House chief digital officer, stepped down in February after failing to pass an FBI background check, according to Politico. * Jason Miller - communications director for Trump’s transition team who was named by the president-elect in December as White House communications director, said days later that he would not take the job. * Reince Priebus - the former chairman of the Republican National Committee was replaced by John Kelly as Trump’s chief of staff in July. A confidant of the president said Trump had lost confidence in Priebus after major legislative items failed to pass the U.S. Congress. * Todd Ricketts - a co-owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team and Trump’s choice for deputy secretary of commerce, withdrew from consideration in April. * Anthony Scaramucci - the White House communications director was fired by Trump in July after just 10 days on the job after profanity-laced comments to The New Yorker magazine were published. * Walter Shaub - the head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, who clashed with Trump and his administration, stepped down in July before his five-year term was to end. * Michael Short - senior White House assistant press secretary, resigned in July. * Sean Spicer - resigned as White House press secretary in July, ending a turbulent tenure after Trump named Scaramucci as White House communications director. * Robin Townley - an aide to national security adviser Flynn, was rejected in February after he was denied security clearance to serve on the U.S. National Security Council, according to Politico. * Vincent Viola - an Army veteran and a former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange, nominated by Trump to be secretary of the Army, withdrew his name from consideration in February. * Katie Walsh - deputy White House chief of staff, was transferred to the outside pro-Trump group America First Policies in March, according to Politico. * Caroline Wiles - Trump’s director of scheduling, resigned in February after failing a background check, according to Politico. * Sally Yates - acting U.S. attorney general, was fired by Trump in January after she ordered Justice Department lawyers not to enforce Trump’s immigration ban. | 0fake |
WATCH: Bill Maher BURIES Trump For His Crude ‘Grab Them By The P*ssy’ Remark | Hurricane Matthew isn t the only hurricane, nor the biggest one, hitting the United States right now because Hurricane Trump struck again on Friday. Looks like we dodged the bullet a little bit with that storm, Maher began in reference to the hurricane in Florida. However, with Donald Trump talking about women, it has been upgraded to a category five shitstorm. Newly discovered audio caught the Republican nominee having an incredibly offensive conversation in the 1990s with Billy Bush on a hot mic about women during an appearance on Access Hollywood. Trump bragged about how he is so famous that he can walk up to any woman and just grab them by the p*ssy and that whenever he sees a beautiful woman he just starts kissing them, apparently even when they don t want him to do so.Maher said that not knowing that the mic was still on is one indication that you re a fucking idiot and proceeded to quote Trump s remarks while talking like him. You know I m automatically attracted to beautiful. I just start kissing them. I don t even wait. When you re a star you can do anything. You can grab them by the pussy. Grab them by the pussy?! Maher exasperatingly repeated before using the words to hit Trump where it hurts the most. Sounds like what Hillary did to Trump at the first debate. Is this really happening? Maher asked again. The guy who s running for president says grab them by the p*ssy?!' Maher said he can t wait for the Sunday talk shows to hear how the Trump surrogates are going to spin this. Look, George, people are tired of Washington politicians who won t grab the voters by the p*ssy. Donald Trump and Mike Pence are making sexual assault great again. Maher spent the remainder of his epic monologue slamming Mike Pence, informing the family values conservative who believe marriage is the glue that holds societies together that when Trump hugs Pence s wife, that s not glue. Here s the video via YouTube.Donald Trump is a sexual predator who should be in prison, not the White House. This latest revelation is so bad that Paul Ryan disinvited Trump to his campaign rally in Wisconsin. The question is whether they will have the balls to remove Trump from the ticket entirely, because if they continue to stick with him as their nominee, every Republican on the ballot in November should be defeated. Featured image via screenshot | 1real |
KELLYANNE CONWAY Hits Back On Claims Russia Has Compromising Info On Trump [Video] | Not fake news, just fake! Team #Trump hits back on claims #Russia has compromising material on #DonaldTrump. pic.twitter.com/ZjHssN2uS6 Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) January 11, 2017 | 1real |
France unveils labor reforms in first step to re-shaping economy | PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron s government announced reforms to loosen labor regulations and drive down unemployment, drawing criticism from unions but limited support for the street protests that have hindered previous reform bids. After weeks of negotiations with unions over the summer, the centrist government revealed measures including a cap on payouts for dismissals adjudged unfair and greater freedom to hire and fire. The plan would also give companies more flexibility to adapt pay and working hours to market conditions. The labor code reform is the first big test of Macron s drive to re-shape the euro zone s second biggest economy with its near double-digit jobless rate, double that in Britain and markedly higher than Germany. He also seeks a grand bargain with Germany over broader reforms of the euro zone. For decades, governments of the left and right have tried to reform France s strict labor rules, but have always diluted them in the face of street protests. The reform makes no direct reference to France s 35-hour week but gives employers more flexibility to negotiate deals with employees to work around it. Labour Minister Muriel Penicaud described the five decrees laying out the reforms as a transformation of labor rules on an unprecedented scale . Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said they were necessary to fight France s stubbornly high unemployment. The truth is that for bosses, especially of small companies, and foreign investors, the existing labor law is seen as a brake on hiring and investment, Philippe said. Trade unions were less upbeat at what they perceived as the loss of long-cherished workers rights. All of our fears have been confirmed, said Philippe Martinez, head of the hard-left CGT union, after the government presented the decrees to unions and employers. He said the union would press ahead with its plan for a protest on Sept. 12. But Macron s assiduous courting of the unions over the summer appeared to have born fruit. France s biggest union, the reformist CFDT, said it was disappointed with what amounted to a missed opportunity to improve labor relations. But both the CFDT and the smaller Force Ouvriere, one of the spearheads of last year s anti-reform protests, said they would not be joining the CGT s protest. This reform does not rise to the occasion , CFDT leader Laurent Berger told reporters, but he added: Taking to the streets is not the only mode of action for unions. It sets a cap on compensation for a dismissal judged in a labor court to be unfair. This will be set at three months of wages for two years in the company with the amount rising progressively depending on how long a worker was with the firm. In a concession to unions, normal severance pay would be increased from 20 percent of one month s wage for each year in a company to 25 percent. Economists drew parallels with Germany and Spain. This very much resembles the labor reform carried out in Germany in 2004-2005, said Florian Hense, European economist at Berenberg Bank. This could very well propel France to a golden decade like Germany had. Dutch bank ING said: The ceiling on dismissal compensation is a milestone in labor flexibility and a real positive for permanent contract creation. In Spain, a similar reform kick-started an unprecedented labor market recovery. Pierre Gattaz, the head of the MEDEF employers federation, described the reforms as an important first step which would boost confidence within companies. The CPME, a small business lobby, was even more positive. At last!, it said in a statement. After months of negotiations, we got results. The reform we had been waiting for so long is there. The labor reforms comes as the 39-year-old president suffers a steep drop in popularity ratings. Early policy announcements including an overhaul of the wealth tax and cuts to housing assistance have left a swathe of voters feeling his policies favor the rich, pollsters say. The government plans to start talks on overhauling unemployment benefits in October before tackling pension reform next year. Parliament, where Macron s Republic on the Move party has a commanding majority, has already voted to allow the government to issue the decrees without a vote in the assembly. The government plans to adopt the decrees on Sept. 22. | 0fake |
Trump to visit Utah next week, expected to announce monument decision | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is set to visit Utah on Monday and is expected to announce his decision on whether to reduce the size of two national monuments where drilling and mining are banned, an administration official said on Tuesday. Trump is expected shrink the Bears Ears National Monument, set aside by former Democratic President Barack Obama, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, preserved by former Democratic President Bill Clinton. The trip was first reported by the Salt Lake Tribune. Trump has pushed to roll back regulations that prevent development. To that end, he had ordered a review of the size of 27 monuments: land with cultural, historical or scientific importance preserved from development by past presidents under the Antiquities Act. Last month, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump would travel to Utah in early December, and U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said Trump would reduce the size of the monuments. Environmental groups and Native American tribal organizations plan to protest Trump’s planned visit on Saturday at Utah’s state capitol at what they call “The Rally Against Trump’s Monumental Mistake.” The announcement is expected to touch off a legal battle with environmental groups and Native American tribes. The Navajo Nation and the four other tribes that created and co-manage the Bears Ears monument plan to file a lawsuit the next day. “We will be fighting back immediately. All five tribes will be standing together united to defend Bears Ears,” said Natalie Landreth, an attorney for the Native American Rights Fund. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and other conservation groups also plan litigation against the Trump administration to challenge changes to both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase, said Steve Bloch, director of SUWA. Bloch said conservation groups are concerned that Trump’s announcement will include an order to offer areas in the monuments for public lease sales for coal mining or oil and gas drilling. Industry groups like the oil lobbying organization the American Petroleum Institute have said in the past that both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante were unfairly designated as monuments and needed to be reviewed. Some Utah county officials welcome a reduction in the size of the monuments, which they say has restricted road access to protected areas. In Kane County, where 60 percent of land is located within Grand Staircase, commissioner Dirk Clayson plans to attend Trump’s event if he is invited. “We are grateful that somebody is listening to our local voice,” he said. | 0fake |
“If Trump Loses, I’m Grabbing My Musket”: Former Congressman Ready to Go Full Revolution | SHTF Plan – by Mac Slavo
This election remains more heated than any other in modern history – and for many, it has become a call to arms, even if only metaphorically.
Despite the fact that DNC operatives have been exposed as the ones inciting violence at rallies – Robert Creamer and Scott Foval for example – and working overtime to bus in illegal voters and rig the vote – the media is going out of its way to paint Trump supporters and grassroots Americans as the ones plotting violence.
Most recently, they are latching onto comments made by former congressman Joe Walsh, now a conservative radio host, who suggested he would ‘pick up a musket’ if Trump loses the election. On November 8th, I'm voting for Trump.
On November 9th, if Trump loses, I'm grabbing my musket.
You in?
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 26, 2016
Did Walsh mean to imply violence? That is certainly how the media is portraying it, as his comments spark controversy and fuel fire to the debate over the nearing election.
The irony that his commentary drew from the imagery of founding-era patriots who stood up to tyranny was deeply lost on the left, who see opponents to Hillary in black and white terms – racist, xenophobic, utterly deplorable and inherently violent.
CNN followed up, asking Walsh what he meant by statement.
via CNN :
Former Rep. Joe Walsh appeared to call for armed revolution Wednesday if Donald Trump is not elected president. […]
Walsh … did respond to CNN’s Jake Tapper via Twitter when he asked: “What exactly does that mean?”
“It means protesting. Participating in acts of civil disobedience. Doing what it takes to get our country back,” he responded to Tapper. @jaketapper It means protesting. Participating in acts of civil disobedience. Doing what it takes to get our country back.
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 26, 2016
After a firestorm on social media, Walsh doubled down, stating on Twitter: I'm serious. I don't think a musket would do much good these days, but it's time for civil disobedience on the right. https://t.co/ThJPEbALWZ
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 26, 2016
His heated rhetoric is a response to the endless episodes of fraud, dirty trick and foul play by the Hillary campaign, as it seems that she will stop at nothing to become the first female POTUS – just the sort of abuse of power that the founders warned about.
1775-76 erupted in response to a long train of abuses – acts of oppression and hostility listed in the Declaration of Independence that is being largely repeated in modern day America.
Could Hillary’s reported election victory – or Donald Trump’s defeat – signal civil unrest and a new wave of resistance, particularly if the results are widely viewed as fraudulent or “rigged”? Trump, for one, has certainly been talking up the possibility of a stolen election.
The scenario is plausible enough that the Pentagon and Homeland Security have been carrying out secret drills in the lead up to the election to prepare for the possibility of a martial law response to violence or civil unrest.
As SHTF detailed in an exclusive report, a whistleblower has come forward on the ominous contingency plan to keep and/or restore order if the populace revolt against the establishment’s “selection” for president:
If there is any truth to it, the 2016 election could be a kick-off for total tyranny.
According to an unnamed source – who has provided accurate intel in the past – an unannounced military drill is scheduled to take place during a period leading up to the election and throughout the month after.
Date: October 30th – 30 days after the election Suspected Region: Northeast, specifically New York
1st Phase: NROL (No Rule of Law) – drill involving combat arms in metro areas (active and reserve). Source says active duty and reserve service members are being vaccinated as if they are being deployed in theatre.
2nd Phase: LROL (Limited Rule of Law) – Military/FEMA consolidating resources, controlling water supply, handing out to public as needed.
3rd Phase: AROL (Authoritarian Rule of Law) – Possible new acronym or term for “Martial Law”. Curfew, restricted movements, basically martial law scenario.
Source said exercise involves FEMA/DHS/Military
At this point, no one can say for certain what will happen in the aftermath of November 8, but it is clear that millions and millions of Americans are dissatisfied with the status quo, troubled about the economic realities perpetuated by the Fed and angry that Hillary may be put in the Oval Office rather than a jail cell, despite a trail of corruption with virtually no end.
How far will things go?
And will things ever be reset without a new American Revolution? | 1real |
ALEPPO OFFENSIVE: SAA and Russian air forces liquidate 500+ terrorists (VIDEO) | November 14, 2016 - Fort Russ News - RusVesna - translated by J. Arnoldski -
Around 500 terrorists have been killed by Russian air forces and the Syrian army in western Aleppo.
Bandits from the Jaish al-Fath Islamist coalition suffered large losses after a failed offensive in western Aleppo which began at the end of October. More than 500 militants and dozens of units of military vehicles were destroyed under fire from Russian and Syrian aircraft and Syrian troops.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the bandits’ losses reach up to 260 killed.
As a result of the numerous defeats inflicted upon the Jaish al-Fath coalition in western Aleppo, government troops and their allies are preparing to switch their efforts to the southern districts of the Aleppo.
Lebanese Hezbollah is preparing a major special operation in the district of Khan-Tuman with the aim of ousting terrorists from positions along the Aleppo-Damscus M-5 highway.
Following the retreat of the Jaish al-Fath gang, the Syrian army intends to exploit the fleeing and disorganized Islamists to regain control over a number of villages and commanding heights.
As reported earlier , on November 11th the Syrian army and its allies continued to advance in western Aleppo. After breaking through militants’ line of defense, they took the Minyan and Al-Assad districts…
Fierce fighting is ongoing between militants and the SAA in the Al-Assad district with the use of heavy artillery and volley-fire rocket systems…
In addition, the liquidation of the field commander of the 314th militant regiment, Osama Darwish, known as Abu Il Harman, during clashes with SAA units in the Al-Assad and Minyan districts has been reported.
During clashes, Syrian troops managed to regain control over the southern triangle of the Al-Assad district and the Hamat Ad-Diyar and Al-Amal schools.
Russian and Syrian air forces are launching strikes at militant headquarters and roaming gangs in the Rashidin 4, Khan al-Asal, Gabat al-Basil, Al-Mansura, Maskana, and Kashish airport districts. This has resulted in the elimination of dozens of armored vehicles and large numbers of militants.
Meanwhile, it has been repotred that groups involved in the Euphrates Shield operation, supported by Turkey, have announced the capture of the village of Talil north of the city of al-Bab northeast of Aleppo as a result of fighting against ISIS.
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IRAN Announces Reason For Arresting US Sailors…They Were Teaching Congress A Lesson? | Of course, our Secretary of State has everything under control. It is being reported, that John Kerry has already apologized to Iran. Obama s total avoidance of this issue during his SOTU speech speaks volumes about how these jack-holes handle a military crisis with terror states It almost makes one wonder if this was Obama s idea? Congress has been standing in the way of his progress with Iran for some time now (even some in his own party). And we all know by now, there is really nothing Barack Obama will stop at to get his way Iran s army chief said on Wednesday the seizure of two U.S. navy boats and their 10 sailors should be a lesson to members the U.S. Congress trying to impose new sanctions on Tehran. This incident in the Persian Gulf, which probably will not be the American forces last mistake in the region, should be a lesson to troublemakers in the U.S. Congress, Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, head of Iran s armed forces, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. Via: Yahoo NewsAli Fadavi, commander of the IRGC Navy, said that Tehran had missiles locked on the United States at the time of the incident. They were in sight of our missiles, Fadavi said in Persian, according to a statement carried by the IRGC s official news outlet. If this had happened, it would have led to their annihilation. We had high preparedness with coast-to-sea missiles, rocket-firing fast boats, and various capabilities, he said. We prevented their additional irresponsible movement with the statements we broadcasted internationally. It was proven to them that the IRGC Navy has the first and final word. The U.S. cannot stand up to Iran, according to Fadavi. The result of that battle is the annihilation and sinking of their battleships, he said. This is while in those 40 minutes [when the U.S. sailors were apprehended], it was clear that Americans were under psychological pressure, to the extent that they did not behave in a manner expected from a professional and responsible force. The Obama administration denied that an apology was offered to Iran. Vice President Joe Biden told CBS that there was no looking for any apology. When you have a problem with the boat, [do] you apologize the boat had a problem? No, Biden said. And there was no looking for any apology. This was just standard nautical practice. Iran realized [the sailors] were there in distress and said they would release them, and released them like ordinary nations would do, Biden said.State Department Spokesman John Kirby also issued a denial on Twitter. | 1real |
Taking a Page from Joe McCarthy | Taking a Page from Joe McCarthy November 1, 2016
Exclusive: Hillary Clinton and her supporters have turned to ugly McCarthyism in attacking Donald Trump to divert attention from their email scandals, a dangerous use of Russia-bashing, says Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
One trick of the original McCarthyism from the Old Cold War was to take some innocuous or accurate comment from a leader in Moscow — saying something like “poverty is a cruel side of capitalism” or “racism persists in the U.S.”— and to claim that some American reformer who says much the same thing must be a Kremlin tool.
Now, in the New Cold War, we are seeing a similar trend in the way some Democrats and the mainstream U.S. media are citing accurate assessments from Russian President Vladimir Putin and claiming that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is somehow in league with Putin for observing the same realities. Russian President Vladimir Putin, following his address to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 28, 2015. (UN Photo)
A case in point is Tuesday’s editorial in The Washington Post, entitled “The Putin-Trump worldview” (in print) and “Trump and Putin share a frightening worldview” (online). The editorial quotes Putin as “observing that Mr. Trump ‘represents the interests of the sizable part of American society that is tired of the elites that have been in power for decades now … and does not like to see power handed down by inheritance.’”
The Post’s editorial writers then snidely note that “Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump have an uncanny way of echoing each other’s words.”
But that is a classic example of McCarthyistic sophistry. Just because some demonized figure like Putin says something that is undeniably true and an American sees the same facts doesn’t make that American a “Putin puppet” or a “Moscow stooge” or any of the other ugly names now being hurled at people who won’t join in today’s trendy Russia bashing and guilt by association.
Putin is not wrong that many of Trump’s supporters – along with many Americans who backed Sen. Bernie Sanders – are “tired of the elites” that have behaved arrogantly and stupidly for decades. Many Americans also don’t believe that a family’s name should decide who becomes the leader of the United States, whether that be the Bushes or the Clintons.
Indeed, what Putin is saying amounts to almost a truism, yet here is The Washington Post not only suggesting that because Putin is saying something that it must be false but then smearing Trump (or anyone else) who detects the same reality.
Double Standards
The same Post editorial also goes to great lengths to reject any comparisons between the Russian and Syrian government airstrikes on the Syrian neighborhoods of east Aleppo — to root out Al Qaeda-connected jihadists and their supposedly “moderate” rebel allies — and U.S. and Iraqi government airstrikes on the Iraqi city of Mosul under the control of Al Qaeda’s spinoff group, the Islamic State. U.S.-backed Syrian “moderate” rebels smile as they prepare to behead a 12-year-old boy (left), whose severed head is held aloft triumphantly in a later part of the video. [Screenshot from the YouTube video] Insisting that the two similar operations are nothing alike, the Post’s editors white-out the central role of Al Qaeda in commanding the rebel forces in east Aleppo. While ignoring Al Qaeda’s dominance of those neighborhoods and its terror rocket attacks on civilian areas of west Aleppo, the Post only says, “the rebel forces in Aleppo include Western-backed secular groups who seek only to overturn the blood-drenched Assad regime.”
Note the Post’s characterization that rebel forces “include Western-backed secular groups” rather than an honest admission that those supposedly “secular groups” have served mostly as cut-outs in diverting sophisticated U.S. military weapons, such as TOW missiles, to the jihadist cause, a reality recognized by U.S. military advisers on the ground. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “ How the US Armed-up Syrian Jihadists. “]
Many of these supposedly “secular groups” have openly allied themselves with Al Qaeda’s recently rebranded Nusra Front (now called the Syria Conquest Front). This so-called “marbling” of the “moderates” in with the jihadists was one of the sticking points in the failed limited cease-fire in which the Post’s beloved “secular groups” rebuffed Secretary of State John Kerry’s plea that they separate themselves from Al Qaeda.
An intellectually honest newspaper would have at least admitted some of these inconvenient truths, but that is not the modern-day Washington Post with its own “blood-drenched” editors who played a crucial role in rallying support behind President George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq under false pretenses.
The Post and its editors have on their hands the blood of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who died as a result of that illegal aggressive war, but those editors have not suffered a whit for their participation in war crimes. Instead, exactly the same senior editorial-page editors – Fred Hiatt and Jackson Diehl – are still there, touted on the newspaper’s masthead, still misleading the Post’s readers.
By contrast, The Wall Street Journal (of all places) did some serious reporting on the key question of “moderate” rebels allied with Al Qaeda. The Journal reported on Sept. 29: “Some of Syria’s largest rebel factions are doubling down on their alliance with an al Qaeda-linked group, despite a U.S. warning to split from the extremists or risk being targeted in airstrikes. The rebel gambit is complicating American counterterrorism efforts in the country at a time the U.S. is contemplating cooperation with Russia to fight extremist groups.”
If even Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal can acknowledge this important context, why can’t The Washington Post?
Dangerous Terrain
But the whipping up of a New Cold War with Russia and the demonizing of Vladimir Putin extend beyond The Washington Post to virtually the entire U.S. political/media establishment which has plunged into this dangerous terrain without any more serious thought and analysis than preceded the Iraq invasion, except now the target for “regime change” is nuclear-armed Russia and this adventurism risks the extermination of life on the planet. Lawyer Roy Cohn (right) with Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
Despite these grave dangers, the Democrats and the Clinton campaign have settled on a strategy of exploiting the New McCarthyism of the New Cold War to discredit Trump through “guilt by association” to Putin even though the two men have apparently never met.
Mostly this New McCarthyism has been used to divert attention from developments threatening to Hillary Clinton’s electoral chances, such as the release of embarrassing emails among Democratic insiders hacked from the personal account of Clinton adviser John Podesta and, since last Friday, the statement by FBI Director James Comey that he has reopened the investigation into Clinton’s use of an unsecured email server because of emails found on a computer in the home of Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner.
In the first instance, the Clinton campaign sought to redirect attention from the content of the emails, including the text of speeches that Clinton gave to Goldman Sachs and other financial interests, to the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia was probably behind the hack.
‘A Witch Hunt’
In the Comey situation, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, has sought to counter Comey’s stunning announcement last Friday by calling on the FBI director to also disclose whatever the FBI may have discovered about links between Trump’s aides and the Kremlin.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Democrats have raised suspicions about Carter Page, an early-on Trump adviser and former Merrill Lynch banker who gave a speech last summer criticizing the United States and other Western nations for a “hypocritical focus on ideas such as democratization, inequality, corruption and regime change” in Russia and other parts of the old Soviet Union.
Page termed Reid’s efforts to transform a political disagreement into a criminal case “a witch hunt,” a phrase familiar from Sen. Joe McCarthy’s Red-scare investigations of the late 1940s and early 1950s into the loyalty of Americans.
Another Trump adviser caught up in the Democrats’ attempts to smear the Trump campaign over alleged ties to Moscow is Roger Stone. The Times reported that Democrats have accused Stone “of being a conduit between the Russian hackers and WikiLeaks,” which published Podesta’s hacked emails, because Stone has said he had contacts with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and seemed to anticipate the damaging disclosures, though Stone has denied any prior knowledge.
An irony from this case of “trading places” – with the Democrats now darkly suggesting Republican ties to Moscow rather than the opposite during the McCarthy era – is that Roger Stone was a longtime associate of the late Roy Cohn, who was the controversial counsel on Sen. McCarthy’s Red-hunting investigations.
Stone derided the Democratic attempts to discredit Trump and himself with claims of ties to Moscow as “the new McCarthyism.”
Despite the irony, Stone is not wrong in his assessment. Rarely in American politics since the dark days of Joe McCarthy have so many unsubstantiated accusations of disloyalty been directed at any major political figure as the Democrats have done to Donald Trump.
In the third debate, Clinton even accused Trump of being a Putin “puppet.” If such a remark were made by Joe McCarthy or his Red-baiting ally Richard Nixon, there would have been understandable outrage. But Clinton’s ugly charge passed without controversy.
Though there are plenty of legitimate reasons to oppose the eminently unqualified Donald Trump for President, Hillary Clinton and the Democrats risk setting in motion dangerous international forces with their promiscuous Russia-bashing. Recognizing the terrifying potential of nuclear war, a more responsible course would be to tone down the rhetoric and address the legitimate questions raised by the email issues.
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com ). | 1real |
A 70-Year-Old Woman Gave Birth—And What You Should Know About It | posted by Eddie Each one of us has been told about our ticking biological clock, but those in their 30’s or 40’s who are hoping to have kids, probably think having a baby, is just not possible anymore. Well, it is, but with a few risks. But, after hearing the story about a 70-year-old who gave birth, you now have the perfect comeback to whoever says your lady parts are slowly reaching its best-before date. A 70-year-old woman named, Daljinder Kaur, in India has become the world’s first-mom to give birth to a son, using in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Despite, two failed pregnancies before, the third time was the charm, giving her a boy she named, Arman. What’s more is, it’s been years since Daljinder had her menopause (the end of a woman’s menstrual cycle in life), so theory has it that Daljinder used an egg from a younger donor, although this has not been confirmed. Studies by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) say that although medicine has endless phenomenon, a woman’s chances of fertility does reduce as they age. This usually occurs by the early-30’s, and plummets faster by their late-30’s. The reason for this is because a woman is born with just one to two million eggs and they are lost gradually with each menstrual cycle, till it finally ends. By the early 50’s, when menopause begins on average, there may be just around a thousand eggs left. But IVF and other assisted reproductive procedures, is usually taken up as a solution to this, especially women who are suffering from infertility and want to improve their chances of getting pregnant. So here’s how IVF works. An egg is taken from a woman and fertilized using a man’s sperm, outside of the body. The embryo is then placed back inside the woman’s womb with the hope that she will get pregnant. The age-limit for allowing IVF and such procedures, in the US is those in their mid-40’s or 50’s. In addition, women in their 40’s are usually impregnated with donor eggs from women in their 20’s and 30’s, to increase their fertility chances. Statistics suggest that women for all ages recorded, who used donor eggs, had a 50% success rate and gave birth. However, a 70-year-old is stretching it a bit, making Daljinder one of the oldest women on the planet to give birth. This is despite the fact that, aged women have a lower blood flow to their uterus, making it close to impossible to conceive and sustain a baby’s life through the pregnancy. It could also take a huge toll on an older woman’s body and put their heart at risk, as it would be unable to handle the blood flow for their own body, let alone a baby. Old-age also comes with its classic creaks from high blood pressure to diabetes and weak bone structures. So, could Daljinder’s case change the face of fertility possibilities as we know it? As a fellow myth-buster, maybe. But the older-mom trend is on a rise, such as, 50-year-old Janet Jackson, who is now pregnant with her first baby as well as Halle Berry who gave birth when she was 47. And hearing from the woman who made history herself, Daljinder’s says she is doing well and feels blessed to hold her own baby. Whoever said motherhood is timeless, has probably found a whole new dimension of meaning to it now. Source: | 1real |
Bahrain's king issues decree reorganizing National Security Agency | DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa issued a decree on Tuesday reorganizing the National Security Agency and appointing Lieutenant General Adel bin Khalifa Al Fadhel as its new president, effective immediately, the state news agency said. The NSA has for decades been central to the Sunni Muslim-ruled kingdom s efforts to overcome protests and occasional violence by members of the country s Shi ite Muslim majority. The king also issued a decree appointing Sheikh Talal bin Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa as deputy interior minister. In August, three Bahraini human rights groups accused the Gulf Arab monarchy s NSA of the systematic use of torture. A security official said at the time it would investigate the allegations. In 2011, Bahrain put down an uprising by pro-democracy activists, many of them Shi ites. The monarchy believes the opposition seeks to overthrow it by force and accuses Iran of aiding in deadly militant attacks on security forces. Home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, Bahrain denies opposition claims that it marginalizes Shi ites economically and in government representation. | 0fake |
Trump triumphs: Two big takeaways after The Donald wins New York | There are two ways to analyze Donald Trump’s decisive win in New York’s presidential primary.
First, it’s the acknowledgment of a big run for Trump this week and next during which the GOP frontrunner will amass delegates at a faster clip than any of the other three Republicans in the race – in the process, stretching his lead over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and pumping up the volume that the Republican nomination is deservedly The Donald’s regardless of where the delegate tally stands going into July’s national convention in Cleveland.
Trump’s argument will look good – on paper, at least.
After New York, he’s two-thirds of the way to the 1,237 delegates required by the GOP and a guaranteed first-ballot win in Cleveland.
For argument’s sake, let’s give Trump roughly 100 of the 172 delegates up for grabs next Tuesday (all the action occurring in his mid-Atlantic backyard of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island).
Once the five states holding GOP contests in May apportion their combined 199 delegates, Trump’s total should enter four-digit territory. Per this Associated Press breakdown, a first-ballot scenario remains feasible.
If he’s smart, Trump will use the rest of April and May to keep driving home one word: “inevitability”. Backed up by this exit poll data showing that an overwhelming number of New York Republicans saying the candidate with the most primary votes should be the party’s nominee.
Now, the other takeaway from New York: “the Sinatra question”.
To paraphrase that other “Chairman of the Board”, if Trump can make it there – winning big in the Empire State in a closed Republican primary – can he make it anywhere with three-fifths of a primary electorate that hasn’t bought into his candidacy?
The answer: no (not in every primary, at least) . . . and stay tuned.
May will not be the friendliest of months for Trump, what with a first-Tuesday primary in Indiana that could spell more Midwestern trouble (perhaps a repeat of his meltdown in Wisconsin).
After that: a winner-take-all contest in Nebraska that likely will go to Cruz (draw a line from Texas to North Dakota and it runs through states Cruz has won). Finally, Oregon and Washington awarding their delegates proportionally.
Not much of a buzz there.
However, there is an opportunity for Trump to take a major step forward – in a way having nothing to do with bean-counting and convention arcana. And that would be courting those skeptical Republicans still waiting for a Trumpian “pivot” from angry rhetoric and juvenile social-media insults to a more dignified tone and statesmanlike persona.
The news that broke on the same day as New York’s results – that Trump is shaking up his senior campaign staff and empowering his team to spend aggressively to win in May and June – is a first step in that direction.
The next step: breaching divides within the GOP.
According to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 63 percent of Republican primary voters say they could be satisfied with Trump as the GOP nominee.
The good news: it’s better than the 49 percent Trump received back in the March exit polls.
Not so good: it cries of work to be done – specifically, shoring up support among conservatives uneasy of Trump’s past policy inconsistencies and his unwilling in this campaign to take on entitlement spending and the federal budget dragon.
Four years ago, conservatives accounted for 35 percent of that year’s presidential turnout, the highest share since pollsters first began recording that statistic back in 1976; 82 percent of them voted for Mitt Romney. Four years previously, conservatives were 34 percent of the turnout; only 78 percent voted for John McCain.
In theory, Cruz has a chance of repeating those percentages, if not improving on them. Can Trump? Only if he starts speaking the language.
Such is the unusual nature of this Republican contest. In late April of 2012, after 43 Republican primaries and caucuses had voted, Romney had distanced himself from the field to the point where he could travel to New Hampshire and deliver this speech with an eye on the general election. Romney promised “a new campaign to unite every American who knows in their heart that we can do better . . . the beginning of the end of the disappointments of the Obama years and the start of a new and better chapter that we will write together.”
Trump’s not in that position at present – and he may not be until the final night of the Republican National Convention.
Then again, he’s not the only candidate going through hard times these days.
The same NBC/WSJ poll that gave Trump a historically awful 24 percent positive/65 percent negative approval rating and had Hillary Clinton weighing in at 32 percent positive/56 percent negative. Cruz recorded a 26 percent positive/49 percent negative: Kasich came in at 31 percent positive; 19 percent negative.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the democratic socialist and Clinton’s chief tormentor these days, received grades of 45 percent positive/36 percent negative, suggesting that the American electorate is not only sour on the political class, but sorely in need of a week in Caracas for a reality check on how a socialist county fares under Bernie Vision.
Will Trump take advantage of May’s light pace to transition from temper tantrums to a style more tempered? It’s the practical thing to do. Especially when confronted with national poll numbers that, for now at least, are practically awful.
Bill Whalen is a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, where he analyzes California and national politics. He also blogs daily on the 2016 election at www.adayattheracesblog.com. Follow him on Twitter @hooverwhalen. | 0fake |
Donald Trump, John Glenn, Oakland: Your Thursday Evening Briefing - The New York Times | (Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Donald Trump’s latest stop on his victory tour was a rally in Des Moines. The event came a day after tapping Iowa’s governor, Terry Branstad, to be ambassador to China. Mr. Trump is facing criticism for lashing out at an Indiana union local president who accused Mr. Trump of lying about saving jobs at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis. _____ 2. Mr. Trump named Andrew Puzder, above, a executive and critic of the minimum wage, as his choice for labor secretary. Democrats are promising a thorough vetting process of the candidates Mr. Trump has nominated for cabinet positions — like that of Scott Pruitt, an ally of the fossil fuel industry, to run the Environmental Protection Agency. Here’s a look at what a Trump administration could do to influence climate change. _____ 3. “This is all uncharted territory. ” That’s the feeling in America’s auto industry, which expects to be reshaped by the Trump administration. A chief concern is Mr. Trump’s threat of tariffs on the millions of vehicles sold in the U. S. each year that were built in Japan, Korea and other countries. _____ 4. John Glenn, above center, who was hailed as a national hero after becoming the first American to orbit Earth, died on Thursday. He was 95. Mr. Glenn also had a career as a U. S. Senator from Ohio. In his final Senate term, he got his wish to return to orbit and, at 77 years old, was the oldest person to go into space. _____ 5. South Korean lawmakers are expected to vote on Friday on a motion to impeach President Park over a corruption scandal. Here are the accusations against her. As the protests against her have grown, Ms. Park has mostly dropped from public view, appearing only to make televised apologies. “My heart is crushed,” she said in one. Most Koreans say Ms. Park brought the disgrace on herself, but in some cities, she is seen as an innocent victim of a scandal. _____ 6. President Hassan Rouhani of Iran has signed a wave of oil deals with Asian and European energy companies in recent weeks. “Our officials are in a rush to sign contracts with big oil companies in order to have leverage when Trump enters the White House,” said an economist with close ties to the government. _____ 7. A watchdog group in Britain said it found hundreds of accusations of police sexual abuse in England and Wales over the two years through the end of March. Among those targeted were victims of domestic abuse, drug and alcohol addicts and people who work in the sex industry. _____ 8. When 36 people died in an inferno at a converted warehouse in Oakland, Calif. last week, we deployed a team of journalists to investigate it and document the stories of a community reeling from the country’s worst structural fire in a decade. Instead of revealing our findings in an article at the end of our reporting, we’ll be telling you what we learn as we learn it. Email us at oaklandfire@nytimes. com if you have suggestions on what we should explore. _____ 9. The world’s tallest land animal is on the verge of extinction. The giraffe population has declined by 40 percent over the past 30 years, according to a new report by an international monitoring group. Illegal hunting and the loss of habitat are being blamed. _____ 10. Finally, we told you yesterday about our film critics’ favorite movies of the year. Now, let’s review the year’s great performers — in movies, at least. Among those featured in our magazine’s newest issue: Emma Stone, Ruth Negga, above, Viola Davis, Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle. “I love the movie magic of no longer seeing an actor — or especially a star — but a person,” said one of our critics. Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help. Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 0fake |
Western powers press Iraq Kurd leaders to shelve 'very risky' independence vote | ERBIL/KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - The United States and Western allies pressed Iraqi Kurdish leaders to ditch a very risky independence vote on Thursday, presenting an alternative plan in an attempt to avoid conflict between the oil rich region and central government in Baghdad. The referendum, slated for Sept. 25, has become a potential flashpoint in the region, with Western powers concerned it could ignite conflict with Baghdad and divert attention from the war against Islamic State militants. Heading into a referendum for Sept. 25, there is no prospect for international legitimacy, Brett McGurk, a U.S. special envoy, told reporters after a delegation also including the U.N. and Britain met Kurdish President Massoud Barzani. This is a very risky process. McGurk said he was encouraged that Kurdish leaders could embrace an alternative plan focusing on dialogue between the Kurdistan region and Baghdad and a delay in the referendum. He refused to give details. The Kurdish presidency said the autonomous region s political leaders would study the proposal, without giving details. But Barzani himself was later quoted by local media as telling a pro-independence rally the vote would go ahead on Sept. 25 as planned. The move came after Iraq s parliament voted to remove the governor of Kirkuk, a staunch supporter of Kurdish independence. Kirkuk Governor Najmaddin Kareem said he had no intention of following Baghdad s dismissal order, issued at the behest of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. I will stay in office, he told Reuters. The referendum will go on as planned...The prime minister does not have the power to ask parliament to remove me. Iraqi lawmakers authorized Abadi this week to take all measures to preserve national unity before the independence referendum. Baghdad and Iraq s neighbors are opposed to the vote. Iraqi lawmakers say it will consolidate Kurdish control over several disputed areas, including oil-rich Kirkuk. Turkey has the region s largest Kurdish population and fears a Yes vote could fuel separatism in its southeast where Kurdish militants have waged an insurgency for three decades in which more than 40,000 people have been killed. Iran and Syria also oppose the vote, fearing it could fan separatism among their own Kurdish populations. Iraqi lawmakers say the referendum will consolidate Kurdish control over several disputed areas, including oil-rich Kirkuk. Kirkuk province is claimed by both the central government in Baghdad and Barzani s semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Kareem is a vocal supporter of the referendum and campaigned for the vote also to be held in Kirkuk. Kurds have long claimed Kirkuk and its huge oil reserves. They regard the city, just outside their Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, as their historical capital. But the ethnically mixed city also has Arab and Turkmen populations. Kareem has long riled the federal government. Last spring, Kirkuk s governorate voted to raise the Kurdish flag over state buildings, despite Baghdad s insistence that only Iraq s national flag should fly in the multi-ethnic city. He (Kareem) is an elected governor of the council of Kirkuk, said Hoshyar Zebari, a close adviser to President Barzani. That is the only body that can remove him. The escalating tactics this week by the Iraqis are causing a large public backlash, and will strengthen the Kurdish referendum enormously, Zebari said. Kurdish MPs in Iraq s parliament boycotted Thursday s vote, which produced a majority for the governor s removal, lawmaker Husham al-Suhail told Reuters. Asked whether parliament had the right to dismiss Kareem, Suhail referred to an article of Iraq s provincial law, which parliament used as the legal basis for the vote and which stipulates the prime minister s authority to remove a regional governor. Suhail gave no details about what Kareem was accused of and Kareem himself said he had not been informed. This is unlawful ... I have the support of the government council, I have the support of the people, we are here and we will continue, he said. | 0fake |
Trump or Clinton? | Recipient Email =>
Enemies of the United States are joyously watching its upcoming elections that are exposing this once great nation as deeply corrupt. It’s as if a huge rock has been turned over, exposing the swarming, slithering underside of America’s political system.
For those who admire America, like this writer, this week is a time to weep for the republic.
We see two candidates who are utterly unfit for the highest office: Hilary Clinton, engulfed by scandals, and blustering TV mogul Donald Trump, a man of profound shallowness who advocates Islamophobia, torture and environmental ignorance.
Hillary Clinton’s core supporters are black food stamp and welfare recipients, and legions of women who are voting simply by gender. Trump’s core supporters are tax-paying workers who have watched Wall Street loot America’s economy and send their jobs abroad.
Like many people, I’ve been tearing my hair trying to decide for whom to vote. I now favor Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson who gained worldwide fame as a dolt when asked about the destruction of Aleppo, Syria. ‘What’s Aleppo?’ asked this New Mexico Bismarck.
Now that’s the kind of president I’d like to see. No more regime-changers and empire-builders. No more Imperial America. No more crusaders or world super power bullying. No more mucking around the world and acting as the globe’s enforcer. Let’s forget Aleppo, Beirut, Gaza, Tehran, Islamabad, the South China Sea and North Korea.
We can no longer afford to play ‘Game of Thrones.’ We’ve got to rebuild bridges and airports, and clean the Augean Stables of Congress, America’s most corrupt institution. We just spent $2.8 billion on roads in remote Afghanistan while our own highways are crumbling.
Such is the folly of imperialism. The old Soviet Union did something similar, allowing its domestic infrastructure and industry to fall apart while adventuring in Afghanistan, and deploying 55,000 tanks in the Red Army. These tanks were useful in putting down the heroic Hungarian Revolution of 1956 – 60 years ago this week – but for nothing else.
But I fear that whoever wins the US election will very quickly face major problems for which they are woefully unprepared. Most obvious is the bloody mess the US has created across the Mideast.
I just learned that Trump recently named, as Mideast advisor, a notorious Muslim-hating fanatic, who is a Lebanese Maronite Christian fascist. His advice will likely be to invade Lebanon and Syria and kill more Muslims.
For her part, Hilary Clinton has long been a wholly-financed subsidiary of Wall Street and the mighty Israel lobby. Just have a look at the list of her largest donors. Her pro-Israel supporters are urging her to create a so-called ‘no-fly’ zone over Syria, which is code for full-scale war against Syrian government and Russian forces. Guess who will benefit from Syria’s destruction and disintegration?
This supreme idiocy could lead directly to nuclear war with Russia, something I’ve been warning against for years.
There has been no mention in the campaign of rebuilding the Arab world, ravaged by western imperial interventions. Little mention of some 12 million Syrian refugees created by the Saudis and US. Nor of five million Palestinian refugees, and who knows how many in Iraq, Libya, Somalia and now war-ravaged Yemen. And not a word about America’s stalemated war in Afghanistan. Nothing about a shaky Europe. Nor how to accommodate China’s rise.
Instead, we’ve heard tirades against the phony ISIS, which is funded by the Saudis, and Hilary Clinton’s absurd claims that wicked Vlad Putin is somehow behind America’s foreign disasters. It’s stupid and shameful demagoguery.
At least Trump has the good sense to urge that we end our pointless confrontation with Russia and scale back the unaffordable American Empire. Few Americans know that almost half their government’s budget is spent on the military.
Besides disgusting many Americans, the presidential campaign has made the US an object of derision and embarrassment around the globe. Many analysts claim that this grand fiasco marks the beginning of the end of US global hegemony. It’s certainly the beginning of the beginning.
This week alone, the Philippines and Malaysia, two staunch American allies, edged closer to China’s camp. Neither Trump no Clinton had a care for America’s reputation during their ugly debates.
My fear is that the election vitriol will not end America’ shame and misery but continue on, like an acid eating into the national fabric. (Reprinted from EricMargolis.com by permission of author or representative) | 1real |
White House spokesman Spicer out as Trump seeks to fix image | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer resigned on Friday, ending a short and turbulent tenure that made him a household name and the butt of late-night television comedy lampoons, amid further upheaval within President Donald Trump’s inner circle. While not a surprise, Spicer’s departure was abrupt and accompanied other changes in Trump’s media and legal teams, as an investigation of possible ties between his campaign and Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election widened. After six months in power and still without a major legislative win, Trump shuffled some of his closest staff, parting ways with Spicer after naming Anthony Scaramucci as the new White House communications director. Spicer had been communications director as well as press secretary following the resignation of Mike Dubke as director early last month. A Republican close to the White House told Reuters that Trump settled on Scaramucci, 53, a political supporter and former Goldman Sachs banker, for the head media job on Thursday and met with him on Friday morning to formally offer it to him. A White House official briefed on what happened next said Spicer was told of Scaramucci’s hiring and Trump urged Spicer to stay on. But Spicer, 45, said he did not want to stay on under the terms and conditions described to him and quit. A source close to the White House said: “Basically Donald Trump likes Scaramucci on TV and saw the communications director job as a way to ... make him a top TV surrogate.” The source said Trump wanted Spicer to be press secretary and do much of the communications director’s work as well, “with Scaramucci holding the ceremonial title with no responsibility. And that was the real challenge.” At an early afternoon briefing, Scaramucci, in his debut before the White House press corps, named Sarah Sanders as the new press secretary. She had been Spicer’s deputy. Known by insiders as “Mooch,” the new communications director is a Harvard Law School-educated Long Islander who founded a hedge fund after leaving Goldman, and sold it to join the Trump administration. Spicer, a veteran Washington staffer, was parodied memorably by actress Melissa McCarthy on the “Saturday Night Live” TV comedy show for his combative encounters with reporters. “I am grateful for Sean’s work on behalf of my administration and the American people,” Trump said in a statement. “I wish him continued success as he moves on to pursue new opportunities. Just look at his great television ratings.” Spicer will stay on the job through August. From the start, Spicer invited controversy, attacking the media in his first appearance as press secretary for reporting what he called inaccurate crowd numbers at Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,” he said, an assertion that quickly drew scorn. In a Twitter post on Friday, Spicer wrote, “It’s been an honor & privilege to serve @POTUS @realDonaldTrump & this amazing country. I will continue my service through August.” Before Trump tapped him for the job of press secretary, Spicer was the Republican National Committee’s spokesman. He had previously worked in the administration of former President George W. Bush. During that time, he dressed up in an Easter Bunny costume for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. Spicer and other Trump aides shook up White House dealings with the media, including cutting back daily televised news briefings and replacing them with audio briefings only. Scaramucci told reporters, “I love the president. ... It’s an honor to be here.” Asked how he was going to right the White House ship, Scaramucci said there was nothing to fix. “The ship is going in the right direction. I like the team. Let me rephrase that: I love the team,” he said. Separately, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating the possible Trump-Russia ties, has asked White House officials to preserve any records of a meeting last year between the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and a Russian lawyer, a source with knowledge of the request said on Friday. The spokesman for Trump’s outside legal team, Mark Corallo, resigned. His departure came amid media reports that the role of Marc Kasowitz, who had been leading the team, was being reduced. On Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions brushed off sharp criticism from Trump, saying he loved his job and planned to stay in it. Trump took a broad swipe at his administration’s top law officers this week in a New York Times interview, saying he would not have appointed Sessions as attorney general if he had known he would recuse himself. White House unrest was not limited to communications and legal staff, said two officials familiar with the situation. Trump has ignored the recommendations of national security adviser H.R. McMaster and his senior director for Russia, Fiona Hill, on dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. They said McMaster is frustrated by continuing debate about sending more U.S. forces to Afghanistan. One official said tension persists between McMaster and chief White House strategist Steve Bannon and chief speechwriter Stephen Miller. | 0fake |
Four Movies You Should Know About Before the Golden Globes - The New York Times | Last month, about 50 new movies opened in New York and Los Angeles. Some, like a Robert De Niro vehicle called “The Comedian,” showed up in one or a handful of theaters to qualify for Oscar consideration. Some showed up everywhere. (Hi, “Assassin’s Creed. ” Hello, “Rogue One. ”) Who’s got time to see them all? But just in time for Sunday’s Golden Globes broadcast, we plucked four movies from the glut to discuss on “Still Processing”: “Fences,” directed by and starring Denzel Washington the romance “Passengers,” with Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt the Los Angeles romantic musical “La La Land,” starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling and “Patriots Day,” about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, starring a bunch of people but especially Mark Wahlberg. Jenna calls that one “the perfect movie for our time. ” We like a couple. We’re mixed on another. And one we hate. That’s life — at the movies, anyway. We also had to take a minute to express our heartfelt sympathies for — and total bafflement about — Mariah Carey’s New Year’s Eve debacle: so uncomfortable, so funny, so, so her. From a desktop or laptop, you can listen by pressing play on the button above. Or if you’re on a mobile device, the instructions below will help you find and subscribe to the series. On your iPhone or iPad: 1. Open your podcast app. It’s a preloaded app called “Podcasts” with a purple icon. (This link may help.) 2. Search for the series. Tap on the “search” magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the screen, type in “Still Processing” and select it from the list of results. 3. Subscribe. Once on the series page, tap on the “subscribe” button to have new episodes sent to your phone free. You may want to adjust your notifications to be alerted when a new episode arrives. 4. Or just sample. If you would rather listen to an episode or two before deciding to subscribe, tap on the episode title from the list on the series page. If you have an internet connection, you’ll be able to stream the episode. On your Android phone or tablet: 1. Open your podcast app. It’s a preloaded app called “Play Music” with an icon. (This link may help.) 2. Search for the series. Click on the magnifying glass icon at the top of the screen, search for “Still Processing” and select it from the list of results. You may have to scroll down to find the “Podcasts” search results. 3. Subscribe. Once on the series page, click on the word “subscribe” to have new episodes sent to your phone free. 4. Or just sample. If you would rather listen to an episode or two before deciding to subscribe, click on the episode title from the list on the series page. If you have an internet connection, you’ll be able to stream the episode. | 0fake |
Customizing truth | Posted on November 7, 2016 by Lawrence Davidson
For those who might wonder why foreign policy makers repeatedly make bad choices, some insight might be drawn from the following analysis. The action here plays out in the United States, but the lessons are probably universal.
Back in the early spring of 2003, George W. Bush initiated the invasion of Iraq. His public reason for doing so was the belief that the country’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. The real reason went beyond that charge and included a long-range plan for “regime change” in the Middle East. For our purposes we will concentrate on the belief that Iraq was about to become a hostile nuclear power. Why did President Bush and his close associates accept this scenario so readily?
The short answer is Bush wanted, indeed needed, to believe it as a rationale for invading Iraq. At first he had tried to connect Saddam Hussein to the 11 September 2001 attacks on the U.S. Though he never gave up on that stratagem, the lack of evidence made it difficult to rally an American people, already fixated on Afghanistan, to support a war against Baghdad. However, the nuclear weapons gambit proved more fruitful, not because there was any hard evidence for the charge, but because supposedly reliable witnesses, in the persons of exiled anti-Saddam Iraqis, kept telling Bush and his advisers that the nuclear story was true.
What we had was a U.S. leadership cadre whose worldview literally demanded a mortally dangerous Iraq, and informants who, in order to precipitate the overthrow of Saddam, were willing to tell the tale of pending atomic weapons. The strong desire to believe the tale of a nuclear Iraq lowered the threshold for proof . Likewise, the repeated assertions by assumed dependable Iraqi sources underpinned a nationwide U.S. campaign generating both fear and war-fever.
So the U.S. and its allies insisted that the United Nations send in weapons inspectors to scour Iraq for evidence of a nuclear weapons program. That the inspectors could find no convincing evidence only frustrated the Bush administration and soon forced its hand. On 19 March 2003 Bush launched the invasion of Iraq. The expectation was that, once in occupation of the country, they would surely find those nukes. They did not. Their Iraqi informants had systematically lied to them.
Social and behavioral sciences to the rescue?
The various U.S. intelligence agencies were thoroughly shaken by this affair, and today, thirteen years later, their directors and managers are still trying to sort it out—specifically, how to tell when they are getting “true” intelligence and when they are being lied to. Or, as one intelligence worker has put it, we need “ help to protect us against armies of snake oil salesmen. ” To that end the CIA et al. are in the market for academic assistance.
A “partnership” is being forged between the Office of the Director of National Intelligence( ODNI ), which serves as the coordinating center for the sixteen independent U.S. intelligence agencies, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine . The result of this collaboration will be a “ permanent Intelligence Community Studies Board ” to coordinate programs in “social and behavioral science research [that] might strengthen national security.”
Despite this effort, it is almost certain that the “social and behavioral sciences” cannot give the spy agencies what they want—a way of detecting lies that is better than their present standard procedures of polygraph tests and interrogations. But even if they could, it might well make no difference, because the real problem is not to be found with the liars. It is to be found with the believers.
Believers
It is simply not true, as the ODNI leaders seem to assert, that U.S. intelligence agency personnel cannot tell, more often than not, that they are being lied to. This is the case because there are thousands of middle-echelon intelligence workers, desk officers, and specialists who know something closely approaching the truth—that is, they know pretty well what is going on in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Israel, Palestine and elsewhere. Therefore, if someone feeds them “snake oil” they usually know it. However, having an accurate grasp of things is often to no avail because their superiors—those who got their appointments by accepting a pre-structured worldview—have different criterion for what is “true” than do the analysts.
Listen to Charles Gaukel, of the National Intelligence Council—yet another organization that acts as a meeting ground for the 16 intelligence agencies. Referring to the search for a way to avoid getting taken in by lies, Mr. Gaukel has declared, “ We’re looking for truth. But we’re particularly looking for truth that works. ” Now what might that mean?
I can certainly tell you what it means historically. It means that for the power brokers, “truth” must match up, fit with, their worldview—their political and ideological precepts. If it does not fit, it does not “work.” So the intelligence specialists who send their usually accurate assessments up the line to the policy makers often hit a roadblock caused by groupthink, ideological blinkers, and a “we know better” attitude.
On the other hand, as long as what you’re selling the leadership matches up with what they want to believe, you can peddle them anything: imaginary Iraqi nukes, Israel as a Western-style democracy, Saudi Arabia as an indispensable ally, Libya as a liberated country, Bashar al-Assad as the real roadblock to peace in Syria, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) aka Star Wars, a world that is getting colder and not warmer, American exceptionalism in all its glory—the list is almost endless.
Conclusion
What does this sad tale tell us? If you want to spend millions of dollars on social and behavioral science research to improve the assessment and use of intelligence, forget about the liars. What you want to look for is an antidote to the narrow-mindedness of the believers—the policymakers who seem not to be able raise above the ideological presumptions of their class—presumptions that underpin their self-confidence as they lead us all down slippery slopes.
It has happened this way so often, and in so many places, that it is the source of Shakespeare’s determination that “what is past, is prelude.” Our elites play out our destines as if they have no free will—no capacity to break with structured ways of seeing. Yet the middle-echelon specialists keep sending their relatively accurate assessments up the ladder of power. Hope springs eternal.
This work by MWC News is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License .
Dr. Davidson has done extensive research and published in the areas of American perceptions of the Middle East, and Islamic Fundamentalism. His two latest publications are Islamic Fundamentalism (Greenwood Press, 1998) and America’s Palestine: Popular and Official Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli Statehood (University Press of Florida, 2001). He has published thirteen articles on various aspects of American perceptions of the Middle East. Dr. Davidson holds a BA from Rutgers, an MA from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Alberta. This entry was posted in Analysis . Bookmark the permalink . | 1real |
Constitutional Law Expert: Comey Did NOT Violate Law By Announcing Email Investigation | Constitutional Law Expert: Comey Did NOT Violate Law By Announcing Email Investigation Source: Washington's Blog
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid alleges that FBI Director Comey has violated the law by announcing the re-opened investigation into Clinton emails so close to the presidential election.
Is he right?
One of the top constitutional law experts in the United States (and a liberal), Professor Jonathan Turley, says no :
[Reid’s] allegation is in my view wildly misplaced. Reid is arguing that the actions of FBI Director James B. Comey violates the Hatch Act . I cannot see a plausible, let alone compelling, basis for such a charge against Comey.
In his letter to Comey, Reid raised the the Hatch Act, which prohibits partisan politicking by government employees.
5 U.S.C. § 7323(a)(1) prohibits a government employee from “us[ing] his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.”
Reid argued:
“Your actions in recent months have demonstrated a disturbing double standard for the treatment of sensitive information, with what appears to be a clear intent to aid one political party over another. I am writing to inform you that my office has determined that these actions may violate the Hatch Act, which bars FBI officials from using their official authority to influence an election. Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law.”
The reference to “months” is curious. Comey has kept Congress informed in compliance with oversight functions of the congressional committees but has been circumspect in the extent of such disclosures. It is troubling to see Democrats (who historically favor both transparency and checks on executive powers) argue against such disclosure and cooperation with oversight committees. More importantly, the Hatch Act is simply a dog that will not hunt.
Richard W. Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota and the chief ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush White House from 2005 to 2007, has filed a Hatch Act complaint against Comey with the federal Office of Special Counsel and Office of Government Ethics. He argues that “We cannot allow F.B.I. or Justice Department officials to unnecessarily publicize pending investigations concerning candidates of either party while an election is underway.”
However, Comey was between the horns of a dilemma. He could be accused of acts of commission in making the disclosure or omission in withholding the disclosure in an election year. Quite frankly, I found Painter’s justification for his filing remarkably speculative. He admits that he has no evidence to suggest that Comey wants to influence the election or favors either candidate . Intent is key under the Hatch investigations. You can disagree with the timing of Comey’s disclosure, but that is not a matter for the Hatch Act or even an ethical charge in my view.
Congress passed the Hatch Act in response to scandals during the 1938 congressional elections and intended the Act to bar federal employees from using “[their] official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.” Comey is not doing that in communicating with Congress on a matter of oversight.
Such violations under the Hatch Act, even if proven, are not criminal matters . The Office of Special Counsel -can investigate such matters and seek discipline — a matter than can ultimately go before the Merit Systems Protection Board.
CNN confirms :
violators aren’t going to jail: the Hatch Act is not a criminal statute. Instead, it is an administrative constraint on government employees. The law is enforced by a special independent federal agency — the Office of Special Counsel — which is charged with investigating complaint allegations and, where found to be meritorious, either pursuing a settlement with the offending employee or prosecuting their case before the federal agency that oversees internal employment disputes — the Merit Systems Protection Board. And for presidential appointees like Comey, the Office of Special Counsel submits a report of its findings along with the employee’s response to the President , who makes a decision on whether discipline is warranted .
***
The Hatch Act provision most commonly invoked in discussions of Comey’s letter is 5 U.S.C. § 7323(a)(1), which prohibits a government employee from “us[ing] his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.”
The key text is the emphasized phrase — which conditions a violation of the statute on whether the employee’s purpose was to interfere with or affect the result of an election. Thus, the Hatch Act does not focus on the effect of the employee’s conduct, but the intent. To that end, if Comey did not intend to interfere with or affect the upcoming election through his letter to Congress, then he did not violate the letter of the Hatch Act. | 1real |
WOW! HOUSE INTELLIGENCE Chair CONFIRMS Trump Was Correct…Trump Transition Team WAS Surveilled By Obama [VIDEO] | House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R., Calif.) confirmed Wednesday that members of President Donald Trump s transition team were surveilled by the Obama administration.Nunes told reporters that the surveillance appeared to be incidental and legal. I recently confirmed that on numerous occasions the intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition, Nunes said. Details about U.S. persons associated with the incoming administration, details with little or not apparent foreign intelligence value, were widely disseminated in intelligence community reporting. Nunes also said none of the surveillance was related to Russia or the investigation of Russian activities. Nunes added that the committee would continue to investigate the matter.Nunes told House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) what he had learned, and said he would be briefing Trump on Wednesday as well.It was not confirmed whether Trump s personal communications were surveilled. WFB | 1real |
WATCH: LIBERAL San Juan Mayor Sinks To New Low…ATTACKS Melania Trump In Interview With Anderson Cooper | How much longer will the citizens of San Juan, Puerto Rico put up with this loudmouth, liberal mayor trashing the leader of the nation who is bending over backward to ensure the delivery of much-needed food, water, and aid to bankrupt Puerto Rico? Americans are sick and tired of San Juan s Mayor Carmen Yul n Cruz bad-mouthing our President, and now, his wife Melania, every time a liberal network puts a microphone in front of her face.After President Trump s acting DHS Chief gave an optimistic view to reporters of how things were progressing in Puerto Rico, the San Juan mayor lashed out, saying, People are dying in this country. I am begging, begging anyone that can hear us, to save us from dying. If anybody out there is listening to us, we are dying, and you are killing us with the inefficiency and the bureaucracy. On Monday, President Trump took to Twitter to criticize Mayor Cruz for poor leadership ability. Trump also claimed that the island s leaders want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017 want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017Daily Caller San Juan Mayor Carmen Yul n Cruz insisted Saturday that she had, no time for small politics or for comments less than two minutes before attacking President Trump.On CNN Newsroom With Ana Cabrera, Cruz told Anderson Cooper, I smiled. Really, in response to President Trump s tweets about her. I have no time for small politics or for comments that really don t add to the situation here, she added.Just about a minute later in the interview, Cooper said, the President also says in a tweet early this morning that you had been nice to him early on but that Democrats told you, you have to be nasty towards him. Mayor Cruz responded to Andersen Cooper by taking a swipe at First Lady Melania Trump, saying, I don t know. Maybe he s used to women who have to be told what to do. That s not who we are in San Juan. Watch:In a 2014 interview, Cruz revealed her feelings about how she believed that woman in politics can t play nice , Politics is a rough game, and sometimes as females, we are taught that you have to play nice. Sometimes you can t play nice. When your bankrupt country is in desperate need of help, and the nation you are relying on for that help has a leader who is bending over backward to save you, it s probably not the right time to not play nice. | 1real |
Trump says he will negotiate with Democrats on healthcare | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he will return to the healthcare legislative effort early next year and negotiate with Democrats on the issue, a day after the failure of Republicans’ latest attempt to get a healthcare plan through the Senate. The Republican president, refusing to admit defeat on one of his primary promises during the 2016 presidential campaign, told reporters at the White House that Republicans will tackle healthcare again in January or February. “I will negotiate with Democrats but from the Republican standpoint, we have the votes,” Trump said. He added that he would probably sign an executive order next week to allow people to buy health insurance across state lines. | 0fake |
BREAKING: FBI Is Raiding GOP Election Consulting Firm | While the Republican Party rants on and on about non-existent voter fraud, the evidence is mounting that they are the party that is engaged in electoral malfeasance and now, the FBI is raiding a firm that helped in Republican elections.The raid was on the Strategic Campaign Group. According to reports, about a half dozen FBI agents arrived Thursday morning to search and seize records.Details are scant now, and will be updated as the story develops, but here s what we have so far, and none of it has anything to do with Donald Trump:(Kelley) Rogers (President of Strategic Campaign Group), who said his firm represents the campaign committees for Maryland House and Senate candidates, told reporters that the FBI investigation concerns work the firm performed during the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial campaign of former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican.According to Rogers, his firm settled a civil suit brought by the Cuccinelli campaign after he lost that race to Democrat Terry McAuliffe. Rogers said the investigation appears to have stemmed from allegations brought in that suit. Twitter, though, has their theories and none of them look good for Donald Trump.The Cuccinelli suit (which was settled for between $75,000 and $85,000) alleged that Strategic Campaign Group and the associated Conservative Strike Force Political Action Committee an independent group not affiliated with the candidate raised about $2.2 million by assuring donors it would spend the money to help elect the GOP candidate. The suit alleged that the PAC and Strategic Campaign Group failed to follow through on promises for an extensive media campaign on Cuccinelli s behalf.Source: Capital GazetteThis isn t to imply that just because they were busted once, that s their only crime. The timing perfectly coordinates with warrants and subpoenas being issued in the Trump/Russia investigation. According to the left wing blog The Palmer Report:One of the insiders whose sources correctly pointed to today s FBI action is Democratic insider Claude Taylor. In the wake of the Annapolis raid, he s now sharing the following: Source in legal community reports large number of Warrants from Eastern District of Virginia being executed. By the FBI. Source reports frenzy of activity inside the EDVA, large number of agents, US Marshals. The battle has been joined (link). He goes on to add more details about the goings-on at the Eastern District Court of Virginia, which Comey recently confirmed is working with the FBI on the Trump-Russia investigation. The basement of the EDVA was described as resembling a judicial Armada with a dozen or more FBI and US Marshals vans, Taylor states.Regardless of whether this is about Trump or not, it s clear that the GOP has gotten cocky in their lawlessness and their chickens are coming home to roost. We ll keep you updated as this story develops.Featured image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images. | 1real |
AB-Çin ilişkilerinde ABD ve NATO’nun etkisi, yazan Manlio Dinucci | AB-Çin ilişkilerinde ABD ve NATO’nun etkisi yazan Manlio Dinucci Uluslararası bir forumda konuşan İtalyan coğrafyacı Manlio Dinucci, ABD’nin tüm dünyaya egemen olabilmek için sahip olduğu silahların analizini bireşimleştirdi. Suriye, Rusya ve Çin’in bugün elde silah, herkesin açıkça kabul ettiği bu üstünlüğü, dünyanın bu tek kutuplu örgütlenişi tartışılır hale getirmesinden dolayı bu makale daha da önem kazanmaktadır.
Voltaire İletişim Ağı | Roma (İtalya) | 5 Kasım 2016 français Español English Deutsch Doğrudan sorunun düğüm noktasına yöneliyorum. Avrupa Birliği ve Çin arasındaki ilişkilerden, ABD’nin doğrudan ve NATO aracılığıyla Avrupa Birliği üzerinde uyguladığı nüfuzdan bağımsız olarak söz etmem mümkün değil.
Bugün, 28 AB ülkesinin 22’si (Birleşik Krallığın AB’den çıkışından sonra 27 ülkesinden 21’i), Birlik halkının % 90’nından fazlası, AB tarafından « ortak savunmanın temeli » olarak tanınan NATO’nun üyesidir. Ve NATO, ABD komutası altındadır: Avrupa’daki yüksek müttefik Komutan hala Amerika Birleşik Devletleri Başkanı tarafından atanmaktadır ve diğer tüm kilit komutanlıklar ABD’nin elindedir. Avrupa Birliği’nin askeri ve dış politikası böylece, Avrupalı büyük güçlerin üzerinde amaç birliği yaptığı, asli olarak ABD stratejisine tabi durumdadır.
Resmi belgelerde açıkça dile getirilen bu strateji, SSCB’nin dağılması sonucunda küresel durumun değiştiği tarihsel anda çizilmiştir. Beyaz Saray 1991 yılında, National Security Strategy of the United States ’te şu beyanda bulunur: « Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, her boyutuyla –siyasi, ekonomik ve askeri- gerçekten de küresel olan bir güce, menzile ve etkiye sahip tek Devlettir. Amerikan liderliğinin yerini alabilecek hiçbir güç yoktur ». 1992’de, Defense Planning Guidance ’ta Pentagon şu görüşlerin altını çiziyor: « Birinci hedefimiz, herhangi bir gücün, bir küresel gücün ortaya çıkması için yeterli kaynaklara sahip bir bölgeye egemen olmasını engellemektir. Bu bölgeler, Batı Avrupa, eski Sovyetler Birliği toprakları ve Güney-Batı Asya’dır ». 2001’de, Quadrennial Defense Review ’ün ABD/NATO’nun, Rusya ve Çin’e karşı bir numaralı jeostratejik öneme sahip bir alan olan Afganistan savaşından bir hafta önce yayınlanan bir raporunda, Pentagon şunları söylüyor: « Bölgede mükemmel bir kaynak temeline sahip askeri bir rakibin ortaya çıkması muhtemeldir. Silahlı kuvvetlerimizin, ABD’nin, Devlet ve devlet dışı oluşumlar da dahil olmak üzere, rakip bir Devletin rejimini değiştirmek ya da ABD’nin hedefleri gerçekleşinceye kadar yabancı ülke topraklarını işgal etmek üzere, herhangi bir rakibe iradesini dayatma yeteneğini koruması gerekmektedir ».
Bu strateji temelinde, ABD komutası altındaki NATO doğu cephesinde taarruzunu başlattı: Yugoslav Federasyonunu savaş yoluyla yıktıktan sonra, 1999’dan günümüze kadar, eski Yugoslavya’dan üç ve üç de eski SSCB’den olmak üzere, her seferinde Rusya’nın daha da yakınına, nükleer olanlar da dahil askeri üs ve güçlerini kaydırarak, eski Varşova Paktının tüm Devletlerini ilhak etmiş ve pek yakında daha da başkalarını ilhak edecektir (Gürcistan ve daha şimdiden somut olarak NATO içerisinde olan Ukrayna’dan başlayarak). Aynı zamanda, doğu cephesiyle sıkı sıkıya bağlı güney cephesinde ABD komutası altındaki NATO, savaş yoluyla Libya Devletini ortadan kaldırdı ve aynı şeyi de Suriye’de yapmayı denedi.
ABD ve NATO, Ukrayna krizini patlattılar ve Rusya’yı « Avrupa’nın güvenliğini istikrarsızlaştırmakla » suçlayarak, Avrupa’yı, ABD çıkarlarına zarar veren Rusya-AB arasındaki ekonomik ve siyasi ilişkileri bozmak için, özellikle Washington’un arzuladığı (yaptırım ve karşı yaptırımların darbe vurduğu Avrupa ekonomilerinin zararına) yeni bir Soğuk Savaşa sürüklediler. ABD silahlı kuvvetlerinin, Çin karşıtı bir işlev içerisinde Asya-Pasifik bölgesinde artarak yerleşmesi de yine aynı strateji kapsamında gerçekleşiyor. U.S. Navy 2020 yılında, deniz ve hava güçlerinin %60’ını bu bölgede yoğunlaştıracağını duyurdu.
ABD stratejisi, ABD Pasifik Komutanlığının başı Amiral Harris’in önemini altını çizdiği Güney Çin Denizine yoğunlaşmış durumdadır: Burası dünya petrol ihracatının %25’i ve doğal gaz ihracatının %50’si, yıllık 5 000 milyar dolardan daha fazla bir değere sahip yıllık değere sahip deniz ticaretinin geçiş yaptığı yerdir. ABD bu denizyolunu, Amiral Harris’in « burada, ABD’deki yaşam sistemimiz için temel olan seyrüsefer özgürlüğü » adına, Çin’i « Güney Çin Denizi’nde, Rusya’nın Kırım’da yaptıklarıyla benzer saldırgan eylemlerde bulunmakla suçlayarak » denetimi altına almak istiyor. Bu amaçla U.S. Navy, Güney Çin Denizinde « devriye » görevi yapmaktadır. ABD’nin dümen suyundan en büyük Avrupa güçleri de geliyor: Fransa geçtiğimiz Temmuz ayında Avrupa Birliğinden « Çin’in gayrimeşru olarak talepte bulunduğu bu sularda düzenli ve görünür bir varlığı sağlamak için, Güney Çin Denizi’ndeki deniz devriyelerinin eşgüdümünü » yapmasını talep etti. Ve Amerika Birleşik Devletleri Güney Kore’ye « füze savunma » ama Rusya’ya karşı Romanya’da yerleştirilen ve yakında Polonya’ya da da konuşlandırılacak olan, aynı zamanda nükleer füzeler fırlatma yeteneğine sahip sistemleri yerleştirirken, NATO Genel Sekreteri Jens Stoltenberg, 6 Ekim’de Brüksel’de, « Seul ile NATO içerisindeki işbirliğini güçlendirmek » üzere Güney Kore Dışişleri Bakanı Yun Byung-se’yi kabul etti.
Bu olgular ve diğerleri de, Avrupa ve Asya’da aynı stratejinin uygulandığını ortaya koymaktadır. Bu, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri ve diğer Batılı güçlerin, yeni devletsel ve toplumsal öznelerin ortaya çıktığı güçlü değişim içerisindeki bir dünyada, ekonomik, siyasi ve askeri üstünlüklerini koruma girişimidir. Çin-Rusya stratejik mutabakatının meyvesi olan Şanghay İşbirliği Örgütü, dünyanın en büyük bütünleşik ekonomik alanı olabilecek kaynak ve istihdam kapasitesine sahiptir. Şanghay İşbirliği Örgütü ve BRİCS ülkeleri, mali kurumlarıyla, 70 yıldır ABD’ye ve Batının en büyük güçlerine borçlu ülkelere verilen tefeci borçları ve diğer finansal enstrümanlar aracılığıyla dünya ekonomisine hükmetme imkanı veren Dünya Bankası ve Uluslararası Para Fonunun büyük bölümüyle yerini alabilecek durumdadır. Yeni kurumlar aynı zamanda, hakim uluslararası döviz olarak kullanılan parayı basarak kendi borçlarını başka ülkelerin sırtına yükleme imkanını ABD’den alarak, ticari alışverişlerde dolardan çıkış sürecini de gerçekleştirebilir.
Gün geçtikçe daha da sallantıda olan üstünlüklerini muhafaza edebilmek için ABD sadece silah gücünü kullanmakla yetinmiyor, ama çoğu zaman kelimenin asıl anlamındakilerden daha da etkili silahlardan da yararlanıyor.
Birinci silah: AB ile olan « Transatlantik Ticaret ve Yatırım Ortaklığı » (TTIP) ve sadece ekonomik değil ama jeopolitik ve jeostratejik amaca sahip « Trans-Pasifik Ortaklığı » (TPP) gibi sözüm ona « serbest ticaret anlaşmaları »dır. Hillary Clinton bu yüzden, siyasi ve askeri konuları entegre eden bir « ekonomik NATO » önerisinde bulunarak, ABD-AB ortaklığını « Transatlantik ittifakımızın en büyük stratejik hedefi » olarak niteliyor. Proje açıktır: yine ABD komutası altında olmak üzere, Çin ve Rusya arasındaki işbirliğini temel alan ve yükselmekte olan Avrasya alanına, İran’a ve kendini Batının egemenliği altında görmek istemeyen diğer tüm ülkelere karşı siyasi, ekonomik ve askeri bir ABD-AB bloğu oluşturmak. Çıkar farklılıkları ve Avrupa’daki geniş kapsamlı muhalefet yüzünden TTIP müzakereleri zorlukla ilerlediği için, şimdilik, Kanada ile Amerika asındaki NAFTA’ya dahil olduğu için bir kamufle TTIP olan Kanada ve AB arasındaki « Kapsamlı Ekonomik ve Ticaret Anlaşması » (CETA) ile engelin çevresinden dolaşılmaktadır. CETA muhtemelen önümüzdeki 27 Ekim’de, Kanada Başbakanı Trudeau’nun Brüksel ziyareti sırasında AB tarafından imzalanacak.
İkinci silah: Her ülkenin çeşitli ölçülerde sahip olduğu zayıf noktalara dayanarak, içeriden huzursuzluk çıkarmak amacıyla hedef ülkelere sızılmasıdır: rüşvet, para hırsı, siyasi ikbal avcılığı, yerel iktidar grupları tarafından kışkırtılan ayrılıkçılık, dinsel fanatizm, geniş kitlelerin siyasi demagoji karşısında savunmasızlığı. Aynı zamanda, bazı durumlarda, kendi hükümetlerinin icraatına yönelik halkın memnuniyetsizliğine de dayanarak. Sızmada kullanılan enstrümanlar: gerçekte ABD Dışişleri Bakanlığı ve CİA’nin uzantıları olan sözde « sivil toplum kuruluşları »dır. Doğu Avrupa’da « renkli devrimleri » örgütleyen ve Çin’de ulusal azınlıkların yaşadığı diğer bölgeleri de kışkırtmaya yönelik olan, Hong-Kong’taki sözüm ona « Umbrella Revolution » ile aynı operasyonu gerçekleştirme girişiminde bulunan, devasa ekonomik imkanlara sahip kuruluşlardır bunlar. Aynı örgütler Latin Amerika’da, Brezilya’nın demokratik kurumlarını alaşağı etme ilk hedefiyle Brics ülkelerini içeriden mayınlamaktadır. Aynı stratejinin enstrümanları, aynı zamanda dışarıdan da saldırıya uğrayan Devletlerin topyekun ortadan kaldırılmasına hizmet eden, Libya ve Suriye’ye sızdırılanlar gibi kaos ortamı yaratmak üzere silahlı terörist gruplardır.
Üçüncü silah: küresel medyatik kanallar aracılığıyla yürütülen ve Pentagon tarafından « önceden belirlenen hedeflere hizmet edecek davranışlara sürüklemek ya da bunları pekiştirmek için, yabancı kamuoyu, örgüt ve hükümetlerinin duyarlılık ve motivasyonlarını belirlenen haberler aracılığıyla etkilemeye yönelik planlı harekatlar » olarak tanımlanan « PsyOp »’lar (Psikolojik Operasyonlar). Kamuoyunu savaşın tırmanışına hazırlayan bu operasyonlar aracılığıyla, aynı zamanda onları « insan haklarını ihlal etmekle » suçlayarak, Rusya’yı Avrupa’daki ve Çin’i ise Asya’daki gerilimlerin sorumlusu olarak gösterdiler.
Manlio Dinucci ve eşi Carla, 1965 yılında Mao Tse Tung’un doğduğu evin önünde. Son bir tespit: Altmışlı yıllarda Pekin’de eşiyle birlikte Çin’in bir numaralı dergisinin İtalyanca olarak yayınlanmasına katkıda bulunan biri olarak, Çin’in –sömürgeci, yarı-sömürgeci ve yarı-feodal durum koalisyonundan henüz on beş yıl önce özgürleştirilen- Batı tarafından tamamen tecrit edildiği ve ne Batı, ne de Birleşmiş Milletler tarafından egemen Devlet olarak tanınmadığı bir dönemde, derinden eğitici bir deneyim yaşadım. Bu dönemden geriye bende iz bırakan, Komünist Partinin önderliği altında tamamen yeni ekonomik ve kültürel temeller üzerinde bir toplum inşa etme inancında olan, o dönemlerde 600 milyon nüfuslu bu halkın direniş ve bilinç kapasitesi oldu. Bu kapasitenin bugün de, devasa gücüllüklerini daha da geliştirmekte olan çağdaş Çin’in, insanlığın geleceği için verilen nihai mücadeleye katkıda bulunarak, yeni emperyalist hakimiyet planlarına direnebilmesi için de aynı şekilde gerekli olduğunu düşünüyorum. Bu kavga, artık daha fazla savaşların olmadığı, toplumsal adalete ayrılmaz bir şekilde bağlı olan barışın zafer kazandığı bir dünya uğruna verilmektedir.
Manlio Dinucci Çeviri
Osman Soysal | 1real |
Adele vs. Beyoncé: What’s at Stake for the Grammys? - The New York Times | The 59th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday will feature perhaps the show’s most electric contest in years: Adele versus Beyoncé. Both are megaselling queens of pop whose every move reverberates throughout the culture. The fact that they will face off in each of the top three categories — album, record and song of the year — gives the Grammys a rare tension that can only be good for ratings. Yet their competition is also fraught in ways that have long dogged the awards. One concerns race, a subject the Grammys have a tangled history with — especially this year, when one of the most acclaimed young black artists, Frank Ocean, has boycotted the process altogether. Another sensitive area is the Grammys’ spotty record in recognizing the vanguards of contemporary pop. Added to the mix is a heightened political climate in which issues of race and identity are front and center, raising the question of whether the music industry will use this year’s Grammys as a soapbox. Many longtime Grammy watchers say that a sweep by Adele — and therefore a Beyoncé snub — could feed into complaints that the awards too often fail to recognize black performers in the most prestigious categories. Ebro Darden, a disc jockey on the New York station Hot 97 and on Apple’s Beats 1, said that a big Beyoncé win would be “the best move” for the Grammys “if they want to get the most attention and keep people interested. ” Should Adele dominate, he added, some music fans “would come for them and say #OscarsSoWhite. ” With the news media closely focused on diversity at awards shows — and the public relations nightmares that result from an absence of it — that would be an unwelcome response for the Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammys. (A representative for the academy declined to comment.) Adele and Beyoncé are both hailed in music circles as supremely deserving talents. But for voters, the singers also represent a choice between two strains of modern pop: Adele’s album “25” and her hit ballad “Hello” are examples of the finely traditional style that is Grammy catnip. Beyoncé’s “Lemonade,” with its dynamic single “Formation” and accompanying politically and racially charged hourlong art film, represents an edgier sound that rarely takes the top prize — Exhibit A for those who contend that the Grammys are perennially out of touch. Beyoncé’s own example is telling: She may already have 20 Grammys on her shelf, but only one is in the big four categories (album, record and song of the year, or best new artist). She has also been passed over twice for album of the year, losing to Taylor Swift in 2010 and Beck in 2015 (much to the consternation of Kanye West, a frequent Grammy critic). “The #OscarsSoWhite controversy really shook the motion picture academy, and I think the Grammys are saying, ‘There but for the grace of God go we, so let’s make sure this doesn’t happen to us,’” said Paul Grein, a former Billboard columnist who performs detailed Grammy analysis for the industry magazine Hits. The Grammys may be more diverse than most shows this year, Beyoncé is the top nominee, with nine nods, while the newcomer Chance the Rapper has seven. But the show’s record in recognizing black talent has come under plenty of fire. Mr. Ocean declined to submit his work for consideration in this year’s Grammys at all, saying that the institution “just doesn’t seem to be representing very well for people who come from where I come from,” and calling the boycott his “Colin Kaepernick moment. ” Rap fans were outraged when Kendrick Lamar lost best rap album to the white rapper Macklemore in 2014, though Mr. Lamar took all four rap trophies last year. (Eminem has won best rap album six times.) The last black artists to win album of the year were legacy picks: Ray Charles in 2005, and Herbie Hancock, covering Joni Mitchell, in 2008 a black woman hasn’t won since Lauryn Hill did nearly two decades ago. Russell Simmons, the entertainment mogul who is a founder of Def Jam Recordings, said that Beyoncé “is overdue for being accepted by the mainstream in the way she deserves. ” “She’s obviously the most mainstream thing on the planet,” Mr. Simmons said. He added: “When they define her, her color has something to do with the way she’s viewed and the amount of awards she wins and the accolades she gets. I would venture to say were she white and blond from Texas, she would be recognized differently. ” Some, however, reject the idea of the contest as a referendum on race. “I don’t think it’s a black and white thing it’s a quality thing,” said Joel Peresman, the chief executive of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. Kevin Liles, a veteran record executive now with 300 Entertainment, said that the Grammys had evolved in recent years: “If it was truly a dormant or stagnant association, then Beyoncé wouldn’t be there. All shapes, sizes, colors and genres are represented. ” The odds on Adele and Beyoncé are hard to read, even among industry insiders. Adele may be a safe choice, but she also swept all three top prizes five years ago, making a repeat seem unlikely. No or contemporary RB album has won the top prize since Outkast’s “ Love Below” in 2004, a tough precedent for Beyoncé on the other hand, there is a wide sense in the industry that it may simply be her turn. At the Grammys, however, anything is possible: Contenders for an upset album of the year winner are streaming hits like Drake’s “Views” and Justin Bieber’s “Purpose,” and this year’s darkest horse, “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth” by the country outsider Sturgill Simpson. The awards also comes at a cultural crossroads, following a divisive presidential election. Now, even the most mainstream events are weighted with ideological expectations. “The gloves are off: It is absolutely in style to have a political opinion right now,” the D. J. Mr. Darden said, predicting that the Grammys would “absolutely have that moment” where current events come up, such as with Meryl Streep’s Golden Globes speech aimed at President Trump. Lady Gaga, a vocal Hillary Clinton supporter, did not make a grand political statement, as some had hoped, at the Super Bowl, but she will have another platform when she performs with Metallica at the Grammys. Among the other performers scheduled on Sunday are Katy Perry, who was a dedicated surrogate for Mrs. Clinton, and Chance the Rapper, a frequent guest of President Obama’s White House. Beyoncé and Adele, who is British, both expressed support for Mrs. Clinton last year. “We want to be a place where artists can feel they can come and express themselves,” Ken Ehrlich, the Grammys producer, said of the possibility that performances or speeches could become political. “Our guidelines are taste and the F. C. C. The F. C. C. is more concerned with profanity than it is with political discourse. ” Mr. Simmons said that no matter who comes away the night’s big winner, a foray by a major artist into politics would be a boon for the show. “If Trump says the Grammys are overrated on Monday morning, people will go looking for what he’s talking about,” Mr. Simmons said. “I hope he does. ” | 0fake |
Singapore names first woman president, raising eyebrows over election process | SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore named a former speaker of parliament as the multicultural city-state s first woman president on Wednesday while critics expressed dismay that other candidates were disqualified and the election went uncontested. Aiming to strengthen a sense of inclusivity, Singapore had decreed the presidency, a largely ceremonial six-year post, would be reserved for candidates from the minority Malay community this time. The returning officer declared Halimah Yacob, 63, elected on Wednesday after nominations closed. Of the four other applicants, two were not Malays and two were not qualified to contest, the elections department said on Monday. Halimah had automatically qualified because she held a senior public post for over three years. If the election had been held, all citizens would have been eligible to vote. Several critics went online to protest against the stringent eligibility rules, which include a stipulation that a candidate from the private sector should have headed a company with paid-up capital of at least S$500 million ($370 million). The prime minister s office said it had no comment on criticism of the election process. It would have restored some of the lost moral authority by her winning against credible opponents through popular votes, said opposition politician Yee Jenn Jong in a blog post. She is, after all, a veteran in elections and has won handsomely in the four general elections she stood in. The rights group Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) said it hoped more will be done to improve access to politics for all of Singapore s women . Unfortunately, the process that led to this outcome has not reflected our hopes, it said in a statement posted online. Displays of dissent are rare in Singapore, one of the richest and most politically stable countries in the world. It has been ruled by the People s Action Party (PAP) since independence in 1965 and the current prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, is the son of the country s founding father Lee Kuan Yew. In the 2015 general election held months after the death of Lee Kuan Yew the PAP won almost 70 per cent of the popular vote and swept all but six of parliament s 89 seats. The incoming president, who is to be sworn in on Thursday, appeared unfazed by the controversy. Although this is a reserved election, I m not a reserved president, Halimah said in a speech at the election nominations office. I m a president for everyone. Whether or not there is an election or no election, my promise is to serve everyone and I will serve with great vigor, with a lot of hard work, with the same passion and commitment. | 0fake |
The conservative case for gay marriage | Led by conservative Justice and Reagan appointee, Anthony Kennedy, the Supreme Court ruled Friday, in a 5-4 decision, in favor of same-sex marriage. Despite the often binary depiction in the media, this decision is in fact a landmark victory for conservative principles. In fact, Friday’s decision is a momentous win for the founding principle of the Republican Party: individual liberty.
Consistent conservatives should frame their views in accordance with the fundamental belief that individuals, not governments, have the right to determine the course of their own lives.
Fellow conservatives, particularly within the Republican Party, typically do a good job arguing against totalitarian, one-size-fits-all approaches to policy. What works for a family in New York City, might not work in Jenison, Michigan, or Tulsa, Oklahoma.
It is for this reason that Republicans and conservatives have embraced issues such as school choice, which gives parents the right to choose the method of schooling that best fits their child’s needs. Parents, not governments, should decide what is best for their family.
Republicans and American conservatives have also been remarkably consistent on taxation. Consistent conservatives believe people should keep more of the money they work so hard to earn—not because the vulnerable don’t deserve assistance, but because individuals can and will make better, and more effective financial and charitable choices with their money than government bureaucrats.
The list of important conservative positions, all relating back to the fundamental principle of individual choice, goes on and on: property rights; freedom of association; and freedom of speech, etc.
But when the topic of gay marriage arises, some conservatives have not been consistent. The debate on marriage within the Republican Party has been hijacked by those who wish to dictate their beliefs onto others. Rather than professing consistent, conservative beliefs, some within the party have taken to advocating for a remarkably liberal, totalitarian approach.
This hypocrisy has not been lost on the electorate. Millennials, possibly the most naturally conservative-leaning constituency, laugh at the inconsistencies they hear coming from “conservative” voices on issues like gay marriage.
Republican presidential candidate and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is one of those inconsistent conservatives. Walker immediately lashed out at the Supreme Court’s decision, proposing an astonishingly big-government response. Walker called for a Constitutional Amendment, ensuring that politicians will forever be able to dictate whom one should or should not be able to marry. In other words, Walker wants to cement the will of politicians into our daily lives.
Walker has taken a stunningly liberal position. As conservative Justice Kennedy wrote in his opinion, “marriage is a keystone of the Nation’s social order. States have contributed to the fundamental character of marriage by placing it at the center of many facets of the legal and social order.” Indeed, marriage today is as much as it has ever been an important, legal contract—one which carries with it profound financial and emotional ramifications.
Walker, and others like him, seem to ignore the real-life implications of contemporary marriage, instead focusing solely on a religious definition of marriage with which they happen to agree.
Walker, like many religious conservatives, confuse civil marriage with the religious blessing of the church or synagogue. In today’s society, the word marriage means both a government document and a church’s blessing. To pretend like there is only one definition is to deny reality. Confusing the issue even further, politicians have written the word “marriage” into the tax code, where religious conservatives erroneously assume tax benefits refer to their definition of marriage.
As Justice Kennedy wrote in his decision, “same-sex couples are denied the constellation of benefits that the States have linked to marriage and are consigned to an instability many opposite-sex couples would find intolerable.” If this “constellation of benefits” was intended only for those wed under the auspices of the church, what right would opposite-sex couples married on the courthouse steps have to it? The answer is clearly that politicians didn’t mean that one must have a blessed union to jointly file their taxes.
Republicans who profess their admiration for individual liberty—for the power and freedom of choice and laissez faire—must stay consistent.
The only true conservative position, the individual right of marriage for all, has been affirmed by the Supreme Court. It’s time for consistent conservatives to come out in favor of the Court's ruling.
Richard Grenell is a Fox News Contributor. He served as the spokesman for four U.S. Ambassadors to the U.N. including John Negroponte, John Danforth, John Bolton and Zalmay Khalilzad. Follow him on Twitter@RichardGrenell. | 0fake |
Clinton Campaign Chair John Podesta’s Brother Is an Active Foreign Agent on the Saudi Arabian Payroll |
by Claire Bernish
Tony Podesta — brother of the now-disgraced Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, whose files Wikileaks has been publishing — is not only a powerful Democratic Party lobbyist, but a registered foreign agent receiving a hefty monthly paycheck from the nefarious government of Saudi Arabia.
No — as tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorist as it might sound — that scenario is the absolute truth.
In 1988, John and Tony Podesta formed the Podesta Group and have used their bigwig party-insider status to lobby and influence government policies — while, at various times, simultaneously holding positions of power — which has created a number of glaring conflicts of interest.
According to the March 2016 filing made in accordance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, Tony Podesta is an active foreign agent of the Saudi government with the “ Center for Studies and Media Affairs at the Saudi Royal Court ,” and acts as an officer of the Saudi Arabia account.
(click to enlarge)
At this point, the web of pay-for-play between the Washington, political heavyweights, and foreign governments comes lurching into the spotlight.
For starters, the Podesta brothers’ lobbying firm receives $140,000 every month from the Saudi government, which, in no uncertain terms — and despite a status as privileged U.S. ally — wages a bloody campaign of censorship, murder, suppression, human rights abuse, and worse against its civilian population, while bombing hospitals, schools, and aid convoys in neighboring nations.
John Podesta previously served as President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, founded the think tank Center for American Progress (which oh-so-coincidentally touts the need to reframe Saudi Arabia’s hopelessly tarnished image), counseled President Obama, and now chairs Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Tony Podesta acts as a foreign agent for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — lobbying to influence government policy in favor of the Kingdom — while also contributing to and bundling for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Think about that for a moment.
One brother uses the influence of money to both affect United States foreign policy and infuse the Clinton campaign with cash — while the other wields the influence of power as a political insider for the same entities.
As the Washington Post reported months ago in July, Tony Podesta’s lobbying efforts “raised $268,000 for the campaign and $31,000 for the victory fund.”
“The Saudis hired the Podesta Group in 2015 because it was getting hammered in the press over civilian casualties from its airstrikes in Yemen and its crackdown on political dissidents at home, including sentencing blogger Raif Badawi to ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes for ‘insulting Islam,’” Alternet reported . “Since then, Tony Podesta’s fingerprints have been all over Saudi Arabia’s advocacy efforts in Washington DC. When Saudi Arabia executed the prominent nonviolent Shia dissident Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, causing protests throughout the Shia world and inflaming sectarian divisions, The New York Times noted that the Podesta Group provided the newspaper with a Saudi commentator who defended the execution.”
Notably, the Saudis’ reputation has only worsened as further atrocities pile up — concerning not only a record number of barbaric beheadings this year, but suspiciously reckless and errant U.S.-backed coalition bombings of civilian sites in several regions of active conflict.
Additionally, Tony Podesta’s status as a registered foreign agent for Saudi Arabia is at least obliquely discussed in an email from April 15, 2015 — ironically revealed by Wikileaks’ publishing of his brothers personal communiques — in which former Clinton Foundation chief development officer and now campaign national finance director Dennis Cheng wrote to a small group of insiders:
“Hi all – we do need to make a decision on this ASAP as our friends who happen to be registered with FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act] are already donating and raising.
“I do want to push back a bit (it’s my job!): I feel like we are leaving a good amount of money on the table (both for primary and general, and then DNC and state parties)… and how do we explain to people that we’ll take money from a corporate lobbyist but not them; that the Foundation takes $ from foreign govts but we now won’t. Either way, we need to make a decision soon.”
To which general counsel to the Clinton campaign, attorney Marc Elias, replied [all errors original and emphasis added],
“Responding to all on this. I was not on the call this morning, but I lean away from a bright line rule here. It seems odd to say that someone who represents Alberta, Canada can’t give, but a lobbyist for Phillip Morris can. Just as we vet lobbyists case by case, I would do the same with FARA. While this may lead to a large number of FARA registrants being denied, it would not be a flat our ban. A total ban feels arbitrary and will engender the same eye-rolling and ill will that it did for Obama.”
As the exchange continues, how to precisely handle the campaign’s image with potentially controversial donors — while, at all costs, maintaining the flow of cash — becomes even more apparent. As strategist and campaign manager Robby Mook responds,
“Where do we draw the line though?”
Elias suggests a particularly intricate solution:
“If we do it case by case, then it will be subjective. We would look at who the donor is and what foreign entity they are registered for. In judging whether to take the money, we would consider the relationship between that country and the United States, its relationship to the State Department during Hillary’s time as Secretary, and its relationship, if any, to the Foundation. In judging the individual, we would look at their history of support for political candidates generally and Hillary’s past campaigns specifically.
“Put simply, we would use the same criteria we use for lobbyists, except with a somewhat more stringent screen.
“As a legal matter, I am not saying we have to do this – we can decide to simply ban foreign registrants entirely. I’m just offering this up as a middle ground.”
Mook eventually decides plainly,
“Marc made a convincing case to me this am that these sorts of restrictions don’t really get you anything…that Obama actually got judged MORE harshly as a result. He convinced me. So…in a complete U-turn, I’m ok just taking the money and dealing with any attacks. Are you guys ok with that?”
All of this political wrangling appears to have had the desired effect — despite increasing calls for the United States to either rein in or sever completely its support for the bloody Saudi regime — the U.S. approved a stunning $1.29 billion sale of smart bombs to the Kingdom in November 2015.
Tony Podesta’s specific contract with the government-run Center for Studies and Media Affairs at the Saudi Royal Court, which will earn $1.68 million by year’s end, does, indeed, suggest the infusion of a pro-Saudi message into the U.S. media propaganda machine.
“Saudi Arabia is consistently one of the bigger players when it comes to foreign influence in Washington,” Sunlight Foundation spokesman Josh Stewart told the Washington Post . “That spans both what you’d call the inside game, which is lobbying and government relations, and the outside game, which is PR and other things that tend to reach a broader audience than just lobbying.”
That broader audience — the American public — has indeed been manipulated courtesy of at least the thoroughly-corrupt Clinton campaign if not surreptitiously by the Saudis, as well.
As The Free Thought Project has repeatedly reported , the evidence of collusion among the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and the mainstream presstitutes is indisputable — including no less than 65 so-called journalists listed by name in various leaks as darlings of the campaign.
Although this level of corruption and collusion would be considered intolerable in nearly any other nation on the planet. And yet, at the center of this shit storm of contention is an official nominee for the White House — who will not be held responsible for any number of questionable and criminal acts.
The system isn’t rigged — it’s performing exactly as intended — and always will as long as the vote validates its existence. Delivered by The Daily Sheeple
We encourage you to share and republish our reports, analyses, breaking news and videos ( Click for details ).
Contributed by The Free Thought Project of thefreethoughtproject.com .
The Free Thought Project is dedicated to holding those who claim authority over our lives accountable. | 1real |
Catalonia to press ahead with independence if Madrid suspends autonomy | MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Catalonia s leader pledged to press ahead with his independence bid if Spain moves to suspend the region s autonomy, a regional government source said on Wednesday, hours before a deadline over keeping the euro zone s fourth-largest economy united. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has given Catalan president Carles Puigdemont until 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Thursday to renounce a secession bid which has rocked markets and rattled the euro, or face direct rule from Madrid. Puigdemont made a symbolic declaration of independence last week and promptly suspended it to ask for talks with Madrid. The source said he would now lift that suspension if Rajoy exercised so-called Article 155 of the Constitution to take back power. The president said (at) his party s meeting that he will lift the suspension of the independence declaration if the government executes Article 155, the source said. That article, which has never been used during Spain s four decades of democracy, allows central government to take over any of its 17 autonomous communities if they break the law, which Madrid says Catalonia has done by holding a referendum on independence and pushing for a break-up. Even though it is not clear what direct rule will look like, the prospect has raised fears that social unrest could add to the turbulence, on the heels of an exodus of hundreds of Catalan firms and cuts to economic growth forecasts. In the latest grim prediction, Spain s independent budget watchdog warned this week that continued uncertainty could wipe as much as 12 billion euros off potential economic growth next year, cutting forecasts by between 0.4 and 1.2 percentage points. Catalonia accounts for 20 percent of Spain s GDP. If Rajoy triggers the article on Thursday, it will take between three and five days for the government in the wealthy region to be effectively stripped of its powers. If autonomy is suspended we will have to move in a hurry, the source said. Disappointed that last week s declaration was merely symbolic, pro-independence parties in Puigdemont s ruling coalition are now pushing for a formal vote in the Catalan parliament. Earlier on Wednesday, Rajoy urged Puigdemont to act sensibly and scrap the bid or risk direct rule, a move which would need only a vote in Spain s upper house, where Rajoy s People s Party holds an absolute majority. The premier repeated a call for clarity on the matter. It s not that difficult to reply to the question: Has Catalonia declared independence? Because if it has, the government is obliged to act in one way, and if it has not, we can talk here, Rajoy said in parliament. A central government source later said Madrid viewed a formal independence declaration as unacceptable blackmail . Since an Oct. 1 independence referendum which Madrid branded illegal, some 700 companies have moved their head offices from Catalonia, according to Spain s companies registry. Despite a violent crackdown by Spanish police to thwart the vote, Catalan officials say 43 percent of voters still managed to cast ballots in the referendum with 90 percent in favor of breaking away. Banco Sabadell, Spain s fifth-biggest bank, is considering moving its top management to Madrid. Tourism, a vital part of the Catalan economy centred on its seaside capital Barcelona, has also taken a hit, with activity falling 15 percent so far this month, industry association Exceltur said on Tuesday. The region s tourism industry could make 1.8 billion euros ($2.12 billion) less than usual in the fourth quarter if the volatility and confrontation get worse in the coming months , Exceltur said in a statement. Authoritative Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia reported that Madrid plans to appoint its own delegates to run regional government departments. Puigdemont would remain nominally in his role but stripped of all powers. Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said last week that it was not clear what measures the government would take if direct rule were imposed, but said the government would work on it. La Vanguardia said Puigdemont, a 54-year-old former journalist, was mulling declaring independence and calling so-called constituent elections for the newly declared republic. But Catalan foreign affairs chief Raul Romeva told a news conference in Brussels: Elections are not on the table now. Tempers have flared since the jailing on Monday of two separatist leaders, pending an investigation for alleged sedition. Tens of thousands of protesters gathered along Barcelona s Diagonal Avenue on Tuesday to call for their release, whistling and shouting freedom and out with the occupying forces . | 0fake |
HOW CAN ANYONE TRUST THEM? TWITTER Admits To Hiding ANTI-HILLARY and Negative DNC Tweets During Election | The move by a Twitter employee last week to ban President Trump from the social media platform for 11 minutes received a great deal of attention and offered people a glimpse into how easily someone at Twitter can stop the flow of information from a source he does not like.What did not get a great deal of attention, however, was the fact that Twitter s Acting General Counsel, Sean Edgett, admitted in a prepared statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the platform regularly blocked tweets offering information that could paint the Clinton Campaign and DNC in negative lights.Writing for NewsWars, Jerome Corsi notes:At a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism on Tuesday, Sean Edgett, Acting General Counsel for Twitter, admitted in his prepared testimony that Twitter employed in the 2016 election algorithms that censored out hashtags critical (of) Hillary Clinton, including the hashtag #PodestaEmails and the hashtag #DNCLeaks. Is anyone surprised?Twitter execs long ago began showing their biases against conservatives to such an extent that even USA Today brought it up, noting that Twitter s behind-the-scenes team was quick to ban right-wingers like Milo Yiannopoulos for digs he made at the brilliant and ever-so-entertaining actress Leslie Jones.Yet, conservatives say, nothing happened to rapper Talib Kweli and his followers when they attacked black Breitbart reporter Jerome Hudson with racial slurs. When Breitbart contributor Kassy Dillon complained about a Twitter user who sent her harassing tweets and messages, Twitter made the perpetrator delete one tweet that suggested someone shoot Dillon in the head. Now, the big story that many in the pop media evidently don t want you to see is that Twitter actually admits to having censored tweets that might have spread real information injurious to HRC and the DNC during the 2016 election. The Twits claim that they were simply stopping spambots from filling their precious space with tweets from unreal people (one might ask how authentic most politicians seem to be in the first place, but that s a different matter), but hidden in their statements are some tells that indicate otherwise.For example, Dr. Corsi observes that in sworn testimony to the Judiciary Committee, Edgett stated:For example, our automated spam detection systems helped mitigate the impact of automated Tweets promoting the #PodestaEmails hashtag, which originated with Wikileaks publication of thousands of emails from the Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta s Gmail account. The core of the hashtag was propagated by Wikileaks, whose account sent out a series of 118 original Tweets containing variants on the hashtag #PodestaEmails referencing the daily installments of the emails released on the Wikileaks website.So, automatically, what Mr. Edgett has admitted tells us that Twitter intentionally tried to stop the circulation of information offered by an authentic user, Wikileaks, offering authentic information that Wikileaks had published revealing real, confirmed e-mails sourced from John Podesta and the DNC. Those e-mails shed extremely important information about corruption within the DNC that worked against Bernie Sanders campaign, and in favor of Mrs. Clinton s campaign, and later revealed extremely important information about what Mrs. Clinton knew about the attempted overthrow of Syria and the underlying, unconstitutional reasons for the overthrow of Qaddafi in Libya.Edgett also testified that Twitter hid 25% of the #PodestaEmails tweets, andAs described in greater detail below, our systems detected and hid just under half (48%) of the Tweets relating to variants of another notable hashtag, #DNCLeak, which concerned the disclosure of leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee. Those would be the e-mails that revealed towering corruption at the DNC and in many offices of pop media things like new reporters working with the Clinton campaign to offer her easy questions, things like Donna Brazile, then an employee of CNN, feeding Hillary questions prior to a debate with the electrifying wildman, Bernie Sanders.These are issues that were real, and the more people knew about them, the more they disliked Mrs. Clinton and the more she and the DNC hackmeisters pushed the spurious Russia Hack narrative to deflect from their own malfeasance.For entire story- MRCTV | 1real |
Donald Trump Humiliates Himself With Panama Leader; Panama And Twitter Humiliate Trump (VIDEO) | As is the norm for Donald Trump, it s clear he did absolutely no preparation for his Oval Office meeting with Panama President Juan Carlos Varela. During the photo-op, in an apparent struggle to find some sort of common ground, Trump seemed to take credit for building the Panama Canal a canal that was built about 100 years ago and was arranged to be given back to the Panamanians during the Carter administration. Twitter and even Varela couldn t let that slide.That part of the exchange was rather short. Trump, in his usual boasting fashion, said: It s our great honor to have President and Mrs. Varela from Panama. We have many things to discuss. We re going to spend quite a bit of time today. The Panama Canal is doing quite well, I think we did a good job building it. Varela responded with just four words: One hundred years ago. Trump didn t appear to hear it: We did a very good job. But things are going well in Panama. The relationship has been very strong. We are developing new things to do and only getting stronger. And our also friendship with the President is very, very good. Here s the video:The canal was finished more than 100 years ago, in 1914. The 71-year-old Trump had to have studied that in elementary school, right? Twitter thinks so:I can see why Trump thinks he built the Panama Canal because it was built by underpaid minorities. Seth Goodtime (@SethGoodtime) June 19, 2017I agree. The man has no clue. He thought Pavarotti was still alive, A Jackson hated the civil war and that the US alone built Panama Canal Wendy Watts (@MsWdw58) June 19, 2017I have done more than any POTUS.Panama Canal Moon landing Pyramids of Giza Gravity Jesus#yourewelcome #panamacanal pic.twitter.com/PvSZVGiNsQ UnpresidentedAF ?? (@UnpresidentedAF) June 19, 2017Thanks Van Halen for spotlighting the Panama Canal back in the 80s. Otherwise, would be in much worse shape today. https://t.co/3W7dFUVuTH Colin Boyd (@colinpboyd) June 19, 2017In response to the Bowling Green Massacre, President Andrew Jackson hired Donald Trump to build the Panama Canal to keep out the Australians Marie Connor (@thistallawkgirl) June 19, 2017Trump just took credit for building the Panama Canal. Now he s pissed off the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt. John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) June 19, 2017Yes, great job building the Panama Canal using mostly foreign labor. And only 28,000 of them died! Fogheart (@aaroncovfefe) June 19, 2017Some pointed out that the canal really isn t doing that well:#WellActually the Panama Canal is seriously undersized for the cargo ships being produced today and about to be completely rebuilt Conner Clark (@conbonjovie) June 19, 2017Trump s latest gaffe may be factually true. The United States did build the Panama Canal, but it clearly demonstrates BLOTUS s intellectual laziness (or stupidity). For contrast, here s what President Obama said to Varela when they met two years ago:Well, I just want to thank President Varela and the entire team, and the people of Panama, for the incredible hospitality. I had a chance earlier to visit the Panama Canal for the first time and saw the extraordinary progress that s being made in the new development that will be completed next year. It s really a symbol of human ingenuity, but also Panama s central role in bridging the two continents and bringing the hemisphere together.And I congratulated the President not only on what I m certain will be a successful summit, but also the extraordinary progress that Panama has made economically, the transparency and accountability that his government has shown. Panama is a proud democracy, and its ability to engage in elections and peaceful transfers of power I think is a symbol of the progress that s been made throughout the hemisphere over the last several decades.And as President Varela noted, we are great partners on a whole range of issues security, the economy, education and we had an excellent discussion about how we can further deepen those ties.Source: White House ArchivesIn other words, Obama did his homework and actually learned a little something about a country before meeting with its leader. Trump, on the other hand, thought Panama and pulled the one word he could think of out of his ass. That word was canal and for Trump, it s pretty evident that that s all Panama is.Featured image via Pool/Getty Images | 1real |
Iraq’s Skies Darken as Islamic State Torches Oil | Iraq’s Skies Darken as Islamic State Torches Oil Posted on Oct 28, 2016
By Kieran Cooke / Climate News Network Photo: Kuwait, 1991. Today, the Islamic State copies Saddam Hussein, threatening Iraq’s environment with oil blazes. (Lt. Steve Gozzo USN via Wikimedia Commons)
LONDON—Even at the height of the day, the skies in many parts of northern Iraq are dark as ISIS torches oil wells and oil-filled defensive trenches in its retreat. Artillery fire and bombing raids by US aircraft and others battling Isis are also causing conflagrations at oil installations. Aid teams near the town of Qayyarah, about 80 kilometres south of the Isis stronghold of Mosul, talk of escaping civilians being covered in oil residues . “Everywhere is covered in a fine dusting of black soot and grime”, one aid worker from the Save the Children charity told the BBC. “And the children we met were covered in it—their hands were black, their feet were black and their hair was matted…they were coming out in rashes, developing problems with their lungs.” Deliberate pollution There are fears that as ISIS comes under ever greater pressure it will unleash “scorched earth” tactics, setting alight ever more oil wells and deliberately polluting the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates, two of the region’s main rivers, which supply water and power to millions. Setting oil fields alight could also have wider climate-related consequences. During Saddam Hussein’s invasion and subsequent retreat from Kuwait in 1990/91, the Iraqis set alight nearly 800 Kuwaiti oil wells: at one stage—in March 1991 – it was calculated that up to six million barrels of oil were being burned each day . The result was daytime darkness and long plumes of black smoke across a wide area of the Gulf. Though the long-term impact of Kuwait’s oil fires on the climate is still being assessed, the release of vast amounts of climate-changing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is considered to have added to the problems of warming, on both a regional and a global scale. The Gulf region is one of the fastest-warming in the world, with many areas forecast to be uninhabitable in the not too distant future because of higher temperatures and chronic water shortages. Long-term damage Pollution from the Kuwait oil fires and ruptured oil pipelines are also believed to have caused serious long-term damage to the waters of the Gulf. There are fears that, with pressure on the group mounting, similar developments could unfold in northern Iraq as Isis torches oil installations 25 years later. In recent years Iraq has been trying to ramp up its oil production in order to raise more revenues—partly to fund the war against Isis. But much of the development of Iraq’s fossil fuel resources has been badly planned and mismanaged . The World Bank says that, globally, approximately 140 billion cubic metres of natural gas produced together with oil are burned or flared off each year— adding 350 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere . “From exploding fuel barrels to exposure to carcinogenic chemicals and inhalational toxins, these makeshift oil refineries will have a long-lasting health impact. ...” Iraq is now one of the world’s leading gas-flaring countries: a lack of pipelines and infrastructure means that its gas is mostly burned off. Meanwhile the country has been forced to import large amounts of gas from neighbouring Iran in order to meet its energy needs. Across northern Iraq and eastern Syria—the country’s main oil-producing region—Isis controls large numbers of oil wells and derives considerable income from selling fossil fuels on the black market . A lack of maintenance and expertise means that many of these installations are a hazard to the environment. Badly-run oil facilities also cause considerable human suffering. A recent report by Pax , a Netherlands-based church grouping, says that more than 5,700 makeshift oil refineries are operating in the ISIS-controlled Deir ez-Zor area of Syria. Thousands of civilians, many of them children, are forced to work at these crude, basically-run facilities. “From exploding fuel barrels to exposure to carcinogenic chemicals and inhalational toxins, these makeshift oil refineries will have a long-lasting health impact on communities and their environment”, says the report.
Kieran Cooke, a founding editor of Climate News Network, is a former foreign correspondent for the BBC and Financial Times. He now focuses on environmental issues.
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Thieves Steal Bees that Pollinate Central Valley Almonds | Hundreds of bee hives worth over a half million dollars shipped to California’s Central Valley for the annual almond tree pollination were stolen on January 17, the Los Angeles Times reports. [Montana beekeeper Lloyd Cunniff, owner of Beeline Honey Co. shipped 488 bee hives to Sutter County in to service his almond grower pollination contracts. But after tending his bees in a grove near Meridian on Monday, he returned Tuesday morning to find his $542, 000 of hives missing. Bee pollination is not only important to rural agricultural communities throughout the Central Valley it also provides a global economic benefit of about $290 billion in 2015. There are an estimated 115, 000 — 125, 000 beekeepers in the United States. Although the vast majority of beekeepers are hobbyists with fewer than 25 hives, there are a few thousand commercial operators with 300 or more beehives. The 2. 6 million domestic honey bee colonies in the U. S. produced 149 million pounds of honey in 2013. With a wholesale price of about $2. 12 a pound, the crop was worth about $317 million. California was the fifth largest American producer with 10. 9 million pounds, worth $22. 9 million, according to the National Honey Board. Because millions of acres of U. S. fruit, nut, vegetable, oilseed and legume seed crops worth about $19 billion depend on bees, commercial operators are paid by growers to migrate their colonies each year to provide pollination services. But with demand drastically outstripping California’s local supply, Beeline travels 900 miles from Choteau, Montana each year to service contracts around the Sacramento area. According to government U. S. agricultural data, the cost of renting honey bee hives for almond pollination has vaulted for about $50 per hive in 2003, to $ $200 per hive today. It now takes more than a million bee colonies to service California’s annual crop. After 500 hives were stolen last year, the California State Beekeepers Assn. issued an advisory to beekeepers across the state to beware of an “unprecedented” rise in beehive thefts. | 0fake |
Spanish court orders release on bail for Catalan parliament speaker: El Pais | MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish Supreme Court judge on Thursday ordered the Catalan parliament speaker be released on bail of 150,000 euros ($174,615) pending an investigation into her role in Catalonia s banned push for independence, El Pais newspaper reported. A court spokeswoman declined to comment. The speaker, Carme Forcadell, and five regional lawmakers testified on Thursday on charges of sedition, rebellion and misuse of public funds. Spain s prosecutor had previously requested jail for Forcadell and three lawmakers summoned to the Supreme Court and the release of two others on certain conditions. | 0fake |
Don’t Freak Out – Clinton’s Odds Of Beating Trump Are 3 To 1 | It s still a few months before the election, so the media has to keep us interested by telling us it s an up and down horse race. Recent polls show Donald Trump neck and neck with Hillary Clinton (okay, done with the horse metaphors), but reality paints a much different picture. Recent models show that Clinton has a 3 to 1 chance of winning.For example, the most recent NBC poll shows that Clinton and Trump are virtually tied.The New York Times Upshot examines state by state polling, rather than overall polling. They also take past results into account. With our electoral college, polling a national sampling can be wildly inaccurate, yet that s what most pollsters do.Their prediction? It s not a lock for Clinton, but they say her chances of winning are 76 percent to 24 percent for Trump. Read their article. There are a lot of fascinating interactive charts. In essence, though, Clinton has 945 ways to win. Trump has 72.The always sane Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com agrees, kind of. Silver acknowledges that Clinton s lead is now down to just 3 or 4 points, which is kind of frightening, but according to Silver, there s a 35 to 40 percent chance that Trump can pull it out. What s particularly disconcerting about that, though, is that Clinton has about the same lead in the polls that John Kerry did in 2004, and we all know how that election turned out.One big unknown is whether the spate of violence by and toward the police will continue. Right now, the Republican party is waging an effective campaign of telling Americans that we are in a race war and the only way for the majority (white people) to win, is by voting for Donald Trump. Then again, there are those of us who believe that the way to start a race war is to elect Trump.Featured image of Hillary Clinton by Alex Wong at Getty Images | Featured image of Donald Trump by Will McNamee at Getty Images | 1real |
Sean Spicer Bombs Press Briefing, Fails To Defend Trump Over Comey Tapes (VIDEO) | Donald Trump continues to be the biggest pain in the a** for White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who seems to visibly hate his job more and more each day.Earlier today, Spicer crashed and burned during his press briefing when reporters cornered him and asked him why Trump refused to release the alleged tapes and recordings of the private conversations between himself and former FBI Director James Comey. This was a hot topic, considering that Trump had just accused Comey of lying under oath last week, when Comey said Trump demanded that he drop the investigation on Michael Flynn, Trump s former National Security Adviser.When a reporter questioned Spicer about why Trump wouldn t give up the recordings if they could prove Comey had lied during his hearing, it was clear that Spicer wanted to hide behind the bushes again. Spicer stumbled over his words and said: I think the president made it clear on Friday that he would get back as soon as possible on this. Things got even more humiliating as the reporter pressed Spicer further, So what s he waiting for, what s the delay? It looked like Spicer had completely given up defending Trump or trying to come up with a more clever response. Instead, Spicer said: He s waiting for he s not waiting for anything. When he s ready to further discuss it, he will, but he laid out his position very clearly, very concisely on Friday. You can watch this very awkward press briefing below:Trump has gotten himself in such a mess with this whole Russia thing that not even his own team knows how to defend him anymore. As Spicer continues to fail Trump, the rumors of his termination have only been strengthened. After Trump sees this, Spicer s days in the White House may be numbered.Featured image via Win McNamee and Alex Wong / Getty Images | 1real |
Former U.S. Homeland Security officials back nominee ahead of hearing | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of dozens of former U.S. Homeland Security officials sent letters supporting the nomination of Kirstjen Nielsen as the new head of the department ahead of her confirmation hearing on Wednesday by the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Among the signers were former Homeland Security (DHS) secretaries Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, both Republicans who served under former President George W. Bush. “Ms. Nielson has been engaged in counter-terrorism, all-hazard risk mitigation, critical infrastructure protection, and response policy from the earliest days of what we now know as homeland security,” the two former secretaries wrote in a latter viewed by Reuters. A separate letter was signed by former National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander and former DHS officials Charles E. Allen, James M. Loy and John McLaughlin. The letter was also signed by Jane Holl Lute and Alejandro Mayorkas, both who served as under secretaries of DHS under former President Barack Obama. If confirmed by the Senate, Nielsen would take the reins at a sprawling department with more than 240,000 employees that is responsible for U.S. border and airport security, immigration policy, disaster response, refugee admissions and other matters. Nielsen, 45, is a cyber security expert with a considerable resume in homeland security work that includes service at the department’s Transportation Security Administration and on former Republican President George W. Bush’s White House Homeland Security Council. She was nominated to the role after John Kelly, the previous secretary, was named White House chief of staff this summer. Nielson worked as Kelly’s deputy in the White House prior to being nominated in October. | 0fake |
WATCH! Anti-Trump Hag Gets Kicked Off Flight After Threatening TRUMP Supporter…Passengers Clap! [Video] | Via: GATEWAY PUNDIT | 1real |
What’s goes around comes around, or How Russia and the US are trading punches, by Scott Humor | Saker Message: No current Saker messages. What’s goes around comes around, or How Russia and the US are trading punches, by Scott Humor
This article was first published by the Duran
Three years ago someone’s video parody of a “ Russian guy’s reaction ” to a meteor falling over Chelyabinsk went viral. “Russia Today” even included it into its reportage of how the Russian dashcam videos become internet sensations [2:24].
This 10 sec video had done more to project the toughness of Russians than all the fireworks of Vitaly Churkin’s diplomatic rhetoric. Hands down, Churkin is brilliant and his speeches should be included into high school curriculum, however, due to peculiarities of the Western supranational media, his oratorical talent remains largely unrecognized by a wider audience. Yet, everyone remembers a video of a guy in a knitted cap, who just lowered a sun visor driving directly onto a collision path with a rapidly approaching celestial body.
Readers and commentators of The Saker blog often express their frustration with the “lack of immediate” response to the Western provocations from the Russian government and society . “Why don’t Russia’s government respond by hitting them back hard and in kind?” ask out readers. Whereat we, Russians, consider this to be our national character trait. Rather than jumping nervously every time the West says “Boo!” we keep steadfastly and resolutely moving forward despite of adversities.
There is also a well calculated geopolitical dimension to this “wait and observe” stance chosen by the Russia’s government every time Washington comes up with a newly staged provocation. Which is every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, if I am not mistaken. “Washington” here is being a working term to include Pentagon, CIA and also a slew of companies like:
Valbin Corporation – Bethesda, MD
CACI International Inc – Suitland, MD
Leidos – Vienna, VA
Varen Technologies – Fort Meade, MD
Sagent Partners – Linthicum, MD
Pluribus International – Fort Meade, MD
Assured Information Security, Inc – Fort Meade, MD
AECOM – Chantilly, VA
Razor Technology LLC – Washington, DC
Engility Corporation — Fort Meade, MD
Goldbelt Inc – Herndon, VA
CWU, Inc. – Hunter Army Airfield, GA
Belay Technologies, Inc — Annapolis Junction, MD
Applied Technology Group – Annapolis Junction, MD
Booz Allen Hamilton – McLean, VA
Pluribus International – Fort Meade, MD
Advantage SCI – United States
This is just a short snippet of a long list of willing participants in a division of a US military budget pie, which is now turned into a thriving and mushrooming industry of private constructors specializing in recognizance, intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis of SIGINT & FININT in support of operations CONUS or OCONUS.
We, of course, are mostly interested in “operations” that are being conducted OCONUS, which is outside of the continental US, also known as the rest of the world. In case you are wondering about the location of your country in relation to the US intelligence community. Take the US military, plus the entirety of NATO, some crafty old spy masters from Britain, France, and Germany, add to it hundreds of private and public enterprises, and you will understand where the plethora of false flag attacks, provocations, terror acts, civilian sabotage on the media, sports, kidnapping of Russian citizens and other violations of the human rights of Russians are coming from.
In the last two weeks of October we watched a Ukrainian civil airline dispatcher threaten to take down a civil aircraft from Belarus. Russia got pushed out of the UN Human Rights Council, after the generally proven-to-be-fake campaign of the White Helmets , which are another of these private intelligence companies financed by NATO members.
We also were presented with the gruesome murder of one of the originators of so called “ Russian Spring ” in Ukraine, known to the Western audience as “Motorola.” Keeping in mind, of course, that the “Russian Spring” starting with the Bolotnaya Square protests, just like its predecessor the “ Arab Spring ,” was engineered by Western intelligence and military complexes. Let’s give credit where credit is due.
All of these provocations, from big to small, from violent to ridiculous, all of them have one common goal, to draw the reaction of the Russian government, to take its precious time, resources, and to disrupt its work.
Here comes the catch: the more willing participants are being involved in designing and staging this torrid stream of provocations against Russia, the less professional, less coordinated, and less convincing they are becoming. It’s exactly like with the famed musical “Cats” which was perfectly choreographed on Broadway, but watching it on a community theater stage would hurt your eyes in shame for the production crew and actors.
By the fall of 2016, the saturation of provocative actions against Russia has reached it’s critical stage. In other words, we had ceased reacting emotionally to them and have started analyzing them rationally.
This explains the Russian government’s reaction to the multitude of recent provocative actions. A reaction that can be generally described as “muted,”“low-key,”“hushed,” and at least in one instance “absent.”
Knowing who or what is behind a provocation should warrant a type of response, if any.
Let’s say, the Justice Department backtracks it’s perfidious demands for billions of dollars in fines arbitrarily imposed on Deutsche Bank, only after Germany agrees to deploy its troops and tanks to the Russian border. Understandably, their move puts an adult population of Russian into a sentimental mood summarized in “let’s finish the job our grandfather died doing.” Russia’s Foreign Ministry issues a warming statement, and the Defense Ministry moves a few troops closer to the Western border, mirroring NATO moves. The Pentagon and CIA issue memos to the all Western media outlets stating the “Russian aggression.” The Western press copies these memos verbatim and propagates them in every nook and cranny of the “free” world.
After that, the Russian Defense Ministry releases information on successful testing of a new “Sarmat” missile with some of its technical characteristics. Youtube hosts several videos with detailed explanations of how it takes only two Sarmats to destroy the East and West coasts of the US. They also specifically explain why Sarmat is invincible to the Western anti-missile systems. If you wonder how we got to this point, see the aforementioned information.
Everyone, privy to the latest Russian military upgrades, which includes every YouTube viewer, can see the Russian government response to the attacks of the US banking system and Wall Street and the DOJ.
We are witnessing a situation when hundreds of companies employing well over a million people who are trying to make themselves relevant in a crowded industry of war making, by producing torrents of “events” around the globe. They are the Americans with “gas cans” setting fires around the globe, according to the memorable comparison made by Rostislav Ishchenko in his April 2015 article “ What does Putin want?”
He wrote: “ One can only guess who will be more effective – the Americans with their gas can or the Russians with their fire extinguisher? ”
Fire, however, dies quickly in the absence of oxygen. Most of the anti-Russian actions go unnoticed and just turn into white noise, but some manage to stand out in the news for a day or longer. In essence, they all vie for the Russian government attention. Maybe that gets them a yearend bonus and an annual contract renewal?
Thank you for your time,
Scott | 1real |
Iraqi Kurds say Baghdad will pay heavy price for assault | BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq s Kurdish security forces said Baghdad would pay a heavy price for launching an advance on the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk. In a statement, the Peshmerga also accused a faction from one of the two main Iraqi Kurdish political parties of treason for assisting Baghdad with the advance. | 0fake |
OOPS: Trump Agrees That People Like Him Should Be Treated ‘Harshly’ For Milking Their Country | Well, here s a Twitter post that backfired on Donald Trump.Over the weekend, billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who owns a stake in Fox News, along with several other princes and former cabinet officials, were arrested for corruption by order of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.Ironically, Trump tweeted out his support of the sweeping arrests on Monday.I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2017 .Some of those they are harshly treating have been milking their country for years! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2017Let that sink in for a minute. Donald Trump, the man who has literally spent every moment of his adult life milking his own country and continues to do so now from the Oval Office, agrees that people who do what he does should be treated harshly.Trump and his administration are currently under investigation for colluding with a foreign state to undermine our democratic process. Trump is also a tax evader and has made deals with some very shady people including people with mob and terrorist connections.In fact, Trump s own tax plan would especially benefit him and his family. And he has placed his own family members in high White House positions, all while using the executive branch to promote his businesses, all of which violates ethics rules.Some Twitter users pointed out the irony and hypocrisy of Trump s tweet.Like your team is doing??? pic.twitter.com/51L89Rrnfs sweetsallysue (@sweetsallysue) November 7, 2017RELEASE YOUR TAXES and we'll see who has been "milking" their country for years! #PutinsPuppet #FakePresident RandeMande (@almondleafer) November 7, 2017Like you have been milking US for years? #Traitor Reap what you sow (@2017moderate) November 7, 2017That is a hilarious statement coming from you, that's exactly what you are doing to us. jbarton (@jlbarton618) November 6, 2017Make no mistake, Trump has milked the United States more than anyone and he intends to milk much more out of taxpayers unless he is removed from office and put in prison where he belongs.Featured Image: Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 1real |
20 Foods That Naturally Unclog Arteries and Prevent Heart Attacks | 20 Foods That Naturally Unclog Arteries and Prevent Heart Attacks http://blogs.naturalnews.com/20-foods-naturally-unclog-arteries-prevent-heart-attacks/
By Twain Yobra
Posted Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 03:53pm EDT
Arteries play a vital role in the body. They transport nutrients and oxygen throughout the body. And they can cause heart attacks if they’re clogged. Well, you can unclog them naturally by eating foods rich in antioxidants, soluble fiber and healthy fats.
Here are 20 foods that will unclog your arteries and prevent heart attacks.
1. Pomegranate: Pomegranate is rich in antioxidants which prevents the arteries from being damaged. Research also shows that pomegranate improves heart health by reducing bad cholesterol.
2. Spirulina: Spirulina is regulates fat levels in the blood. And it’s rich in omega 3 fatty acids, which studies show prevents heart disease.
3. Asparagus: This vegetable is rich in vitamins and minerals that prevent blood clots and lower blood pressure.
4. Turmeric: Inflammation is one of the main causes of arteriosclerosis, and as you may know, turmeric fights inflammation.
5. Cranberries: The potassium in cranberries can lower blood pressure and reduce risk of heart disease by up to 40 percent.
6. Watermelon: One study found that L-citrulline (found in watermelon) can widen blood vessels and lower blood pressure. This can actually benefit men with mild erectile dysfunction.
7. Avocado: Research shows that eat avocados every day can clean your arteries, lower bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol.
8. Broccoli: Broccoli contains vitamin K which prevents calcium from damaging the arteries. It’s also rich in soluble fiber which lowers cholesterol.
9. Cinnamon: This spice unclogs the arteries of plaque build-up. Its antioxidant properties also improve cardiovascular health.
10. Green tea: This powerful herb contains catechins which prevent absorption of cholesterol. This consequently prevents blockage of arteries. Drink 2-3 cups a day.
11. Coconut oil: Taking coconut oil regularly can unclog the arteries and even convert bad cholesterol to good.
12. Persimmon: Persimmon has antioxidants that reduce blood-lipid. It’s also rich in fiber which helps clean the arteries.
13. Coffee: Research shows that drinking 2 cups of coffee a day can lower risk of heart disease by 20 percent. But excess consumption can increase blood pressure and cause anxiety.
14. Cold-water fish: Eating these fish will fight inflammation and unclog your arteries. They include, mackerel, tuna, salmons, and sardines.
15. Olive oil: Studies show that olive oil can reduce risk of cardiovascular disease by 41 percent. This is attributed to its ability to reduce oxidative stress and cholesterol.
16. Spinach: This vegetable unclogs arteries because of its folate, potassium and fiber content.
17. Orange juice: Oranges are rich in vitamin C which cleans the arteries and prevents oxidation of blood.
18. Flaxseeds: Flaxseeds have been proven to fight inflammation, lower blood pressure and improve heart health.
19. Raw nuts: Nuts like almonds will reduce blood pressure and fight inflammation. Use them to keep hunger at bay.
20. Whole grains: Whole grains are rich in soluble fiber which lowers cholesterol and risk of high blood pressure.
For more information on eating healthy and staying fit, download your FREE 3 Weeks Flat Stomach Guide to help you improve your health and physique. And like our Facebook page . You might also like… | 1real |
STAR WARS 2.0: Washington’s Battle to Fund Space Warfare | 21st Century Wire says In 1983, US President Ronald Reagan launched the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a space-based anti-missile system which came to be known as Star Wars. At the time, SDI was meant to give the US a nuclear first-strike against advantage against its geopolitical rival the Soviet Union by using various weaponized technologies including lasers, to intercept Soviet ICBM missiles in space. In the end, the program proved to be too costly, too complicated for a practical role out, and ineffective against non-space faring weapons like cruise missiles, submarine based missile batteries and long range bombers. Now in 2017, as the Cold War is being re-heated again, the West is potentially looking at the complete militarization of outer space. This time the US nemesis is both Russia and China. But what really driving this new space race agenda?Consortium News Exclusive: As a backdrop to the Russia-gate hysteria and the heightened fear of China is a budget war over how much U.S. taxpayer money to pour into space warfare, explains Jonathan Marshall By Jonathan MarshallThere s a civil war being fought on our nation s soil, right in our capital. It pits the Secretary of Defense and senior generals against a bipartisan band of militant legislators who accuse the Pentagon of standing pat while Russian and China work to achieve military superiority over the United States in space.No doubt these bureaucratic warriors will eventually call a truce. But in the meantime, the American people will almost certainly become less secure and more indebted (in budget terms) as a result of both sides macho posturing for new warfighting capabilities in space (differing mostly on how far and how fast to go).Eager congressional advocates of space warfare have attached an amendment to the House defense authorization bill requiring the Pentagon to create a new U.S. Space Corps to join the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard by 2019. Currently, the Air Force oversees most space warfare projects.The amendment has sent senior Pentagon leadership into a tizzy. Secretary of Defense James Mattis strongly urged Congress to rescind the requirement, stating in a letter that it is premature to add additional organization and administrative tail to the department at a time I am trying to reduce overhead. Similarly, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson protested that the proposal will simply add more boxes to the organization chart. Meanwhile, Gen. John W. Raymond, commander of Air Force Space Command, insisted that his service has space matters well in hand. (He should be happy the Pentagon recently raised his position to a 4-star rank.)Upping the AnteIn response, Rep. Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican and chairman of the Strategic Forces subcommittee, announced that he was pissed and outraged at the Air Force for fighting the new Space Command, saying its obstructionism would set back efforts to respond to adversaries and space threats and allow Russia and China to surpass us soon. The Air Force leadership would have us trust them: I don t think so, Rogers sneered, as if speaking about the Russians. They just need a few more years to rearrange the deck chairs: I don t think so. This is the same Air Force that got us into the situation where the Russians and the Chinese are near-peers to us in space. He vowed, We will not allow the status quo to continue. Behind all the fiery argumentation lies a bipartisan consensus that the United States must sharply increase its spending on the militarization of space to maintain global supremacy. Gen. Raymond applauded Congress for recognizing the national imperative of his mission to normalize, elevate, and integrate space as a war-fighting domain. Secretary Wilson published an op-ed column last month on her new initiatives to develop space airmen who have the tools, training, and resources to fight when not if war extends into space. She fully expects Congress to follow through on her request for a 20 percent increase in Air Force space funding. (Total military spending on space, including non-Air Force programs like the National Reconnaissance Office, came to about $22 billion last year.)What s driving all this activity aside from baser motives of bureaucratic advantage and financial gain are intelligence assessments that China and Russia have aggressive programs to both demonstrate and produce eventual operational capability to . . . attack our space assets across the spectrum, in the words of David Hardy, acting deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for Space. While we re not at war in space, I don t think we can say we re exactly at peace, either, said Navy Vice Adm. Charles A. Richard, deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command, in March. Gen. John Hyten, head of the Pentagon s Strategic Command, recently declared that the United States needs not only a good defense, but an offensive capability to challenge space threats from Russia and China.The High Stakes in SpaceThe stakes are potentially huge because the United States uses space for all manner of command, control, and intelligence missions, not to mention civilian applications. Orbiting satellites provide near-real-time images of conflict zones, sense missile launches and nuclear tests, provide precise positioning coordinates to guide weapons systems, and route secure communications to remote regions of the globe Continue this story at Consortium NewsREAD MORE SPACE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Space FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
NPR Tweets Entire Declaration Of Independence, Dumbass Conservatives Think It’s An Attack On Trump (SCREENSHOTS) | On Independence Day, National Public Radio tweeted the entire Declaration of Independence to accompany their annual reading of the most important document in our nation s history.In Congress, July 4, 1776. NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017When in the Course of human events, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017and to assume among the powers of the earth, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature s God entitle them, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017We hold these truths to be self-evident, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017that all men are created equal, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017 and so on.To people who generally listen to NPR and are typically well-informed (or anyone who graduated kindergarten), this was a wonderful expression of patriotism to be proud of. Then, of course, there are conservatives.While our frenemies on the Right love to wave their flags and call themselves patriots, the Declaration of Independence is apparently on their reading lists alongside the first half of the Second Amendment and parts of the Bible they can use to attack human rights. Conservatives swarmed NPR to whine and cry because they thought the tweets were get this an attack on Donald Trump.When NPR got to this part, things got a bit crazy:it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, NPR (@NPR) July 4, 2017Seriously, check this out.stop it braeden (@wokepolitik) July 4, 2017The responses to @NPR tweeting the Declaration of Independence are sort of hilarious and sad all at once ??? ? pic.twitter.com/yCp6PpSuYg Savannah Grimm (@savvygrimm) July 5, 2017*heavy sigh* pic.twitter.com/Pb35SNdKqe Melissa Martin (@DoubleEmMartin) July 4, 2017When you're triggered by the Declaration of Independence bc you want so badly to submit to King Donald the Doll-Handed . pic.twitter.com/aEyLEu24Qc Alexandra ? (@AlexandraAimee) July 4, 2017So, NPR is calling for revolution.Interesting way to condone the violence while trying to sound "patriotic".Your implications are clear. D.G.Davies (@JustEsrafel) July 4, 2017Wait wait don t tell me Shakespeare? Bernie? MSNBC? The libtards? No?? Dimo (@hipperfish) July 5, 2017That last person actually repented, which is strange for a Trump supporter, but admirable:Trump says he loves the poorly educated. The reaction to the Declaration of f*cking Independence shows us why.Featured image via screengrab | 1real |
Russia tells U.S.: Unacceptable to politicize chemical weapons inspections in Syria | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by phone on Thursday it was unacceptable to politicize the work of chemical weapons inspectors in Syria, Russia s foreign ministry said. Russia earlier set out why it disputed U.N. and Western accusations that the Syrian government had been behind a deadly chemical attack on the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in April that killed dozens. | 0fake |
A Federal Judge Just Ordered The RNC To Reveal Its Voter Fraud Pact With Trump | Comments
Federal Judge John Michael Vazquez set a court appearance for this Thursday for the Democratic National Committee’s emergency legal action to fight Republican minority suppression efforts.
The DNC filed suit over a generation-old consent decree last week seeking an injunction and extension of the order by eight years, which prevents illegal Republican voter suppression “ballot security” measures.
That lawsuit is looking ever more likely to succeed, resulting in an order barring Republicans across the country from targeting minority voters. The RNC’s response pointedly omitted any defense of the Michigan and Pennsylvania RNC members accused of unlawful ballot security programs, who are the two key players in this courtroom drama that also involves VP candidate Mike Pence and Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway.
The federal judge ordered both Michigan GOP Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDonald – Mitt Romney’s niece – and Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Rob Gleason to submit sworn statements along with documentation of their ballot security programs by 5pm today.
Last night, Republican lawyers tossed the two high-ranking RNC members under the bus by failing entirely to defend their actions, sworn accounts of which are due at 5pm today. The Democrat’s strongest claims are against the two national RNC members who spoke to the media about ballot security programs.
The Washington Post wrote about the Pennsylvania GOP’s plans to flood urban Philadelphia with suburban poll watchers from other counties and a legal effort to remove state law restrictions on out of county ballot watchers, while t he Michigan State GOP Chairwoman was quoted in The Detroit Free Press as saying she was directing measures in Michigan to launch a “massive anti-fraud” effort.
Under the 1982 agreement between the parties as it’s been modified through the years, any “ballot security program” must be submitted to the court and DNC for “preclearance” ten days before being implemented. It seems highly unlikely that the DNC was notified of any of the four major activities the court demanded to be explained.
The Republican National Committee also has until 5pm today to deliver statements about minority voter suppression made in public, video recorded comments by VP nominee Mike Pence and media reports about the Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway’s statements after the third and final debate. Additionally, the national Republican party has got to deliver to the court any and all agreements between the RNC and the Trump campaign that involve electioneering or polling places to the court as well.
The Democratic lawyers even submitted fresh evidence to the court that the RNC is involved nationally in poll security operations, which a former federal prosecutor obtained via text message during the normal course of poll watching activities. The RNC denies activity in any and all poll watching venues in their legal filings.
The Republican National Committee is clearly frustrated by its lengthy tenure under the key voter protection legal agreement, and you can tell from the legal filing that it wants out. However, the Republican party of Trump isn’t playing by the rules, like it’s standard bearer doesn’t play by the rules, and now they’re likely going to be punished.
Tonight, the music stops and the Republicans will finally have to answer for their dirty campaign tactics, or face the wrath of a federal judge.
Here’s the judge’s complete order: | 1real |
11 Things To Let Go Of Before The New Year | in: Special Interests , US News The new year is almost here and it’s often a time when we all start to think about what we want to change for the next year. I’ve never been much a fan of the whole cliche of changing because of the new year, but why not embrace it as a time where we can make change? Do a quick reflection right now. Do you feel like you have followed your dreams and passions this past year? Do you feel you got caught up in the stresses of life quite often? Did you feel judgement, negative self talk and anger were a big part of your days? Reflecting on how you’ve felt over your year and being honest with yourself about it gives you the chance to know how to adjust and move forward from this moment forward whether it be the new year or not. I’ve found in my own life that if I don’t pay attention to how I feel, what I create, what’s playing out in my life and take responsibility for it, it doesn’t change. It stays the same, I experience the same emotions or stagnant feelings, and I don’t move forward. But the moment I decide to take it into my own hands, I see how much I’m not a victim to what happens. 11 Things To Let Go of Before the New year 1. Stop all the negative self talk – It’s first because it’s probably one of the most important. The more we talk poorly about ourselves to ourselves or others, the more we disempower ourselves and empower all the things we wish to adjust about ourselves. Observe it, take note of it, and kick it. It’s not helping you. 2. Choose one bad eating habit and kick it! – Taking care of and fuelling your vessel is one of the most important things we can do in life to stay mentally, emotionally and spiritually healthy. Pick one of your worst eating habits and aim to cut it out completely in 3 months. Whatever it might be, be honest with yourself and make it happen. Then take on the next bad eating habit in 3 months. 3. Let go of chasing ‘success’ – So often we put up goals or plans for ourselves yet have this tiny limited scope of what success is. Next thing you know we bring stress, worry and fear into the equation throughout the whole journey because we may not be totally in line to hit this pin prick point of what success looks like to us. Instead, do your best to take the steps needed to get to where you want to go, but let go of the lure of success and what it looks like and means. There’s no such thing as failure. (more) 4. Kick the idea that you cannot achieve or follow your dreams – So often we have our ideas of what we are excited or passionate about, but let it go because we think we can’t do it or because it’s unrealistic. Instead of believing every word of that, take ONE step. One step towards making your passion or your dreams happen. The one step will lead to the next and the next, but you have to take the first one. Plan out that first step and take it! 5. Let go of the idea that you should run from your problems – We often get into this mentality that we just need to “get over it.” In theory this sounds sorta good, you move on from things that happen in the past or something to that effect. But by just forgetting about it, did we really move on? No, it gets triggered again later or lies dormant as a resented event etc. Instead, let’s face our problems and truly move past them. Journal about it, talk to someone else about it. Put the cards on the table to someone who cares about you and who can help you move past it. Pick someone who will see the bigger picture and be honest with you. You have all it takes to move past what challenges you. 6. Stop comparing yourself to others – This is a big one. So often we are looking at others and using what they have, do or are to compare it against us and make up a story. This whole game can make us sad or feel down about ourselves or it can feed our ego in a big way. Let it go, respect everyone’s journey, including your own and stop the need to compare yourself to others. 7. Stop judging others – Judging other people can become a habit and an addiction. It’s like something we can’t stop doing sometimes! Take a moment the next time you judge someone and observe it. Ask yourself why you did it, how did it make you feel? Etc. Make a conscious effort to stop. (more) 8. Stop the blame game – Blaming and pointing fingers when it comes to our challenges or what happens to us doesn’t allow us to look at and observe how we might have created or aligned with an experience to help make it happen. I’m not saying there’s no such things others can do to hurt you, I’m simply saying take responsibility for how you feel and don’t even point blame, it doesn’t help us. 9. Stop worrying and trying so hard to fit in and be accepted – This is something far too many of us do just to save face and not be “the weird one.” The reality is, it’s more ‘weird’ to be a version of yourself that isn’t genuine or real simply because you want to be accepted by others. It’s a choice you can’t maintain forever and the longer it goes the more uncomfortable you will feel. Be you, accept yourself, be genuine and don’t try to make others do the same when. Let it happen. Trust. 10. Let go of the need to control everything – Sometimes we can’t take a step forward in anything because we don’t know all the answers or all the variables. This is our obsession with control sometimes. Yes, observe a situation and make the best choices available to you, but don’t worry so much about needing to control or know every detail about it. Learn to leave things up to trust and knowing that things will work out as they need to. This doesn’t mean be reckless, just that you don’t need to control every thing, person and detail. 11. Stop procrastinating – This one goes with everything on the list. Stop putting it all off. Whatever it may be. The changes listed above, the hobby you want to, the career you want to explore, or the thing you want to tell to someone important to you. Stop putting it off and just do it! Submit your review | 1real |
Utah’s Oldest Paper DEMANDS Trump Drop Out Of Race In Scathing Must-Read Editorial | As the Deseret News said on Saturday, they haven t endorsed a candidate in 80 years, but they made it clear who shouldn t be president in a damning editorial Trump supporters are going to hate. We are neutral on matters of partisan politics, the editorial began. We do, however, feel a duty to speak clearly on issues that affect the well-being and morals of the nation. Accordingly, today we call on Donald Trump to step down from his pursuit of the American presidency. Unlike some evangelical conservative Christian leaders like Tony Perkins and Ralph Reed, who still support Trump even after his lewd comments about groping women dropped like a bombshell on Friday, the Mormon-owned newspaper roundly condemned Trump and called for him to resign his candidacy, citing his lack of character.The idea that women secretly welcome the unbridled and aggressive sexual advances of powerful men has led to the mistreatment, sorrow and subjugation of countless women for far too much of human history.The notion that strength emanates from harsh, divisive and unbending rhetorical flourish mistakenly equates leadership with craven intimidation.The belief that the party and the platform matter more than the character of the candidate ignores the wisdom of the ages that, when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. (ProverbsThe editorial pointed to Trump s history of making misogynistic comments about women and said that Trump has failed time and time again to demonstrate the ethical behavior that presidents need to govern a nation with compassion, understanding, and respect. And then the editorial took aim at Trump s supporters.In the face of these revelations, it is disheartening to see otherwise decent individuals now attempting to defend Trump s talk, dismissing it as mere locker room bravado. At the time of the audio recording, Trump was not a hormonal teenage athlete, but rather a 60-year-old husband of an expectant mother and the father of four children.America s locker rooms deserve better.The Deseret News concluded by calling on Trump to resign but if he doesn t, Americans need to stand against him in November.This is one of those rare moments where it is necessary to take a clear stand against the hucksterism, misogyny, narcissism and latent despotism that infect the Trump campaign even as we hope for a more auspicious future of liberty, prosperity and peace for the nation.And it looks like the people will have to take that stand in November because Donald Trump has vowed to stay in the race. Let s just hope voters reject him by a landslide so that Republicans are never stupid enough to nominate someone like him ever again.Featured Image: Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images | 1real |
Katy Perry Sparks Outrage with Joke Comparing ‘Old Black Hair’ to Obama | Pop singer Katy Perry is once against facing fierce backlash online after jokingly comparing her “old black hair” to former President Barack Obama. [“Oh, someone says, ‘I miss your old black hair,’” the “Firework” singer said in an Instagram video over the weekend. “Oh, really? Do you miss Barack Obama as well? Oh, Okay. Times change. Bye! See you guys later. ” Perry has since deleted the Instagram video. The joke, however, did not go over well, with many social media users taking offense to Perry likening her old hairstyle to the first black U. S. president. I’m sure we can all do without @katyperry right ? ?? #Loser pic. twitter. — DJ SCREAM (@DJSCREAM) April 30, 2017, Katy Perry joke was just very tasteless. What does black hair have to do with Barack Obama … … … … … . .just bad. — Nia (@faggerella) April 30, 2017, @katyperry 😒 that was very disrespectful what you said about Obama I’m very disappointed smh, — TrE (@dat_leo_mYcAh) May 1, 2017, Wow Katy Perry. The reference to former Pres. Obama was offensive a poor, tasteless attempt at humor. Your privilege is showing. — Paris C. (@pariscarerra) April 30, 2017, Katy Perry really fucking tried it with that white ass joke. What does Barack Obama have to do with your dry ass white hair? — Ᏸecca🕊 (@MJStarLover) April 30, 2017, people are not reaching with this Katy Perry ”joke”it wasn’t outwardly racist but it was a microagression with racial undertones, — Kadevin. (@SupaastarJones) April 30, 2017, @katyperry look at this bald headed scalawag ass bitch. . Your lame ass haircut had nothing to do with Obama. Even ur friends didn’t laugh🙄 https: . — 🌹Muva moon 🌙 (@_zolarmoon) April 30, 2017, katy perry is such a mess first she copied daft punk now she’s got an ugly haircut and is dissing obama omg, — miggy (@sehunfat) April 30, 2017, Wow Katy Perry. The reference to former Pres. Obama was offensive a poor, tasteless attempt at humor. Your privilege is showing. — Paris C. (@pariscarerra) April 30, 2017, What does black hair have to do with Barack Obama? You’re cancelled @katyperry. — Tonio The Divo ♕ (@_JayAntonio) April 30, 2017, One Twitter user pointed out that President Obama has more Grammy Awards than Perry, who has been nominated 13 times. Sometimes when I think that the world is an awful place, I remember that Barack Obama has more Grammys than Katy Perry, and I feel better. — Steph (@stphfrndz) April 30, 2017, Perry supported Obama’s reelection in 2012. To be sure, not everyone was offended by her joke. @PerezHilton @katyperry y’all twisted this up. she wants Obama back but can’t have him back … the same way people want her old hair won’t get it back its gone, — Jessica (@Jes00sica) May 1, 2017, Katy Perry meant she wants Obama back and can’t have him same way ppl want her black hair and won’t get it back … Christ ppl lol, — Wally Szczerbiak (@findingwhitney) April 30, 2017, Perry has increasingly found herself on the receiving end of online fury for what appear to be innocuous social media posts. Last month, the star came under fire after posting an image of a Hindu goddess on her Instagram page, captioning the photo “current mood. ” Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson | 0fake |
World Bank approves $150 million disaster fund for Dominican Republic | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The World Bank on Thursday approved $150 million in disaster financing for the Dominican Republic to help it better prepare for natural disasters, weeks after the country was pummeled by two major hurricanes. The loan was the first contingency line of credit approved by the World Bank for a Caribbean country under the so-called Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option. The facility provides countries with financing to prepare them for natural disasters without taking government resources away from social or development programs, the World Bank said. The Dominican Republic was battered by Hurricane Irma on Sept. 7 and drenched days later by Hurricane Maria, forcing evacuations and damaging infrastructure and homes. This financing will help us mitigate risks from climate shocks, natural disasters, as well as pandemics, Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina said in a statement. Tahseen Sayed, World Bank director for the Caribbean, said the financing would help the Dominican Republic strengthen and speed up its response to disasters. The most important lesson from our experience in disaster response across the world is to invest in prevention and preparedness to be able to respond speedily when disaster strikes, said Sayed. Economic damage from disasters in the Dominican Republican is estimated at about $420 million a year, according to a recent World Bank and Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development study. | 0fake |
DEMOCRAT THUGS VANDALIZE REPUBLICAN Offices Across Several States…Now Who’s “Deplorable”? | NC REPUBLICAN HEADQUARTERS Firebombed By The Terrorists On The LeftINDIANA REPUBLICAN OFFICE VANDALIZED:DELAWARE COUNTY, Ind. The Delaware County Republican Party said vandals struck at their office last week.Someone threw two landscaping bricks through a window on Oct. 8. Signs for Donald Trump and Todd Young were hanging on the window at the time, according to the group s Facebook page.Officials said it would cost about $1,200 to replace the broken window and said anyone interested in helping cover the cost could donate online.This week, Delaware County Sheriff Ray Dudley said his office has received reports of campaign signs being taken from yards in the Yorktown and Mount Pleasant Township area.Dudley said the reports were being taken seriously and that removing signs without the authority to do so may be criminal conversion under Indiana s criminal code. Via: FOX59 | 1real |
Japan approves already dead TPP deal | Ruling coalition lawmakers stand to approve the passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal in the lower house of the parliament in Tokyo on November 10, 2016.
Japan’s Lower House of parliament has passed the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement, despite the fact the deal is likely doomed after Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory. Even Barack Obama gave up on TPP according to The Wall Street Journal.
The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito backed the agreement, while most of the opposition boycotted the vote.The bill was sent to the Upper House for final approval, with the ruling coalition expecting it to be signed into law by November 30.
TPP has been one of the key points in the economic program of Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, who wanted to boost the country’s exports. However, experts view the TPP approval by Japan as a more of symbolic gesture, as the deal is unlikely to ever get a green light under Trump.
During the campaign, the newly-elected president slammed the TPP, which was pushed forward by Barack Obama to limit China’s economic power, calling the agreement a “disaster.”
TPP was “dead and buried,” Marcel Thieliant, Japan Economist from Capital Economics, told Deutsche Welle, adding that “the upshot is that the long-term losses for Japan from the TPP not coming into force are substantial.”
A former Chinese diplomat, now with the China Institute of International Studies, suggested that the TPP would be the “first casualty” of Trump’s success.“Since China isn’t in that bloc, we don’t have anything to lose,” Ruan is cited by Reuters as saying.
The demise of the TPP prompted Beijing to intensify efforts to achieving its own free trade deal in the Asia-Pacific. China’s Vice Foreign Minister, Li Baodong, said that the country will be looking for support of its initiatives at the Asia-Pacific regional summit in Peru on November 19-20.
“Trade and investment protectionism is rearing its head, and Asia-Pacific faces insufficient momentum for internal growth, and difficulties in advancing reforms,” Li told journalists.
“China believes we should set a new and very practical working plan, to positively respond to the expectations of industry, and sustain momentum and establish a free trade area in Asia-Pacific at an early date,” he added.
Beijing proposed the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to regulate free trade in the area.
According to Li, the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping in Peru confirmed Beijing’s “confidence in promoting the FTAAP process.” Previously, Beijing was concerned the TPP would be used by Washington to make China open it’s markets by becoming part to the agreement or isolating the country from other economies in the region.
Obama had framed TPP, which excluded China, as an effort to write Asia’s trade rules before Beijing could, establishing US economic leadership in the region as part of his “pivot to Asia”.
Besides the US and Japan the TTP deal included Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
The agreement was part of Washington’s “pivot to Asia,” with Obama hoping it would establish US economic leadership in the region by formulating Asia-Pacific trade rules before Beijing does it.
Source
| 1real |
As fixes for Obamacare begin, meet the hopelessly confusing ‘all-payer model’ | Print
While Donald Trump talks of repealing and replacing Obamacare and Hillary Clinton talks of reopening the conversation about the public option , the state of Vermont has begun dealing its own personal health care crisis by invoking something called the “all-payer model.”
The Green Mountain Care Board on Wednesday voted to approve this methodology for paying for health care, but understanding what that means requires reading the fine print of the agreement.
By approving the all-payer model agreement, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin seeks to align incentives across Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance so health care providers are paid for keeping patients healthy, not for providing individual services and procedures.
The board’s approval makes Vermont the first state to pursue an all-payer model statewide.
In a statement sent from the governor’s office, Shumlin thanked President Barack Obama and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell for negotiating the agreement with the state, and he said the model would control health care costs and reward doctors for a more preventive approach to care.
“Vermont will now become the first state in America to ensure that your doctor can focus on keeping you healthy, rather than running tests or procedures,” Shumlin said, adding:
By shifting the focus away from the current fee-for-service system to one that rewards primary care and prevention, we will help Vermonters lead healthier lives and more effectively manage chronic diseases, allow doctors to better treat their patients and identify health issues before they become severe, and reduce costs in a health care system that, if left unchecked, will bankrupt our state and Vermont families.
Green Mountain Care Board Chair Al Gobeille called the event “an important next step in provider-led health care reform,” adding that the program will save Vermont $10 billion over the next decade.
However, the board’s action did little to address concerns raised by the Joint Fiscal Office. In a report released Friday , the JFO weighed the supposed benefits of the new system against a list of critiques and uncertainties. Among the uncertainties are the administrative costs of the program, as well as where funding will come from.
The JFO report also notes that the next governor could refuse to go forward with the program. Republican gubernatorial candidate Phil Scott has said he does not support the program.
In a statement sent to local media, State House Minority Leader Rep. Don Turner, criticized the plan.
“The proposal raises many important, but unanswered, questions regarding the ability to cap healthcare cost growth, the use of the ACO model … and the competency of the Shumlin Administration to successfully run another complex regulatory system given its dismal record with Vermont Health Connect,” he said.
Darcie Johnston, director of Vermonters for Health Care Freedom, said she was shocked at the speed with which the board approved the draft. “Our legislators made a huge mistake in giving the GMCB so much power — the power to enter into contracts to further destroy our health care system.”
Amy Cooper, executive director of HealthFirst, an independent practice association representing over 250 medical professionals, told Vermont Watchdog she believes “the concept could be a good one” but nevertheless is “nervous about the State’s ability to implement it, especially with such a short timeline of reviewing the details that were only released a month ago.”
Shumlin will sign the revised draft document at 2 p.m. Thursday in his ceremonial office in Montpelier.
Over the past month, health care officials held public forums to explain Vermont’s 44-page draft agreement with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Still, many doctors and patients feel unsure of what the “all-payer model” will mean for them, in part because of the program’s many complexities.
For starters, despite the administration’s talk of an “all-payer waiver,” the draft document contains a waiver only for Medicare, not Medicaid or commercial insurance — the other two “payers” in Vermont’s health care system. Instead, the document gives state health care officials permission to operate accountable care organizations, or ACOs, under a restructured payment system.
For health care providers, the new payment system will start to replace current fee-for-service payments with a state-run global budget, the goal of which is to reward positive outcomes and overall population health.
Once the agreement is finalized, Vermont will start using its state-approved ACO, called the Vermont Care Organization. That network of health care providers is comprised of representatives from existing ACOs, including OneCare, HealthFirst and Community Health Accountable Care.
The smaller ACOs have not yet committed to being managed by the Vermont Care Organization. They have until 2018 to decide whether to remain as fee-for-service operators or transition to global budgeting within the Vermont Care Organization, as overseen by the Green Mountain Care Board.
Dr. Paul Reiss, chief medical officer at HealthFirst, told Watchdog his ACO is not recommending that physicians sign on with the Vermont Care Organization until details of the offer are known.
“There’s no proposal to change the way physicians are paid under Medicare in 2017,” Reiss said. “We’ll recommend signing on when there are actually offers on the table.”
At recent public forums, both Gov. Peter Shumlin and Al Gobeille, chair of the Green Mountain Care Board, said the Vermont Care Organization would be “risk bearing.” That means the umbrella ACO network, not individual providers, will absorb losses if providers exceed their budget for the year.
While the risk-bearing stipulation may allay providers’ worries about going over budget, page 8 of the agreement states that the ACO is responsible for “at minimum 30 percent” of shared losses. Put another way, providers in some cases will be responsible for paying up to 70 percent of the cost of exceeding the state-determined budget.
Delivering care under a global budget worries some doctors, who may not be able to survive under a budget cap and offer effective care at the same time.
When an audience member at the Norwich public forum asked what impact failing practices might have on the system, Shumlin replied, “You cannot be refused care. … It’s the ACO’s problem to deal with the bankruptcy. … It would not affect care in any way. It might not be the same provider, because they would be out of business theoretically, but someone would have an interest in caring for you.”
Gobeille agreed that private practices might face bankruptcy “because they couldn’t make it work in the independent practice world.” He added that such practices could be absorbed into the hospital system.
Since the draft agreement was announced , some physicians have criticized the plan on the grounds that hospitals may continue getting reimbursed for services at a higher rate, because of their bargaining advantage with insurance companies and the Green Mountain Care Board.
While it’s generally expected that the all-payer model will fix the payment reimbursement differential between Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurers, Reiss said he’s skeptical.
“There are no [plans] currently diagrammed on any drawing board to make that happen,” Reiss told Watchdog.
In fact, the draft agreement doesn’t fix the reimbursement differential. Instead, it says by 2020 the state must deliver “a report on options to narrow the Payer Differential between payers.”
The long delay could disappoint independent physicians, who have been told they don’t have to join the state-run ACO if they don’t want. That freedom of choice may be illusory at best, since financial pressure cited in the agreement could coerce doctors to join the network or face financial consequences.
Specifically, the draft agreement says the state will “encourage” providers and beneficiaries to participate. One “encouragement” includes a potential Medicare payment reduction for practices that remain outside of the ACO.
However, in an Oct.19 email exchange obtained by Vermont Watchdog, state Sen. Tim Ashe, told Burlington psychiatrist Robert Emmons that he contacted Ena Backus, health policy chief at the Green Mountain Care Board, and the financial penalty is now removed from the updated agreement.
Funding to help Vermont abandon a fee-for-service model includes a one-time payment of $9.5 million dollars from Medicare. The state also has a verbal agreement with Medicaid for $200 million — likely $110 million in federal money and $90 million in state funds.
It’s unclear where this money, and the administrative expense of Vermont Care Organization, will come from.
On Tuesday, Johnston unsuccessfully called for the board to delay its vote until outstanding questions are answered.
“We believe that doctors and patients have significant concerns, and that the delivery of health care to Vermonters could be significantly impacted. We are concerned about the rationing of care,” the Vermonters for Healthcare Freedom director said in a statement. “…There are too many questions that deserve answers before the Green Mountain Care Board should agree to support such a risky venture.”
Other concerns of Johnston’s include a lack of transparency and the model’s impact on Vermont’s doctor shortage.
A timeline of key events reveals the long road ahead for the all-payer health care model. | 1real |
Bangladesh Says It Now Knows Who’s Killing the Bloggers - The New York Times | DHAKA, Bangladesh — The young man, inching past a crowded checkpoint near a truck stand in Bangladesh’s capital, caught the attention of an alert police officer. His backpack, together with his appearance, from the unshaven beard to the long Punjabi tunic over baggy pants, set off the suspicion that he was an Islamist militant. The man was arrested after he was found to be carrying a machete, an unregistered pistol and six bullets. The discovery of the weapons raised alarms. For the last three years, atheist writers, freethinkers, foreigners, religious minorities, gay rights activists and others have been terrorized and killed in Bangladesh by shadowy figures who have struck with machetes and sped off on motorbikes. Little was known about the attackers, except that they were Islamist radicals, and that their assaults have been coming with frequency this year. The detained man refused to discuss much, saying only that he was Saiful Islam, 23 years old and a teacher at a local madrasa, or Islamic school. But the picture filled in six days later, when two men, arrested after running from the site of another fatal attack, identified the madrasa teacher as a fellow conspirator. That touched off a cascade of revelations that, for the first time, has allowed the Bangladeshi authorities to penetrate the murky world of the attackers and answer questions about the planning, execution and purpose of the attacks that have baffled the country — and, indeed, the world — since the violence began. At least 39 people have been killed in attacks with machetes, guns and bombs since February 2013. The killings, mostly with machete blows to the back of the victim’s neck, have been accelerating lately, with five people murdered in April, four in May and at least three so far in June. On Sunday, a Christian grocer and the wife of a police superintendent who had been cracking down on militant attacks were killed in separate strikes. On Tuesday, a Hindu priest was killed in southwestern Bangladesh. In a lengthy interview, the chief of the police counterterrorism unit, Monirul Islam, who assumed his post in February, laid out the findings of his investigation in minute detail. The killings were organized by two militant Islamic groups that have gathered volunteers and recruits, trained them and eventually seeded them into cells run by a commander, Mr. Islam said. They have tried to pick their targets with care, with the aim of gaining support from the public, he said, and trained teams of killers. Their goal was to convert Bangladesh’s mixed secular and religious culture to an Islamist one, the chief investigator said. The Bangladeshi authorities say that they now believe they have identified the top leadership of the two groups they say are responsible, and that they are preparing to round them up. Only when the leaders are caught, they caution, will the attacks be stopped, and at that, only for a while if the appeal of Islamic fundamentalism is not blunted. Bangladesh, a nation with a Muslim majority adjoining eastern India, gained independence from Pakistan in a vicious war in 1971 and established a secular, democratic government. A military coup in 1975 led to more than three decades of mostly governments sympathetic to Islamic fundamentalists, until a secular government returned to power in 2009 with an overwhelming majority. But secularism is far from universally accepted in Bangladesh, and has always had to contend with a conservative Islamic culture. To a surprising extent, the militants have succeeded in their aim of discrediting secularism, the chief investigator said. “In general, people think they have done the right thing, that it’s not unjustifiable to kill” the bloggers, gay people and other secularists, he added. They have also put the secular government on the defensive. As a result, even as the government has condemned the killings, it has urged writers not to criticize Islam and warned that advocating “unnatural sex” is a criminal offense. Some experts say that only a more widespread crackdown will stop the killings, but that the government has held back, fearful of creating a backlash. “The politics has been turned into the secular versus the Islamists,” said Abdur Rashid, a retired army major general and executive director of the Institute of Conflict, Law and Development Studies in Dhaka. “Therefore the government is cautious. ” While the killers’ strikes often appear random, Mr. Islam says the terrorism campaign was conceived by the militant groups quite deliberately as a response to mass protests in early 2013, known collectively as the Shahbag movement. Inspired by a group of bloggers who led the protests, the demonstrators advocated an end to politics and the prosecution of war crimes dating to the 1971 war for independence. War crimes prosecutions have been a particular source of anger for Islamists. They were shelved during the period of rule but revived under the new democratic government in 2009. Four of the five convicted and executed in the latest round of trials were leaders in the country’s largest Islamist political party, outraging Muslim fundamentalists and others. Two groups in particular took up the fight against secularism, Mr. Islam said. One, Ansar is led by a fiery cleric and a charismatic, operational commander, both of whom Mr. Islam declined to identify because they are being watched. Its leaders command about 25 trained killers, some of whom have been involved in three or four attacks, Mr. Islam said. The second, the Jama’atul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, is the reorganized offshoot of a group banned in 2005 for setting off nearly 500 bombs simultaneously around the country. While both are radical Islamist groups, Mr. Islam said, neither seems to have direct links to larger terrorist networks like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, though those groups have occasionally claimed credit for the attacks. The Islamist groups appear to have reacted quickly to the Shahbag movement, mounting their first fatal attack on Feb. 15, 2013, against a blogger who wrote critically of Islam under the pseudonym Thaba Baba. It was carried out by a group of students from North South University in Dhaka, who were incited by the sermons of the spiritual leader of Ansar at the time, a cleric named Jasim Uddin Rahmani. The students used to attend his Friday speeches at a local mosque where Mr. Rahmani, who has since been arrested, declared a fatwa on bloggers critical of Islam, calling for them to be killed, Mr. Islam said. As it happened, one of the students, a senior named Redwanul Azad Rana, was also a leader in Ansar Mr. Islam said. He invited the younger students to Mr. Rahmani’s sermons and introduced them to the writings of Thaba Baba. “Being a believer, it is your duty to kill” Thaba Baba, Mr. Rana told the students, one of them said in his confession in court. Prodded by Mr. Rana, “we made a plan to kill Islam’s and Prophet Muhammad’s insulter Thaba Baba by identifying him,” the student, Faisal Bin Nayeem, 24, said in the statement. He said they found Thaba Baba’s picture on Facebook, then searched for someone matching it at the Shahbag protest, still underway at the time. Eventually, they identified a architect, Ahmed Rajib Haider, as Thaba Baba. After studying Mr. Haider’s routines, three of them surprised him outside his house around 9 p. m. Mr. Nayeem said he drove his machete into the back of Mr. Haider’s neck and hit him twice more as he fell forward. Ansar with the help of mainstream Islamist groups, then began to publicize Mr. Haider’s writings, casting the killers as defenders of Islam against “atheist bloggers. ” The writings, published in at least two national dailies, enraged large segments of the population, who had previously been sympathetic to the Shahbag movement, Mr. Islam said. During the next two months, two more bloggers were killed. The police began arresting the North South University students who were involved in killing Mr. Haider, and also caught Mr. Rahmani, the cleric who inspired them. But Mr. Rana, the student leader, remains at large and is thought to have left the country. Mr. Islam said he believes these arrests stopped Ansar — also known as the Ansarullah Bangla Team — from killing more people in 2013 and 2014. But the group reorganized the terrorist cells, he said, and the killing resumed. In February of last year, Mr. Islam said, Ansar attackers killed Avijit Roy, 42, an American citizen of Bangladeshi origin. Mr. Roy worked by day in the biotechnology industry in the United States and by night as a writer of books on science, homosexuality and religion, in addition to founding a website called Bengali for freethinker. From the growing number of attackers in detention, the police learned that the newly reconstituted Ansar had changed its tactics, now recruiting madrasa students and teachers instead of university students to carry out killings. Mr. Islam said a violent protest by the madrasa students in May 2013 convinced Ansar leaders that they were a more promising source of fanatical recruits than their university counterparts. The training and indoctrination of the recruits became more rigorous and systematic at that time, Mr. Islam said. The cell that assassinated another blogger, Oyasiqur Rahman Babu, 27, just a month after Mr. Roy’s killing rented an apartment where two senior operatives worked with the group of killers. One, an operations expert, taught them how to kill with a machete and use a pistol to scatter anyone interrupting the attack. Armed with Mr. Babu’s picture and his address, the assassins were sent to his home to assess the situation and returned to a barrage of questions from the trainer. “What happens if you are stopped? What will you do?” he asked them, Mr. Islam said. Close to the planned date of the attack, the other operative, an ideologist, introduced the killers to Mr. Babu’s writings. The students were given samples calculated to stir them up. “What is the punishment for someone who writes these insults?” the trainer asked them. The group answered in unison, day after day, “Only death,” the arrested students told investigators. Mr. Islam said the hardest part for the police was identifying the leaders, who were so concerned about security that they would not give their real names to the madrasa students they were training. Still, the police have now identified a trainer involved in planning the attack on Mr. Babu. Last month they printed the suspect’s picture, along with those of five others accused of participating in the killings, in local dailies, offering rewards of up to 500, 000 takas, about $6, 400, for information leading to their arrests. The other militant group, the reorganized Jama’atul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, works independently of Ansar and almost exclusively in northern Bangladesh, the chief investigator said. But the group is less professional than Ansar he said, making mistakes that are costing it public support. The group has trained 50 to 100 madrasa students as killers, he said, organizing them into cells of four or five. But through shoddy research, many of the victims have turned out to be popular local figures. Among them: a homeopathic doctor who used to give free treatment to villagers, and an English professor at Rajshahi University who was not known to have written critically of Islam. When detained militants learned that a Japanese man they had slaughtered had converted to Islam in 2015, they told investigators they were upset over their mistake. With all the the communities turned against them. With the public’s support, Mr. Islam said, the police quickly rounded up the suspected hit men and several of their handlers in most of the Jama’atul Mujahedeen Bangladesh killings, and were in pursuit of the senior leadership. Many in Bangladesh continue to live in terror. associates of one victim, a gay rights activist, have taken refuge in safe houses provided by diplomatic missions. Several dozen bloggers have fled the country. Those who remain have grown fatalistic. “On this journey, we’ll lose our lives,” Arif Jebtik, 39, one of the leaders of the Shahbag movement, said in an interview in his Dhaka apartment, which he rarely leaves. He has quit his job, closed his blog and stopped dropping his children off at school. “This is the price we have to pay to history,” he said. | 0fake |
Donald Trump to March for Life: ‘You Have My Full Support!’ | President Donald Trump signaled his support for activists attending the March for Life on Friday. [“The #MarchForLife is so important,” he wrote on Twitter. “To all of you marching — you have my full support!” The President confirmed that Vice President Mike Pence will speak at the event. According to organizers, Pence is speaking around noon. Trump set big expectations for the March for Life during an interview with ABC’s David Muir when asked to compare possible crowd size to that of last week’s Women’s March on Washington: “You will have a large crowd on Friday, too, which is mostly people, too, and I didn’t realize this, but I was told. You will have a very large crowd of people — as large or larger, Trump said. Some people said it will be larger — people, and they say the press doesn’t cover them. | 0fake |
Watching These 55 ISIS Terrorists Get Blown to Smithereens is Sure to Brighten Your Day | Next Story → Judge Judy LOSES IT on Hood Rat: “You Sound Stupid! You’re 19-Yrs-Old, You Have a 2-Yr-Old Child, a Dead Boyfriend…” You may also like... | 1real |
Top House Democrat Pelosi says independent Russia probe still needed | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi welcomed the appointment of a special counsel in the Russia probe involving President Donald Trump but said on Thursday an independent commission was still needed to guard against political pressure from the White House. She said the counsel, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, would still be subject to supervision by Trump’s Justice Department. “A special prosecutor cannot take the place of a truly independent outside commission,” Pelosi told reporters. “If the president has nothing to hide, then he and Republicans in Congress should welcome independent investigations to remove all doubt of a coverup,” she said. | 0fake |
A Federal Reserve President Just Said Something That Will TERRIFY ‘Too Big To Fail’ Banks (VIDEO) | The era of too big to fail might actually be coming to an end. Not because of legislators railing against it constantly, or because of economic experts educating us as to why it s a bad idea. We ve been having this for years now, and the problem has only grown worse.Now there is actually some muscle in the fight, and it s going to scare the hell out of the big banks that have enjoyed having their greed go unchallenged for decades. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President, Neel Kashkari, has come out against the idea of too big to fail being allowed to continue and grow worse.A movement from within the Federal Reserve to break up big banks could actually work, due to how closely the Fed is intertwined with them. It isn t like the same old game of Democrats railing against the system, and Republicans doing everything they can to protect the banks ability to abuse it. Kashkari made a strong comparison of reigning in the big banks to managing a nuclear reactor: The cost to society of letting a reactor melt down is astronomical. Given that cost, governments will do whatever they can to stabilize the reactor before they lose control. Source: BloombergKashkari said that the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank will be collecting public and financial industry input, then formulating proposals to address the problems with our current banking system. All options are on the table from breaking up the big banks into less connected, less important entities, forcing banks to hold large amounts of capital instead of gambling it on wall street which would make them virtually incapable of failing, and using tax methods to discourage banks from taking huge risks with regular people s money.It s worth noting that Kashkari is no left-wing democratic socialist. He is a Republican who was the senior advisor to George W. Bush s treasury secretary and managed the $700 billion TARP bank bailout. Even he knows that the status-quo is unsustainable, and if a problem happens again it will be even worse.With Republicans busy being apologists for American banking cartels, and doing everything they can to make it legal for them to steal the nation away from its people, the response from Kashkari is exactly what we need. Banks can t buy the Federal Reserve for a few tens of thousands in campaign donations, which will make it difficult for Republicans to resist.Watch Kashkari s full comments below:Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
Jeb Bush fights lonely battle defending Common Core | Nashville, Tennessee (CNN) As opposition to Common Core began to swell in Tennessee, Jeb Bush showed up to an education forum in March of last year, advocating for state officials to keep the higher standards in place.
Now, a little more than a year later, Bush returned to Nashville Saturday night to address the state's GOP dinner, but his push for the state to hold onto Common Core didn't succeed. Earlier this month, Republican Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill to review the controversial standards and rebrand them with a Tennessee-specific focus.
The bill was widely viewed as a compromise between Common Core opponents -- who wanted to get rid of it altogether -- and supporters, including Haslam, who wanted to stay on track with the new assessments.
What happened in Tennessee has already happened in a number of states as the political momentum against Common Core has caught fire in the past two years, fueled by an onslaught of criticism from conservatives who decry the standards as federal overreach.
And with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie -- a once-staunch enthusiast of Common Core -- announcing this week that his state will gut the standards and come up with something else, Bush, who has yet to declare his all-but-certain candidacy, remains the only top-tier presidential hopeful who is still defending Common Core.
That doesn't mean he takes issue with states doing what Tennessee and New Jersey are attempting. He's made it clear that he's fine with states choosing an alternative path, as long as those states maintain high benchmarks for students.
"I think the governor [Haslam] has every right to do anything as it relates to education policy," Bush told reporters Saturday night, with Haslam standing by his side. "This should be a state issue. And Washington should have nothing to do with this at all."
Still, Bush -- unlike other 2016ers -- is not backing away from his endorsement of Common Core as an effective method of measuring student learning. His brother, after all, pushed and ultimately signed No Child Left Behind in early 2002, which imposed test score standards on schools with lower-income students that received federal funding.
As for Common Core, Jeb Bush has expressed frustration with how the standards have been prone to misinformation that have in part helped turn the issue into a political football.
"Because people have a different view of what Common Core is, am I supposed to back away from something that I know works?" he asked at the same event in Bedford.
As two-term governor of Florida from 1999-2007, Bush focused heavily on education reform, which included implementing higher standards as well as a school voucher program. After he left office, he launched a nonprofit called the Foundation for Excellence in Education that ultimately became a leading proponent of Common Core.
Contrary to what some believe, Common Core standards were not developed by the federal government but by the National Governors Association along with help from state education leaders, parents and teachers. The standards dictate what students in elementary school and high school should know by the end of each grade, and it's up to the states to come up with testing and curriculum that align with those measurements.
The federal government got involved when it gave states financial incentives to adopt higher standards. Those standards didn't have to be Common Core, but since the standards were available, 46 states have adopted them since 2010, though some have since changed or eliminated them.
While Common Core has sometimes been misunderstood, "perception is reality in politics," said Gregory Gleaves, a Republican strategist in Tennessee. "If the perception is out there that it comes from DC, then it is a political problem. And that was the case for those who supported Common Core."
Despite praising it during his first term, Christie on Thursday noted that he's heard constant complaints from parents and educators. "I felt like we had to give it a fair chance, I think we did. We've given it a four-year chance," he said. "They feel as if it's been imposed upon them from Washington."
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal -- also potential Republican presidential contenders -- were initially on board with Common Core and helped implement the standards during their first terms, but later moved to get rid of them.
Jindal especially has become one of the most vocal opponents of the standards, and a lawsuit he launched against the federal government over Common Core got a hearing in a Baton Rouge court on Thursday.
That's why some states renamed the standards to give them a more local feel. Iowa, for example, named it the "Iowa Core." This method was encouraged last year by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who reportedly told state education officials to lose the "Common Core" name. "Rebrand it, refocus it, but don't retreat."
For his part, Bush has politely tried to correct some misunderstandings about Common Core on the trail, without trying to get to deep in the weeds. At an event in Manchester, a retired math teacher told Bush that he got frustrated with spending more time testing than teaching.
Bush explained that tests are only administered on the state and local level -- not by the federal government -- and proposed that states should mandate that school districts tell parents why they are giving so many tests. That would better facilitate a conversation between parents and educators on how to strike a balance.
"And that's the way it should be. You can do that in New Hampshire," he said, urging the man, John Potucek, who's also a state representative, to push back on the state about his complaints. "But please make sure you have accountability around students, 'cause the net result is you're going to have a decline."
After the event Potucek told CNN he was surprised by Bush's answer, and while he didn't agree with everything Bush said, he said his Common Core stance wouldn't be a deal-breaker.
"He explained it in a way that I wasn't expecting, and I have to kind of chew on it a little bit," he said.
It doesn't always go well, though. At a town hall in Dubuque, Iowa, a retired local school board member named Les Feldman grilled Bush about his support for Common Core. After a tense back-and-forth that lasted several minutes, a somewhat exasperated Bush ultimately concluded with, "I'm just for higher standards, man."
"People want a clear 'yes' or 'no' answer"
While opponents dislike Common Core for a number of reasons, Republican primary voters mostly disagree with it because they see it as federal overreach into what should be a local issue. Andy Ogles, the Tennessee state director for the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, said a one-size-fits-all approach to education doesn't work.
"The education needs in Silicon Valley versus rural Iowa versus Tennessee are very different," he said. Ogles lead a grassroots campaign that helped mobilize opposition to Common Core in Tennessee and pressure state officials to search for a different approach.
As for Bush, Ogles said he doubts conservative voters will buy the likely presidential candidate's argument that he supports both Common Core as well as a state's decision to opt out and choose their own standards.
"There's certain core issues that most people want a clear 'yes' or 'no' answer, and I think this is one of those issues. You can't be for it and then also be for state standards," he said. "Ultimately, he's going to have to make up his mind, especially here in the southern states."
Aides say there's no conflict in Bush's position. States had to opt in, and they can opt out.
The bottom line, Bush has argued, is that students need better accountability and there are a variety of ways to make that happen with higher standards.
"There's got to be a better way," Bush said at an event in Manchester, New Hampshire earlier this month, saying only half of high school graduates are college or career-ready. "We can't just keep fooling ourselves and just say 'oh it's because ... kids in poverty can't learn'."
"That's crap," a man in the audience interjected.
"Thank you, brother," Bush said forcefully. "That is crap." | 0fake |
Tiffany Trump And Her Mother Just Tried To Get An EXPENSIVE Service For Free Because They’re Rich | Freelancers love entitled people, really we do, especially when those entitled people are also rich. Giving away our services to those who can easily pay market rates for them is just so much better than, you know, getting paid in actual dollars that we can turn around and use to pay our bills. And Tiffany Trump and her mother, Trump s second wife Marla Maples, just put themselves into the category of rich, entitled jagoffs who think people owe them work for free.They re both going to Trump s inauguration on Friday, and of course, they have to look absolutely perfect. That means getting their hair and makeup done by stylists and artists. Tricia Kelly, a freelance stylist, received word from a contact with connections to the Trumps that Tiffany and Marla were looking for someone to do this work for them. So she got in touch, gave them her rates for both work and travel, and Marla wasn t having it:But Maples, through her assistant, balked. I was told they had a $300 budget for both of them for hair and makeup, Kelly says.How the hell do those two only have a $300 budget? A regular person with a decent-paying job has a $300 budget for this (maybe). Maples reportedly has a net worth of $20 million. Tiffany has a reported net worth of just $600,000, but she s also 22 and she s also Maples daughter. And they only have a budget of $300 for this?Please, don t make us laugh too hard. It hurts.Kelly managed to negotiate a total cost of $350, which is still absurdly cheap. But that s apparently when things got really ridiculous. After Kelly got Maples assistant to agree to that rate, she then asked if Kelly would be willing to do the work for exposure. It s not even exposure in the form of a tear sheet she could put in a portfolio, or something else tangible.No this exposure would be in the form of Maples mentioning her on social media.Jesus fucking Christ but these people are spoiled rotten brats. And when Kelly wouldn t do it, she got veiled threats in return: You are messing with the president of the United States, the Maples contact wrote her, adding that Maples was worried about her financial situation with Tiffany out of college, ending child-support payments from the president-elect. She is used to a certain lifestyle and you don t understand that. So? She s still worth $20 million, so she can shut it. And even if one could say there was a legitimate worry about money now, well, like the rest of us, if she can t afford a pricey service, then she can jolly well do without. She is not entitled to people s work without compensation any more than any of the rest of us are.Sure, there are stylists, artists and designers who are willing to loan things to, or do complimentary work for, A-list celebrities because that is exposure that will translate into more paying work and better rates and prices. Sorry to say, though, that Marla and Tiffany are not exactly A-listers here. And they are associated with politics, which people working in these fields tend to shun unless they re getting paid.Kelly was shocked by the entitlement complex, as any of us would have been in her shoes: There are people who make far less than they do who pay full price, she said. People on staff the incoming White House and the outgoing one pay full price. It seemed like they were trying to see how much they could get for free based on their names. The market rates for these services run anywhere from $1,200 to over $5,000. So even the $350 that Maples assistant said they would pay was a pittance.Seriously? Give us a break. In other words, she and Tiffany are just as used to getting what they want from us peons as Cheetolini and the rest of his family. And if they want you to work for free, then dammit, you will work for free or you will face the consequences, and that is that.Featured image by Kevin Winter via Getty Images | 1real |
Hillary Clinton’s Backers Thought She Couldn’t Lose. Now, ‘I Can’t Go There.’ - The New York Times | Beside the olive display at Zabar’s, that iconic hub of lox and neurosis on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Linda Donohue was trying to talk herself down. Surely the polls she tracked anxiously were not to be trusted, she said. Surely Donald J. Trump, the man with the garish golden tower across town, would not be allowed to reach the White House. “We have to have more faith in the American public,” said Ms. Donohue, 61, a longtime New Yorker now living in Seattle. A man behind her could not suppress a loud snort. Then Cathi Anderson, who was shopping with Ms. Donohue, mentioned yet another distressing poll, this one from Ohio, which showed Mr. Trump ahead. Ms. Donohue nodded grimly. Just in case her faith in the American electorate was misplaced, Ms. Donohue said, she had retained her Irish citizenship. For both parties, every election can feel like the most vital of a lifetime, the one day standing between a nation and its imminent demise. Among liberals, there is an especially rich tradition of “” as even some practitioners call it, at the faintest sign of shakiness from their candidate. But as Hillary Clinton lurches toward Election Day, her supporters at times seem overwhelmed by a tsunami of unease, exacerbated by Mrs. Clinton’s bout of pneumonia and a acknowledgment of the illness. They are confronting a question they had assumed, just a few weeks ago, they would not need to consider in a race against the most unpopular presidential nominee in modern times: Could Mrs. Clinton actually blow this? “It’s like someone dropped ice water on the head of America,” Julie Gaines, the owner of Fishs Eddy, a home goods store in Manhattan, said of Mr. Trump’s increased odds. “Everyone sobered up. This could happen. ” The creeping dread has accelerated in recent days, reaching critical levels even by Democratic standards. Mrs. Clinton became sick. Several polls tightened to the margin of panic, with Mr. Trump overtaking her in surveys in Ohio and Florida. And even as Democrats hoped on Friday that Mr. Trump’s latest gambit — seeking to distance himself from his long history of “birtherism” — would backfire, there is a fear that no scandal can sink him. A cartoon in The New Yorker captured it best: A woman sits in her psychiatrist’s office, perspiring in distress. The doctor scribbles on a pad. “I’m giving you something for Hillary’s pneumonia,” the caption reads. Supporters of Mrs. Clinton have greeted the moment with varying degrees of alarm, according to interviews with dozens of them across the country. They read warily about the health of her lungs and her field operations. They reassure one another by reminding themselves of President Obama’s two winning campaigns, which encountered similar fits of concern after Labor Day. But even some zealous Clinton defenders have grown frustrated with their candidate, marveling at the prospect of her snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, for which some say they would never forgive her. The campaign’s decision last week not to acknowledge Mrs. Clinton’s pneumonia until two days after a diagnosis, once video surfaced of her stumbling out of a Sept. 11 memorial service on Sunday, has especially rankled. “They kept it from us,” said Sonia Ascher, 74, a former campaign volunteer, sitting with her husband and son at a coffee shop in Portsmouth, N. H. “It was just another thing again, another mistake, which she really can’t afford right now. ” The gloom seems to be spreading. Maurice Doucet, 55, a software engineer from Portland, Ore. wondered aloud on Wednesday how the race had gotten this close, lamenting Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state. “The rational side of my brain goes, ‘There’s no way people are actually going to switch sides,’” he said of voters’ movement toward Mr. Trump. “But the emotional side,” he added, his voice trailing off moments later. In Washington Square Park in Manhattan, among smitten college students and acoustic guitars, Guillermo Vidal, 75, grimaced at the thought of a Trump presidency. His friend’s bichon mix, Dipsy, sat on the bench beside him, looking fretful. Mr. Vidal was asked what was troubling Dipsy. “She’s a Democrat,” Mr. Vidal said dryly. Then there are those who traffic in angst professionally, who are straining to consider even the chance of a Trump election. “The possibility of that is too horrifying to broach,” Larry David, the “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star, wrote in an email. “It’s like contemplating your own death. ” Surely Mr. David had done that, too? “I can’t go there,” he said. In liberal enclaves, some modest contingency planning has begun. Threats of relocation are a bipartisan ritual every four years, expanding the audience for Canadian home listings. But this time, voters seem to be taking their research a bit more seriously. Ramona Gant, 28, a graduate student in Chicago, said she had just renewed her passport with the election in mind. Ms. Donohue’s friend at Zabar’s, Ms. Anderson, also of Seattle, mused that Vancouver was not too far up the road. Mike Brennan, 67, from Ventura County, Calif. is keeping an eye on the stock market. “If it looks like it’s going to be close,” said Mr. Brennan, a Republican supporting Mrs. Clinton, “I’ll pull my money out. ” For many Americans, Mr. Trump’s momentum has registered as a more visceral threat, heightening concerns that had festered since his candidacy began. Ahtziry Barrera, 18, a college freshman from Orlando, Fla. arrived in the United States more than a decade ago from Mexico. Under an Obama administration policy known as DACA, which Mrs. Clinton has vowed to protect, Ms. Barrera has been allowed to stay in the country because she entered as a child. “A lot of people were not taking him seriously. ‘Oh, he’s not going to win.’ But it happened,” she said of Mr. Trump’s success in the Republican primary race. “It is a big stress on me, knowing that Nov. 8 is the day I’ll know whether my future is going to be secure or not. ” Some optimists have preached calm, reminding one another of Mrs. Clinton’s organizational advantages and holding out hope that she can best Mr. Trump decisively on a debate stage. While allowing that Mrs. Clinton has not run a perfect race, many of her admirers have cast blame elsewhere, singling out the news media, the Republicans who nominated Mr. Trump and, of course, the man himself. Gloria Steinem, the feminist leader and a Clinton supporter, said in an email that she had sensed a growing worry in recent weeks, fearing that Mr. Trump’s candidacy was becoming “legitimized by ‘media evenhandedness’” that had made his assorted scandals seem more banal. “There are things any campaign could do better, but in this case, I fear it’s like blaming the victim instead of the bully — dissociating in the hope that we won’t be bullied, too,” she wrote. “It’s like saying, ‘If only she hadn’t been walking in that neighborhood. … ’” Others hold tight to an abiding belief, perhaps against their better judgment, that everything will work out. “I still believe in humanity,” said Nadia Johnson, 22, a Brooklyn resident lunching at a Whole Foods this week. She quickly added a request: Ask her again in November. | 0fake |
BERNIE SANDERS Just Proved His Cluelessness on What Makes Economies Grow [Video] | Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) said Sunday Democrats would absolutely raise the corporate tax rate if they take back control of Congress. If the Democrats take control of the Senate, and you caucus with the Democrats, what s the promise to America about what will be done to reverse the state of affairs that you re so unhappy with? CBS host John Dickerson asked on Face The Nation. Sanders jumped into income inequality before changing the subject to child health care and the Dreamers before being interrupted by Dickerson to re-ask the original question. If Democrats take control, are corporate taxes going up? Dickerson asked. I think we re going to take a very hard look at this entire tax bill and make it a tax bill that works for the middle class, and working families, not for the top one percent and large multinational corporations, Sanders said.Dickerson continued to press Sanders for an answer to Democrats raising corporate tax if they were to take control after the 2018 elections. The Republican tax bill that could pass this week lowers the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent.Sanders is clueless when it comes to business and taxes probably because he has been on the government dole for life. Sanders is in love with Socialism need we say more. | 1real |
CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST, Author Mike Chernovich Calls On Americans To Join Him In Disrupting TRUMP ASSASSINATION Play In Central Park | The Washington Post [Compost] reports: So far, three major corporate sponsors and the NEA have felt it necessary to distance themselves from the show, Eustis said in an interview Thursday. And I feel just heartsick for the NEA. That they re forced to distance themselves from a work of art oh, my God. Eustis was referring to the statement the National Endowment for the Arts issued Monday, after the Public s production of Shakespeare s storied play came under attack from ultraconservative websites and even from one of the sons of President Trump, who questioned whether it was taxpayer-supported. They targeted the production because of the obvious references it draws to the current president and the depiction in the play of the assassination of its Caesar-as-Trump figure, played by Gregg Henry.Donald Trump Jr. tweeted a message asking if the assassination of his father should be funded by taxpayers: No NEA funds have been awarded to support this summer s Shakespeare in the Park production of Julius Caesar and there are no NEA funds supporting the New York State Council on the Arts s grant to Public Theater or its performances, the NEA declared, in what struck many in the arts world as an extraordinary act of disavowal. It came as two high-profile corporate supporters of Shakespeare in the Park, Delta Air Lines and Bank of America, withdrew financial backing, and a third, American Express, said that its contributions go exclusively to the Public s main theater in downtown Manhattan and it did not condone the interpretation staged in Central Park.Instead of recognizing that the theater group had crossed a line that should not have been crossed, Eustis is willing to take a loss at the box office in order to keep the assassination of President Trump on stage in front of thousands of families in Central Park: As for the Public s future in this climate, Eustis said, This is damaging for us and we definitely lost money, and nobody likes losing money. But we will survive it. Here is the link to get FREE tickets to the performance. Click HERE to see a video about how to get FREE tickets.New York!Who wants to go watch the Trump assassination play maybe use some "free speech" during the play?https://t.co/64WAPvQjBT pic.twitter.com/7zDQcjNX7y Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) June 15, 2017These Twitter users suggest skipping the ticket process and instead use the same techniques as leftist agitators, like whistles and drums or bongos and cowbells to disrupt the production:If it's in a park can't we just go to the park and bring our whistles and drums Ralph Butler (@secure1man) June 15, 2017bongos and cowbells for everyone Deplorable Snuzzlez (@SnuzzleBabiez) June 15, 2017 | 1real |
BROTHER OF SETH RICH Works For Cyber Security Firm…Reportedly BLOCKED Family’s Private Investigator From Determining If Seth Was Wikileaks Source…Refused To Let Investigator See Seth’s Computer: “I already checked it…Don’t worry about it” | What the heck is going on? Why is the media, who has been virtually silent about former DNC staffer Seth Rich s death until now, coming out to attack President Trump and his administration, accusing them of pushing a false narrative about his murder? Shouldn t every American regardless of political affiliation want to get to the bottom of Rich s suspicious death? Why is there so much secrecy and mystery surrounding the staffer who was getting ready to move over to the Hillary campaign when he was murdered on the streets of DC, only blocks from his home early in the morning, after he was last seen leaving a local bar he frequented. The DC police called it a robbery. The robbers didn t take his wallet, the contents of his wallet or his expensive watch.Aaron Rich, who had reportedly been blocking his family s private investigator from looking into whether or not his brother Seth was a WikiLeaks source, works for an influential defense contractor that provides cyber security.According to a source close to the Rich family, Aaron works for Northrup Grumman, which was named as the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world in 2015. The source did not provide what his specific role is at the company. It s not just hacking and defending, there s a lot more to it, a cyber software engineer at Northrup Grumman says in a video on the company s website.As we previously reported, Aaron Rich was actively attempting to shut down anyone looking into the WikiLeaks connection according to Rod Wheeler, who was brought on as a private investigator in his brother s murder case.Wheeler said that brother Aaron Rich tried to block Wheeler from looking at Seth s computer, even though there could be evidence on it. He said no, he said I have his computer, meaning him, Wheeler said. I said, well can I look at it? He said, what are you looking for? I said anything that could indicate if Seth was having problems with someone. He said no, I already checked it. Don t worry about it. Aaron also blocked Wheeler from finding out about who was at a party Seth attended the night of the murder. All I want you to do is work on the botched robbery theory and that s it, Aaron told Wheeler, according to Wheeler s claim on the audio. Wheeler said that Seth s father Joel does not appear to have any hidden agenda. Rich was shot in the back in the early morning hours of July 10, 2016, near his home while he was on the phone with his girlfriend 12 days before the publication of the DNC emails by WikiLeaks. The police initially ruled that it was a botched robbery but his wallet, watch, and necklace were still on his person when he was discovered by police.Big League Politics has also released an audio recording of journalist Seymour Hersh stating that Seth Rich was in fact WikiLeaks source.Listen to the Seymour Hersh interview here: All I know is that he offered a sample, an extensive sample, I m sure dozens of emails, and said I want money. Later, WikiLeaks did get the password, he had a DropBox, a protected DropBox, he said. They got access to the DropBox. Hersh also states that Rich had concerns about something happening to him, the word was passed, according to the NSA report, he also shared this DropBox with a couple of friends, so that if anything happens to me it s not going to solve your problems, he added. WikiLeaks got access before he was killed. For entire story: Big League Politics | 1real |
Saudi sovereign fund to develop holy sites in Mecca, Medina | RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is forming two real estate development firms to boost the capacity of Mecca and Medina to receive pilgrims, in projects expected to create billions of dollars of business, it said on Monday. The plans are part of an array of commitments which the PIF, the country s main sovereign wealth fund, is taking on under economic reforms designed to reduce Saudi Arabia s dependence on oil exports. The government is mobilising the fund, believed to have about $180 billion of assets, to lead urban development and industrial projects around the country, even as the PIF manages stakes in top Saudi companies and makes foreign investments such as last year s purchase of a $3.5 billion stake in Uber. The scope of the PIF s activities has caused concern among some private Saudi businessmen. The reforms aim to stimulate the private sector but with so many huge projects going to the PIF, some businessmen fear they could be crowded out by the deep-pocketed fund. The PIF said the first phase of its development of an area near the Grand Mosque in Mecca would cover 854,000 square metres (9.1 million square feet) and deliver 115 buildings. It is to include 70,000 new hotel rooms and 9,000 housing units. Construction will start this year with the first phase expected to open in 2024. By 2030, the area will contribute $2.1 billion annually to gross domestic product, the fund said. It also plans to develop 1.3 million square metres near the Prophet s Mosque in Medina, adding 500 housing units and 80,000 hotel rooms. Expanding Islamic tourism is a top goal of Saudi reforms, which seek to develop non-oil income to offset a plunge in oil export receipts due to low crude prices. The PIF did not reveal how much money it would invest, how it would award contracts, or the extent to which private investors would be brought in. Riyadh has said it wants to involve private capital in major projects to reduce pressure on state finances, but in many cases a legal framework for such ventures has not yet been created. Most Saudi real estate developers are small, so state bodies often have to be used to jump-start large projects, especially when the government wants to move quickly. Among other PIF projects, the fund said last week that it would lead the $4.8 billion redevelopment of Jeddah s waterfront corniche. [nL8N1M83KV] In August, the government said it would develop resorts on about 50 Red Sea islands in a PIF-backed project. The fund will be the main investor in a 334 square kilometre (129 square mile) entertainment city near Riyadh featuring cultural and recreational facilities. | 0fake |
Pope Francis Extends Priests’ Ability to Forgive Abortion - The New York Times | VATICAN CITY — The Roman Catholic Church will allow priests throughout the world to grant absolution for abortion, the Vatican said on Monday, making permanent a policy that Pope Francis announced a year ago. In a document marking the conclusion of the church’s yearlong Jubilee of Mercy, the pope extended a policy of allowing priests — and not only bishops or special confessors — to grant forgiveness for abortion, which the church considers a sin. The announcement was a signal of the pope’s vision of a more welcoming, merciful and inclusive church. While firmly restating his opposition to abortion as “a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life,” the pope affirmed that “there is no sin that God’s mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father. ” The document, an apostolic letter, was signed on Sunday after a Mass denoting the end of the jubilee year. It was made public on Monday. Pope Francis’ decision last year, at the start of the jubilee, followed in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II, who granted priests the same right during the previous holy year, in 2000. Under canon law, abortion brings automatic excommunication unless the person receiving or performing it confesses and receives absolution. Abortion is considered a “reserved sin,” meaning that permission to grant forgiveness usually must come from a bishop. Bishops could already delegate the authority to grant absolution to parish priests — and many bishops in the United States had done so — but the practice varied widely by country and even by diocese. In parts of the world, observant Catholics who have sought absolution for abortions have faced delays at times, or even rejection. In some places, priests have been delegated the power to absolve abortions during certain times of year, like Lent, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, said at a news conference at the Vatican on Monday. “Now that right is extended to all priests,” he said, noting that changes would have to be made to canon law to reflect the new practice. The decision underscores the pope’s idea of a church that leaves nobody outside its doors, and the apostolic letter calls on the clergy and the world’s 1. 2 billion Catholics to reflect, and to act, upon the message at the heart of the yearlong meditation on mercy. In the document, a blend of religious teachings and acute social commentary, “Pope Francis delineates the path of the future life of the church so that it can always be an instrument of mercy toward everyone, without ever excluding anyone,” Archbishop Fisichella said. The archbishop said that the apostolic letter offered guidelines to priests who were called on to exercise forgiveness, referring to an April proclamation on family life that, among other things, created a path for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive holy communion. Francis’ letter also noted that the church would celebrate a World Day of the Poor every November “to help communities and each of the baptized to reflect on how poverty is at the very heart of the Gospel. ” He also called on the faithful to “promote a culture of mercy based on the rediscovery of encounter with others, a culture in which no one looks at another with indifference or turns away from the suffering of our brothers and sisters. ” At a ceremony naming 17 new cardinals on Saturday, the pope warned against what he described as a “virus of polarization and animosity. ” He said that “in God’s heart there are no enemies,” and chided those who “raise walls, build barriers and label people. ” The comments were seen by some Vatican observers as a rebuke to calls by Donald J. Trump to build a border wall and to restrict Muslims from entering the United States. Pope Francis did not single out any country, but he has expressed dismay over the harsh tone on immigration that Mr. Trump has taken. In February, the pope suggested that Mr. Trump was “not Christian” because of the campaign promise to build a wall on the United border. (Mr. Trump, who is not Catholic, called the pope’s admonishments “disgraceful. ”) The pope on Saturday denounced the tendency to treat “a stranger, an immigrant or a refugee” as the enemy, warning that such thinking invited hatred. “Little by little, our differences turn into symptoms of hostility, threats and violence,” he said. Harassment and violence against immigrants and other marginalized groups surged after Election Day in the United States, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate crimes and domestic extremist groups. | 0fake |
5 Lifesaving Security Measures to Secure Your Home From Intruders | Many believe burglaries are crimes that occur out of desperation, but this isn’t always the case. In fact, the motivation that drives many criminals is simply opportunity. Such is the case for why home break-ins occur around Christmas time while homeowners are away at work. All a criminal needs to do is make a quick entry, grab all the gifts perfectly surrounded by a Christmas tree and they are out the door faster than you can blink. Here are some facts to gain a better perspective on what you are facing:
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, every 15 seconds a home in America is burglarized and the homeowner typically suffers a loss of nearly $2,000 in stolen goods or property damage. Most burglaries take place between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. The majority of break-ins are committed by burglars who live nearby. Burglars tend to avoid homes with security systems. Most criminals can burglarize a home in less than ten minutes. Almost 30% of burglars enter a home through an unlocked door or window. An astonishing 34% of burglars enter through the front door. Burglars usually go to the master bedroom first. The average property dollar loss per burglary is a staggering $2,251. Someone is home during nearly three out of every ten burglaries. Only 13.6% of burglaries in 2014 resulted in arrests. Given these startling statistics, break-ins can be avoided altogether by using common sense and mindfulness. Here are some simple security measures to take to ensure your home stays out of the watchful eye of an intruder.
1. Keep security layers in mind Having security layers in place is the best possible preventative measures to deter possible criminals from marking your home as an easy target. These security layers will advertise to intruders that they should avoid your home altogether. Designing a home defense system that includes multiple security layers is a proactive way to protect your home, family, and belongings. Fortunately, there are plenty of tools at your disposal for keeping your property safe. Most of them cost significantly less than an alarm system, and all together can provide several layers of security to your home. Below are seven awesome tools for keeping your place safe during the holiday season. These affordable items are a great start to beefing up your home security.
Door club Wireless LED spotlight Fake TV burglar deterrent Digital lamp timers Sentry security bolt safe Hidden safes Security system Curtains and/or blinds on windows Use a wooden dowel on sliding doors and windows Read more about these
2. Keep security supplies near vulnerable areas Those that are preparedness-minded are always vigilant about ensuring the safety of their family members. In that same vein, children should know the basics of the family emergency plan and safety rules like not opening the door to strangers.
As well, having some basic safety/security supplies near the most vulnerable areas of the home (key entry points, garages, etc.) would be advantageous if you find yourself face to face with someone attempting to break-in. For examples, near the entry points in my home, we have a decorative basket that blends into the decor but has items such as flashlights, an emergency whistle, multi-tools and/or a knife. As well, if you do not have children in the home, you can also strategically place a handgun, clips or a non-lethal weapon if you choose. You can strategically place these items near vulnerable spots of the home.
The front door The backdoor The bedroom Living room Another vulnerable part of the home is windows. Burglars love to “window shop”. If you keep your curtains or blinds open, this will give them an opportunity to take a peek into the home. Moreover, if you have picturesque bistro tables and chairs, they can easily be used against you. Criminals will throw them against windows for fast entry. Installing shatter-proof window film on windows will help prevent this.
While we love a beautifully landscaped yard with shrubs and bushes cut low, this can also make for easy entry into the home. You can add bushes and landscaping to help deter criminals from marking your home. Plants with thorns such as roses, bougainvillea or blackberry bushes are great choices for securing the outer perimeter of the home. At the very least, secure the windows from becoming entry points with window alarms to alert you or your neighbors to a break in.
Speaking of yard and landscaping, how many of you have a ladder that you forgot to bring in? Criminals will look around for tools they can use to gain entry. The second story of a home is typically more lax when it comes to security. If you are guilty of this one, lock up your ladder in your garage.
3. Focus on the entry points The most common way for an intruder to get into your home is through the door. Make this your first priority in reinforcing your security. The best method is to install door frame and hinge reinforcements on the front and back doors. This security solution is made of galvanized steel and can prevent single entry door kick-ins and stop intruders before they are inside. Moreover, you might also want to consider installing a deadbolt . Even the strongest reinforced steel door can be neutralized by one swift kick if your lock does not extend deep enough into the door frame.
As well, gaining entry into a garage is another essential entry point to secure. It takes less than six seconds to break into a garage if the criminal knows how. Here are step-by-step instructions on how to prevent this.
3. Be aware and know thy neighbors Having a pleasant relationship with neighbors who stay at home is a beneficial relationship to have. They can keep an eye on your home while you are at work and you can reciprocate in a way that helps them out. Knowing who your neighbors are, what type of cars they drive and usually the time they are home, creates a neighborhood that is actively practicing OPSEC and awareness .
4. Don’t draw unwelcome attention to your home We typically assume those living around us are respectful of property, but this isn’t always the case. Those living in residential areas bring unwanted attention to themselves when they rid their home of the large boxes marked with brand names or pictures of products. This happens frequently during Christmastime. That new flatscreen television box or video game system packaging will scream, “Come steal me!” to criminals. Be mindful and load up boxes and drop them off at a recycling center. This will reduce the eyes on the prize. As well, boxes are one the easiest items to repurpose . On a personal note, I have broken down boxes and used them to create a lasagna-style garden . This cut down on my trash load and helped me create a more sustainable lifestyle.
5. Let there be light! Illuminating the perimeter is single-handedly one of the easiest security measures to take. Simply put, dark or poorly lit areas make it easier for burglars to go unseen. Motion sensing security measures will quickly signal you to trouble if it’s out there. As well, indoor timers for lamps and indoor lighting can help to fool anyone creeping around where they shouldn’t be. Remember, the main goal of burglars is to get in and get out unseen. If they think someone is home, they will think twice before entering.
Everyone wants to believe that they are safe and sound when they latch the windows and lock the doors. With the increase in crime, jobless rates, and increased food prices, home break-ins are likely to be on the rise. Take some incentive to review your family preparedness plans and beef up your home security measures! The investment in your home security will pay off for years to come.
Additional Resources:
Prepper’s Home Defense: Security Strategies to Protect Your Family by Any Means Necessary
The Prepper’s Blueprint: The Step-By-Step Guide To Help You Through Any Disaster
Home Security: Securing the Doors
Home Security: Securing the Windows
Tess Pennington is the author of The Prepper’s Blueprint , a comprehensive guide that uses real-life scenarios to help you prepare for any disaster. Because a crisis rarely stops with a triggering event the aftermath can spiral, having the capacity to cripple our normal ways of life. The well-rounded, multi-layered approach outlined in the Blueprint helps you make sense of a wide array of preparedness concepts through easily digestible action items and supply lists.
Tess is also the author of the highly rated Prepper’s Cookbook , which helps you to create a plan for stocking, organizing and maintaining a proper emergency food supply and includes over 300 recipes for nutritious, delicious, life-saving meals.
Visit her web site at ReadyNutrition.com for an extensive compilation of free information on preparedness, homesteading, and healthy living.
This information has been made available by Ready Nutrition
Originally published November 25th, 2016 10 Cheap Yet Effective Home Security Tips 5 Ways to Better Secure Your Home in an Emergency Seven Great Ways to Keep Your Home Safe for the Holidays They Bound Her Wrists In Duct Tape – What She Did Next… Tips On How To Fortify And Prep Your Home Or Apartment | 1real |
HILLARY VOLUNTEER, Obama Supporter Mocks Ryan Owens’ Widow Carryn For “Standing there and clapping like an idiot” | Speaking of not having a soul..check out this tweet by Hillary volunteer and Obama supporter (Dan Grilo made all of his tweets private, but unfortunately for Dan the Democrat, we took a screen shot):Here s Dan Grilo s Twitter profile. Such a nice Democrat If Democrats keep carrying on with this type of hateful messaging, they ll never see another member of their party holding a pubic office again. | 1real |
TRANSGENDER HIRED BY WHITE HOUSE IS FIRST EVER TO WORK THERE BUT IS HE/SHE THE MOST QUALIFIED FOR THE JOB? | Are we the mutation nation now? Is this person the most qualified for the job or does he/she just fit the agenda to diversify the White House?President Obama has made equality for the LGBT community a priority of his administration, and advocates praised the president for diversifying his White House. Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, who formerly served as a policy advisor at the National Center for Transgender Equality, has been hired as an outreach and recruitment director in the White House Office of Personnel. I am elated that Raffi Freedman-Gurspan will become the first openly transgender staff member at the White House. President Obama has long said he wants his Administration to look like the American people. I have understood this to include transgender Americans, said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. A transgender person was inevitably going to work in the White House. That the first transgender appointee is a transgender woman of color is itself significant. And that the first White House transgender appointee is of a friend is inspiring to me and to countless others who have been touched by Raffi s advocacy. | 1real |
Exclusive — Sen. Rand Paul on Paul Ryan’s Obamacare Lite: Speaker ‘Trying to Pull the Wool Over the Eyes of the President’ - Breitbart | Sen. Rand Paul ( ) a top conservative in the U. S. Senate, unloaded on House Speaker Paul Ryan’s Obamacare 2. 0 replacement plan — that does not repeal Obamacare — in an exclusive interview on Wednesday with Breitbart News. [In the interview, Paul accused Ryan of misleading President Donald Trump on the process and the level of support in the House for the bill that House GOP leadership — at Ryan’s direction — put forward this week. The House Freedom Caucus was publicly against this strategy before Ryan even rolled it out. The group of more than 40 House conservatives remains steadfastly opposed to Ryan’s plan on this front, showing no signs of breaking as they signaled before it was introduced, and now many Republican offices outside the House Freedom Caucus privately tell Breitbart News that as many as 70 or more House Republicans are opposed to Ryan’s plan. Leadership knows this too, they say, as all the “hard no” votes have told the Speaker’s office or the whip teams they cannot vote for this bill. But Ryan is plowing forward, stating at a number of press conferences this week he is confident he will receive the 218 votes he needs to pass the bill — even though he clearly does not have them right now. When asked what Ryan’s strategy is here, Paul told Breitbart News it makes no sense — and that he believes that the Speaker is deliberately misleading President Trump into thinking he has more support for this bill than he has, and that its fate is not in crisis. Paul is confident that conservative House and Senate Republicans will stick together, defeat this bill, and then work with President Trump to separate repeal and replacement into different bills passed on the same day down the road. The fact that Paul is saying Ryan is misleading Trump is an explosive charge, but is backed by the evidence of widespread mistrust in the House GOP conference over this bill and Ryan’s waning influence as Speaker — dislike of it extends far beyond the House Freedom Caucus, as Breitbart News can confirm. Paul told Breitbart News: I don’t think it makes any sense and I think he’s trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the president. I think when I’ve spoken with president Trump, I think he agrees with me that we should repeal and replace but I don’t think he’s stuck on that they have to be in the same bill necessarily. Paul Ryan, I think, is selling it to the White House and telling the White House, ‘Oh, it’s a piece of cake, it’s a done deal.’ And I don’t think that’s an accurate depiction of things. I think from the very beginning combining repeal and replace in one bill makes it very hard because we have different ideas on replace. We are pretty much united on repeal, but we have different ideas on replace. If the House leadership had come forward and talked to conservatives beforehand, I think they would have found out there is a lot of disagreement and they would have just passed what we already passed — what everybody voted for — and we also have a debate on the same day on a variety of replacement strategies. We still could do that. And I think if the House Freedom Caucus and the Senate conservatives stay together, I still think that that’s one possible outcome. It would be better for all of us if we separated it out with clean repeal and had replacement as a separate bill. Discussing my opposition to Obamacare Lite with @mboyle1 @BreitbartNews #cleanrepeal pic. twitter. — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 8, 2017, A senior congressional aide in a House Republican office whose member is not part of the House Freedom Caucus told Breitbart News his boss is also opposed to Ryan’s Obamacare 2. 0, and that there is much more widespread Republican opposition to Ryan’s plan than leadership originally expected. “I think you’re looking at 60 to 70 noes right now on the floor,” the aide told Breitbart News. “The phone lines have been blowing up with opposition to what they’re calling . This is a hell of a Mexican standoff — it’s Freedom Caucus versus Trump, and Ryan who I think is driving the process. Who blinks here? It’s bigger than the Freedom Caucus but the Freedom Caucus has planted their flag on this one. Who’s going to blink first?” A second GOP congressional aide in another Freedom Caucus office told Breitbart News their boss is against it as well, and that Ryan has “way more than 70 not with him. ” These two offices and others that are not part of the Freedom Caucus but are opposed to the legislation told Breitbart News that the only reason they are not publicly coming out against the bill is because they do not wish to create more chaos around this legislation. If Ryan keeps doubling down, and forcing a vote on this, it will get worse, they say. A staffer in a third GOP office with a member not in the Freedom Caucus but opposed to the legislation even said staff is keeping the member off television to avoid getting connected to Ryan’s Obamacare 2. 0. These numbers show that the Speaker has a serious problem inside his conference and has not thought this through. Paul opened his exclusive interview in his U. S. Senate office in the Russell Senate Office Building by explaining exactly what is wrong with Ryan’s Obamacare bill, a bill he calls “Obamacare Lite. ” He said there are four major reasons that Ryan’s bill is wrong specifically that it creates an entitlement program, that it does not effectively handle Obamacare taxes and even keeps the Cadillac Tax indefinitely, the keeping of Obamacare’s individual mandate, and the keeping of Obamacare’s risk corridors — but simply renaming them. Paul told Breitbart News: I think the reason why the House leadership bill is Obamacare Lite is because it retains subsidies. Obamacare had subsidies for people to buy insurance. In the Paul Ryan bill, they keep the subsidies — they just call them refundable tax credits. Some people are predicting that it’s actually going to be more expensive than the subsidies we have under Obamacare. This isn’t you getting your own money back, this is you getting somebody else’s money. So, a family that makes $30, 000 a year could actually get $14, 000 that they didn’t pay. Let’s say they paid zero in income tax, they could get $14, 000 back. One, we don’t have the money — it’s a new entitlement program and two, if you get $14, 000 back do you think the insurance company is ever going to sell insurance for less than $14, 000? That becomes the floor. So, it actually pushes insurance rates up — it doesn’t allow insurance rates to fall. So, that doesn’t allow insurance rates to fall and it sets up a new entitlement. The second thing that Paul Ryan’s Obamacare Lite bill does is they keep the Obamacare taxes — all of them — for a year. And then after a year, they keep the Cadillac Tax forever. That’s the tax on if you have really good insurance, Obamacare taxes that. So will Paul Ryan’s plan. The third thing they do that is is they keep the individual mandate. It seems like every Republican says they were against the individual mandate. That’s if you didn’t buy insurance you had to pay a penalty to the government, a tax. Obamacare Lite, Paul Ryan’s plan, just changes it so you have to pay a penalty to the insurance companies. I consider that to still be a mandate that isn’t consistent with those of us who want less government involvement. So they keep the subsidies, they keep the taxes, and then they keep the mandate. Then the fourth thing they do is they actually subsidize the insurance companies. Right now, insurance companies are losing money and Obamacare has this rescue thing called ‘risk corridors’ to bail out the insurance companies. Paul Ryan has got the same thing, he just calls it reinsurance and it’s $100 million worth. I predict that might not even be enough. So I don’t like any of it. Now, I do think we agree as Republicans on repeal. But I don’t think we agree on the replacement. That’s why I say we should separate them, vote on repeal and then vote the same day on a separate bill that’s called replace. Paul specifically told Breitbart News more about the argument that Ryan’s bill creates an additional entitlement program. He said that, while the House GOP leadership calls it a “refundable tax credit,” it functions in much the same way as Obamacare’s subsidies. Paul said: It’s called a refundable tax credit and I think it’s the same as subsidies. What it is is if you pay nothing in income tax, when you get to the end of the year and you didn’t owe anything in income tax, you can get up to $14, 000 back from the government. But the government doesn’t have any money. So it’s just like Obamacare, they put the subsidies at the federal government level. We’re actually $20 trillion in debt, we’re running a $500 billion deficit, we borrow a million dollars a minute. We don’t have any money to give anybody. So even if everybody said ‘oh we have to give people money and we should keep the Medicaid expansion and all that,’ someone should be honest about it and find where is the money going to come from. So, for example, that’s one of my complaints about Obamacare in general is that it’s a dishonest accounting. They said poor people need help. I agree. I want to help them by lowering the price of their insurance. But they said ‘no, no we want to give them dollars for Medicaid expansion and to buy insurance with subsidies.’ The problem is there is no money to give them so we just add to the deficit. The main thing driving the deficit up here are the entitlements. So I think Paul Ryan’s refundable tax credits are just a new entitlement program. Paul also said he believes the concern — confirmed by Rep. Buddy Carter ( ) a proponent of Obamacare 2. 0, on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight on Tuesday evening — that illegal aliens will have access to Medicaid funds under Ryan’s bill is in fact a “valid concern. ” “I think that is a concern — a valid concern,” Paul told Breitbart News. “And I don’t think illegal immigrants — nor do I think we should be admitting people and putting them on welfare. We have enough poor people in our country without importing more people from around the world onto welfare. ” When asked if it is too late for Ryan to withdraw this bill and approach repealing and replacing Obamacare in a manner Republicans campaigned on for years, rather than in this convoluted way, Paul said: “No, I don’t think so. ” And Paul believes that President Trump will be willing to bargain, given the fact that Ryan’s bill is unlikely to pass either chamber of Congress, according to many Republicans . “President Trump has indicated look, his career in business has been about negotiating deals,” Paul said. “My guess is he realizes this is going to take some negotiation. He seems to be very open to hearing from conservatives. He’s been inviting my input and I’m aware he’s been inviting input from different members of the House Freedom Caucus as well. ” Paul also said that the goal here is not to kill any person’s bill or stop repeal of Obamacare — and that Ryan’s recklessness jeopardizes GOP chances to repeal and replace Obamacare. “The goal is to get one that passes,” Paul said. “I think they’re going in the wrong direction, but I think a clean repeal could pass again. ” When asked if President Trump is more open to the withdrawing of the leadership bill for his suggested approach to repealing and replacing Obamacare, Paul told Breitbart News: “I think so. ” If Trump begins listening to conservatives, he argues, then he believes the president will change course and drop Ryan’s bill for one that has a better chance at success. Paul added: I think what has to happen, and this is just beginning is that conservatives need to get in front of the president. So far it’s been leadership, which are mostly the establishment Republicans. I just think he needs to hear from some conservatives and he will realize there are many different issues. I think he does realize there are many different issues and many different factions out there. It’s complicated. You got to get them all on one page for one bill. It happened 14 months ago, we all voted for clean repeal. So I think there’s at least some evidence people will vote for a clean repeal bill. Paul said that Republicans should pass a clean repeal bill and a replacement bill all on the same day, but he does not believe Ryan’s vision for Obamacare replacement is one that can gain widespread support inside the Republican Party. “Everybody wants repeal and that’s what I keep telling people,” Paul said. “We’re united on repeal, we’re just not united on the replacement part. To me, it makes evidently good sense to divide them, because I don’t think we’re coming to an agreement. If Paul Ryan were sitting right here with us, I don’t think we’d have an agreement on replace, nor do I think we will, because his ideas are Obamacare Lite and conservatives in this country just aren’t for that. ” Trump is reportedly heading to Kentucky this weekend as part of what seems to be a feckless effort to pressure Paul into backing down. It comes after Trump Tweeted at Paul on Tuesday evening. I feel sure that my friend @RandPaul will come along with the new and great health care program because he knows Obamacare is a disaster! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 8, 2017, While Paul said he welcomes the president to Kentucky if he is indeed headed there, and that he supports the president on a number of fronts, he will not back down when it comes to battling Obamacare and fighting to repeal and replace the healthcare law. Paul told Breitbart News: We welcome the president to Kentucky. He’s very popular in Kentucky. And one of the reasons he’s very popular is he has said he will fight for the families who work in the coal mines. The first regulation we repealed was something that would have hurt our coal miners even more and I went to the White House and supported the president on that. I’ve supported the president on the overwhelmingly conservative cabinet that he’s put forward. I’ve supported the president on really, virtually every issue so far so I think we actually have a good relationship and I think there’s a possibility for continued negotiation with him. The grassroots Americans who propelled Trump into the White House after electing Paul to the U. S. Senate in 2010 and again in 2016 — as well as powering GOP majorities in the House and Senate — are with him and the conservatives, Paul said. The grassroots nationwide are not with Ryan and the leadership plan. He went on to say: I think this is big, and I think it becomes bigger over time as the more people hear about it and the more people begin to talk about it. When the Tea Party movement started back in 2009, we had hundreds of thousands of people showing up mostly unhappy with Obamacare. When they find out that the House leadership wants to keep part of Obamacare, they’re going to be livid. So every day they’re hearing about it and every day I think the voice is going to become stronger. But I still think there’s common ground. I think Republicans by and large have been for repeal. Let’s just do a repeal bill. ” And Paul is slightly shocked that Republicans have not thought this through more clearly when they have had seven years to get here. He said, “Some of us did think we had a thought through strategy because we voted on it 14 months ago. We thought we were going to get the same thing. And I think it would have been very easy for leadership on both sides — House and Senate — alright guys, men and women, we voted on this once and we’re going to do it again. Then we’ll come up with ideas for replacement strategies. I think in some ways they just got a little bit ahead of themselves by thinking ‘oh, we’ll just stick all these replacement ideas in the repeal package’ which would be fine if they were replacement strategies we all agree on like health savings accounts. We all agree on that. Stick that in there, I’m fine with that. Get rid of some of the regulations, I’m fine with that. But I’m just not fine with creating new government programs. And I don’t think conservatives are going to back down on this. Conservatives are going to say, look, if you guys want that I think it’s going to have to be a separate vote. ” | 0fake |
White House says U.S. values deeply special relationship with UK | ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama did not mean to be critical of British Prime Minister David Cameron about Libya policy in an article published this week in The Atlantic magazine, a White House spokesman said on Friday. Obama told The Atlantic in the piece that some European allies had become passive regarding chaos in Libya and Cameron had become “distracted by a range of other things.” Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, said the United States “values deeply the special relationship” with the United Kingdom and shares responsibility to deal with chaos in Libya. After Libya’s 2011 uprising, the country faces a power vacuum and is threatened by Islamic State militants. | 0fake |
Cuba Confiscates Toys from Christians Looking to Celebrate Feast of Epiphany - Breitbart | Cuban police stormed into the home of Leticia Ramos Herrería, a member of the Ladies in White dissident group, and confiscated toys the group had collected to distribute in celebration of the Christian feast day of Epiphany. [“Police executed an operation at the home of Leticia Ramos Herrería without her being present and took all the toys away that she had bought to distribute to more than 200 children this Three Kings’ Day,” according to Cuba’s dissident leader Martha Beatriz Roque, using another name common for the holiday. “They took everything,” Berta Soler, the head of the Ladies in White group, lamented to Martí Noticias. The Diario de Cuba adds that two of Ramo Herrería’s relatives, her son and brother, were beaten during the siege on her home. While Epiphany is a holiday, Latin American Catholics and Spaniards hold special celebrations on January 6, the twelfth day of Christmas. The celebration is intended to observe the arrival of the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. As the wise men brought gifts with them to the manger, it is traditional to give children toys as presents on this day. The Ladies in White are a group of mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives of Cuban prisoners of conscience. They are a Catholic group, and their main act of protest is to attend Catholic Mass on Sundays dressed in white, then silently march home holding photos of their loved ones, imprisoned for their opposition to Communism. They are not alone in openly celebrating Epiphany as a symbolic protest — the family of Danilo Maldonado Machado, an artist known more commonly as “El Sexto,” organized a party for local Havana children on Friday and shared cake and a piñata with them. Maldonado was arrested in November for publicly celebrating the death of dictator Fidel Castro on the streets of Havana. His mother says Cuban police have assaulted him on multiple occasions while in custody, denying him medication to control his asthma. Maldonado was moved to a maximum security prison after repeatedly shouting, “down with Castro,” from his prison cell. He has yet to be charged with a crime. As with most Catholic holidays, the Cuban Communist Party did away with Three Kings’ Day early in its tenure. According to the Diario de Cuba, the Castro regime only reinstated a version of Three Kings’ Day in the 1990s: Children’s Day, a secular holiday in July meant to combat the influence of a resurgence in Christmas celebrations organized by the Spanish embassy in the country. Private acts of Christian celebration are still subject to censure, however, as in the case of the Ladies in White toy drive. In another instance of Christian oppression, a man was arrested in 2015 for organizing an inflatable Santa Claus display in Havana. January 6 continues to be a day of celebration, however, and parents do attempt to purchase toys to give their children. Cuba boasts few toy stores, however, with limited supplies at exorbitant prices. An employee of one Cuban toy store estimated to Cubanet that toy prices typically triple shortly before the holiday. While many dissidents adhere to the Christian faith, the Vatican has largely done little to aid their work to liberate the island. Some priests have banned the Ladies in White from attending their Masses, while Pope Francis met with Fidel Castro before his death and called the nonagenarian’s overdue demise “sad news” in a condolence missive to dictator Raúl Castro. | 0fake |
CUCKOO! BERNIE SANDERS SUPPORTER Gets Hammered By Stuart Varney! [Video] | Stuart Varney hammers a cuckoo super delegate for Bernie Sanders after she spouts off about the freebies she ll get if Sanders is elected president. | 1real |
A New Email Investigation on Clinton Could Hasten the Democratic Party's Demise | 20 Shares
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The two-party corporate duopoly remains mired in crisis in the closing days of the 2016 Presidential elections. Donald Trump's virtual hijacking of the Republican Party has stripped the competition between the two dominant sections of the ruling class down to its most naked form. The corporate media's non-stop coverage of Trump was supposed to legitimize the candidacy of Hillary Clinton and rake in enormous profits for the monopoly outlets. The eyes of the rich have been on Hillary Clinton to rescue the two-party system from the danger of Donald Trump. However, thanks to WikiLeaks, Hillary Clinton appears poised to take the Democratic Party down its own path of destruction.
The FBI announcement that it will reopen the investigation of Clinton's private email server has significantly eroded the momentum of the Democratic Party campaign. Trump appeared finished by the end of the third Presidential debate. His campaign was mired in sexual assault allegations and media inquiries into possible tax evasion. The billionaire white nationalist has suddenly found himself within one point of Hillary Clinton in recent polls. No matter how many traps Trump falls into or how vile his campaign rhetoric, Clinton has proven that no amount of Trump debauchery can save her from her political record.
Unfortunately, the email scandal has been subject to the limitations of corporate media coverage. The threat to "national security" has been cited as the number one issue with Clinton's breach of State Department privacy. Indeed, Clinton did break the law and from this framework it is no doubt appropriate that she face the consequences. But under imperialism, where billions of people are exploited for the profits of monopoly corporations, the legitimacy of ruling class law is of little worth to the vast majority of humanity. What matters is the content of the emails themselves. The emails reveal that the current conditions of the imperialist system have thrown the two-party system into a permanent crisis of legitimacy.
The first batch of emails dumped by WikiLeaks exposed how US imperialism serves the masters of war and capital. The initial emails proved that Clinton destabilized Libya in 2011 in order to stop the Gaddafi-led government from instituting an independent gold currency across the African continent . The emails also exposed that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) spent copious amounts of time deriding the Sanders campaign . Another batch of emails further damaged the Clinton cache with contents from her speeches to the big banks. It was in these speeches where she told Wall Street that she takes a different position in public than she does in private. In private, Clinton serenaded the ears of the rich with her desires to privatize Social Security and create a "hemispheric common market."
The emails have not been the only development that has soured Clinton's election campaign. The Obama Administration announced in late October that premiums for the Affordable Care Act market-based exchanges are set to increase by 25 percent next year . Bill Clinton also made negative headlines through a leaked memo that revealed the former President utilized the Clinton Foundation to make profitable deals with private corporations . In other words, the Democratic Party has been unable to avoid looking like the corporate servant and imperialist party it always has been. With less than a month left until voting day, a Clinton victory is anything but secure.
MORE... The banana republic of America: Democracy be damned To the Superdelegates: Stand tall in statesmanship! Anointment of Hillary Clinton exposes a democracy that never was Democratic Party ignored its 2012 platform There are some in the US who believe that the demise of the Democratic Party will be a bad thing. Clinton has fewer staunch supporters among working people than she does individuals who are willing to hold their nose for Clinton in order to avoid a Trump Presidency. However, the stench emanating from the Clinton camp is becoming unbearable. Her campaign's reliance on anti-Putin Russophobia threatens World War. Her policy record is equally, if not more deplorable, than Donald Trump's capitalist, racist, and misogynistic machinations. The new email investigation could be the first nail of many to come in the Democratic Party coffin.
However, the fear of Trump is deeply embedded into the psyche of a large section of American voters. The corporate media has constantly fed many of her lies and suspicions to the masses. One of these myths is the alleged WikiLeaks-Russia-Trump alliance. No such alliance exists. Neither Putin nor WikiLeaks has announced any sort of allegiance to Trump. Putin has simply commented on Trump's advocacy of a US-Russian partnership was a "smart" thing to say. Furthermore, Julian Assange has denied publicly that Trump would somehow present a better option than Hillary Clinton. But the truth matters little in a political environment that equates opposition to Clinton with support for Trump.
Clinton has turned the Russian blame game toward the FBI. In a campaign speech, Clinton insinuated that the FBI is hiding information regarding the Putin-Trump alliance. Her claims were promptly proved false . Such remarks may cause more damage to an already unpopular campaign. US intelligence agencies are powerful institutions that current and future Presidents must curry the favor of to achieve the objectives of US imperialism. When President John F. Kennedy signaled that he wanted to break the CIA into a "thousand pieces," he was assassinated shortly thereafter. It was revealed last year that the CIA was heavily involved in the cover-up of its involvement in his murder. US intelligence is thus the wrong crowd for a future US President to anger, especially given the vast surveillance apparatus now at its disposal.
Speculation aside, the Clinton campaign emails present useful information on the depth of US imperialism’s crisis. US imperialism has been mired in a period of stagnant economic growth and endless war for decades. It was only a matter of time before this crisis would express itself through its electoral system. Never has it been clearer that the two corporate parties in front of US imperial policy work solely for the ruling class. The task now is to utilize the developments of this election cycle in service of the people. That means shedding all fear of what the results of the election will be and basing our action on principles instead. | 1real |
REPORT: ‘Federal Government Escalated the Violence in Oregon’ | KILLED: Rancher and protest spokesman Robert Lavoy Finicum (Image Source: RT International)21st Century Wire says New eye witness testimony indicates that the FBI and other federal agencies were never fired upon, but have shot and killed leading protester, Robert Lavoy Finicum, and wounding one other in a elaborate operation that took place along a rural highway near Burns, Oregon.For 26 days since the protest and occupation began at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge outside of Burns, Oregon there were no one was hurt and there were no injuries. That all changed early Tuesday evening when the FBI and Oregon State Police raised the ante, bringing the 4 week standoff to a dramatic ending.As detailed in yesterday s report, according to 18 yr old passenger and eyewitness, Victoria Sharp, dozens of federal vehicles and armed agents had set-up a pre-positioned roadblocks along an isolated stretch of rural Highway 395 before intercepting two vehicles and firing upon one of them, killing rancher and protest spokesman, Robert Lavoy Finicum, from Chino Valley, Arizona, and wounding Ryan Bundy of Bunkerville, Nevada.A total of 8 persons were detained, 5 of whom were charged with conspiracy to impede federal officers and are waiting arraignment.21WIRE journalist Patrick Henningsen weighs in on the situation in Oregon and discusses its implications with news anchor Rory Suchet from RT International. Watch: UPDATE 1-28-2016 at 11:30PM ET: Due to public pressure and intense speculation about the events of Tuesday evening, and because of the YouTube recording of 18 yr old eye witness Victoria Sharp, the FBI has released the unedited aerial video footage from Tuesday evening s incident which took place along Highway 395 here. According to the official FBI statement: We feel that it is necessary to show the whole thing unedited in the interest of transparency. The FBI video entitled, Complete, Unedited Video of Joint FBI and OSP Operation 01/26/2016 , does show the victim Lavoy Finicum exiting the truck awkwardly in at least two feet of snow, and he clearly does not charge towards the SWAT team, and his hands are clearly held high above his head as he exits his truck when confronted by a SWAT team, before being shot multiple times by marksmen and falling in the snow. Also, the scale and size of this operation is very evident by the footage, and the apprehension of the protesters was not the result of a mere traffic stop as it was wrongly characterized in multiple mainstream media reports. On its own, this FBI drone footage would appear to support previous government and media claims by CNN, Washington Post and others that the victim was indeed reaching towards his waistband which gave federal and state police justification to unleash deadly force. However, it is still not completely clear from this aerial footage whether or not Finicum was holstered (he is said to normally carry a gun on the right hip, but FBI are claiming he had a 9mm gun in his inside left breast pocket), but also whether or not he lowered his arms before, or after he was shot multiple times. For example, if Finicum had his hands in the air and was then was shot in the abdomen first, then any man s natural reaction would be to then lower his hand(s) and clutch the wound. Additionally, if any shots were fired, even in the vicinity, then confusion could have ensued which might have prompted Finicum to reach for his weapon. Either way, it is impossible to make any such a forensic determination without a corresponding audio track which would help to determine if any shots were fired before Finicum s hand(s) could be seen lowering.WARNING: The following images depict violence and death which some readers may find disturbing. Watch: SEE MORE OREGON STANDOFF NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Oregon Standoff Files | 1real |
Catalan separatists take to the streets ahead of referendum | BARCELONA (Reuters) - Demonstrators calling for Catalan independence gathered in hundreds of towns across the region on Sunday following Madrid s actions last week to try to block a referendum on self rule that it considers illegal. Spanish police have arrested Catalan officials who were involved in organizing the Oct. 1 vote and they also seized electoral material, including ballot papers and ballot boxes. This led to several days of protests in Barcelona. But Carles Puigdemont, the head of the Catalan regional government, has said the referendum will go ahead. Several thousand protesters gathered in central Barcelona on Sunday chanting We will vote! and handing out ballot papers. The crowds began whistling and booing a police helicopter during speeches by the protest organizers, showing growing anger among the referendum supporters about the increased police presence. Between 3,000 and 4,000 state police officers from other regions of Spain have arrived or are on their way to Catalonia. We feel occupied by the Spanish police, 56-year-old interior designer Nuria Gimenez said. We ve been protesting for 10 years, we re not going to stop now with one week to go. We need to keep going until the end. On Saturday, the state prosecutor in Catalonia told all local and national police forces they would be placed temporarily under a single chain of command and report directly to the interior ministry in Madrid. The Catalan government initially said it would refuse the order, though the head of the Catalan regional police, known as the Mossos d Esquadra, later said he would comply with prosecutors. Speaking to the crowd in Barcelona, president of the Catalan Parliament Carme Forcadell said that separatists must resist provocations by the central government. They see violence in Catalonia. There has been none, nor will there be. We are a peaceful people and all we want is to exercise our rights, Forcadell said. Although polls show less than half of Catalonia s 5.5 million voters want self-rule, most in the wealthy northeastern region want the chance to vote on the issue. | 0fake |
North Dakota Arrests 10 as Pipeline Protest Camp Empties - The New York Times | CANNON BALL, N. D. — The fires burned for hours on the flat, muddy landscape, their thick smoke rising through snowflakes that tumbled to the ground. Someone rode a snowmobile across the dirt, and others moved their belongings to the side of a rural highway. The police gathered, prepared to follow the governor’s order to clear people from this rural part of the state. But the Wednesday afternoon deadline for protesters of the Dakota Access oil pipeline to empty their largest encampment passed with far more uncertainty than unrest. In the hours after the deadline, the authorities made 10 arrests but said they would not fully empty the camp on Wednesday night. Roughly 25 to 50 demonstrators were believed to remain in the mandatory evacuation zone, said Gov. Doug Burgum, who said cleaning crews planned to enter the camp Thursday morning. “Anyone who obstructs our ability to do cleanup will be subject to arrest,” Mr. Burgum said. The scene here, about an hour’s drive south of Bismarck, the state capital, seemed to represent a muffled end to a specific and passionate protest that drew thousands of demonstrators and became central to the national debate about energy, the environment and the rights of Native Americans. Protesters argued that the nearly completed pipeline, now moving ahead with the support of President Trump’s administration, could imperil the drinking water supply on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. “We won,” said Vanessa Red Bull, 54, who has spent months here. “We slowed that pipeline down months and months and months. We cost them who knows how much money. And we slowed them down. ” She added, “This has been a multilayered event that has brought attention to glaring issues. ” Ms. Red Bull and her allies won a brief victory last year, when the Army Corps of Engineers said in the waning days of the Obama administration that it would conduct an environmental impact study before allowing the pipeline to cross Lake Oahe, the Missouri River reservoir near the encampment. But the beginning of the Trump administration brought a swift and substantial defeat: an instruction that the Army abort its study, a decision that allowed construction to resume. Barring court intervention, oil from the Bakken fields in western North Dakota could flow through the pipeline this spring. But on Wednesday, the matter at hand was what to do with the encampment, which had become an abiding and, for some, spiritual symbol of activism. State officials cited fears of flooding for the governor’s decision last week to order a mandatory evacuation of the site. “It’s time for protesters to either go home, or move to a legal site where they can peaceably continue their activities without risk of further harm to the environment,” the North Dakota attorney general, Wayne Stenehjem, said in a statement. Officials said that trash at the protest camps would pose an ecological risk if it were washed downstream by flooding, and that urgent cleanup was necessary. Both sides have accused the other of escalating tension and engaging in violence since the protest started last year as a decidedly local affair. The camps ultimately swelled to thousands in the summer and fall, with Native Americans and supporters from across the country gathering in spirited opposition and setting up a makeshift society in the camps, complete with cooking tents and supply areas. But on Wednesday, months of tension mostly gave way to a somber calm as demonstrators left and a cold rain turned to snow. Some protesters set fire to semipermanent structures before the 2 p. m. deadline. “It’s an act of defiance,” Nick Cowan, 25, said as he watched a fire burn on Wednesday after living here for more than two months. “It’s saying: ‘If you are going to make us leave our home, you cannot take our space. We’ll burn it to the ground and let the earth take it back before you take it from us. ’” Two youths were injured at the camp Wednesday, apparently from the fires, officials said, including a teenage girl who was hospitalized with severe burns. North Dakota officials offered meals, lodging, a medical exam and a bus ticket to anywhere in the 48 contiguous states for protesters who left by Wednesday afternoon but needed help getting home. That approach was at odds with events of recent months, when the demonstrators sporadically clashed with the police, leading to the activation of the North Dakota National Guard and hundreds of arrests. The police sometimes used tear gas and rubber bullets. The North Dakota Guard said on Wednesday that it had spent more than $8 million responding to the protest since August. Despite the lingering frustrations, tensions seemed to have eased in recent weeks as the ranks of demonstrators declined during the harsh winter. Dave Archambault II, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which has sued seeking to block the pipeline construction, urged protesters to go home. On Wednesday, many of them did. “I think people are saying goodbye,” said Ms. Red Bull, who spent about six months here. “I think that’s why people are setting things on fire: as a way of a last homage to what had become many people’s homes. A community was here. ” | 0fake |
Police fire tear gas at Congo opposition leader's supporters | KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas to disperse supporters of Democratic Republic of Congo s opposition chief on Sunday as they gathered in the capital amid high tensions over election delays keeping President Joseph Kabila in power, a Reuters witness said. Felix Tshisekedi, head of an opposition coalition, is due to fly back to the capital Kinshasa on Sunday after a prolonged absence abroad. Around a dozen supporters had gathered at his family residences in the morning, although there was no sign of violence. Tshisekedi intends to call for a civil disobedience campaign in order to pressure Kabila, whose mandate expired last year, to step aside. Congolese authorities banned the coalition s planned meeting on Sunday, citing a risk of violence in the Central African country of more than 70 million people. | 0fake |
Comment on How Smartphone Light Affects Your Brain & Body (Infographic) by 5 Ways You Can Start Feeling Better About Yourself Right Now – Collective Evolution | Share on Facebook Share on Twitter You might not know this, but your smartphone emits a bright blue light which allows you to read what’s on the screen even during the brightest points of the day. But the light doesn’t turn off or adjust according to the hour of the day; it’s continually emitted, not only by our smartphones, but by our laptops, televisions, and other devices as well. The problem is that this light, which mimics the brightness of the sun, confuses your brain into thinking it’s daytime, even during the dead of night. This in turn stops your brain from releasing melatonin, the hormone which induces sleep, and prevents you from falling asleep. This is why experts recommend to turn off all screens at least two hours before bed. Melatonin is released by a tiny organ in your brain called the pineal gland a couple of hours prior to sleep. The science of why the blue light emitted by mobile devices keeps people awake has led to the discovery of a photoreceptor called Melanopsin. Though we’ve long been familiar with the various cones and rods that construct our vision, Melanopsin was discovered recently in retinal ganglion cells, which are sensitive to blue light. Since then, experimental research has found that the average person using mobile devices before bed may have difficulty falling and/or staying asleep. The impact of blue light is even more significant for teenagers, who are more vulnerable to the effects of light than adults. This is because circadian rhythm naturally shifts during adolescence, causing teenagers to feel more awake late into the night. Starting up a video game or television show just before bedtime could be enough to push sleepiness away for another hour or two, making early mornings particularly difficult. Blue Light Isn’t The Only Concern Dr. Martin Blank from the Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at Colombia University has joined a group of scientists from around the world who are making an international appeal to the United Nations regarding the dangers associated with various electromagnetic emitting devices, like cellphones and WiFi. Keep Evolving Your Consciousness Inspiration and all our best content, straight to your inbox. There are multiple concerns with these devices, including their link to cancer. More concerning still is the fact that a child’s brain absorbs up to four times as much radiation as that of an adult, and children today are growing up with these devices in hand. You can read more details about this HERE . Our love for our screens is in itself a problem. In China, screen addiction is actually considered a clinical disorder, and as a result a number of rehabilitation centres have been established where young people addicted to screens are completely isolated from all media. Although the success of these treatment centres has yet to be established, their necessity paints a dark picture of the technological age in which we live. ( source ) What You Can Do The first thing you can do is limit your screen time before bed, turning all screens off at least two hours before you plan to fall asleep. This is the perfect time to catch up on your reading. You can also download an app called f.lux, which adjusts the colour of your computer’s display to the time of day — warm at night and brighter during the day — and cuts the blue light being emitted. There are similar apps for phones as well. All of us here at CE use these apps and have really noticed an improvement in our sleep quality. HERE is a page from their website that provides more research into what staring at screens can do to your sleep, as well as the science behind the f.lux app. Regardless of whether you are worried about your sleep, we can all benefit from a daily break from our smartphones and other screens.
The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle.
You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here.
"If “Survivor” was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and “The Sacred Science” hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group." - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune | 1real |
Trump Leans on Carrier to Keep 2,000 U.S. Jobs From Moving to Mexico - The New York Times | The value of the bully pulpit of the president of the United States can’t be measured on a corporate spreadsheet or the Excel file of a Wall Street analyst. But as Donald J. Trump tries to stop Carrier from moving more than 2, 000 jobs to Mexico, the company is learning that the pulpit can be powerful indeed. Carrier, in the middle of negotiations with the incoming administration, may end up keeping some of the jobs in Indiana. In exchange, the incoming administration could ease up on regulation for businesses and cool campaign rhetoric on imposing tariffs. Officials familiar with the situation, who insisted on anonymity because talks were still underway, described the discussion on Friday as a negotiation, with both sides seeking a compromise. Carrier and its corporate parent, United Technologies, confirmed on Thursday that executives were in discussions about the fate of two factories in Indiana scheduled to shut down, not long after Mr. Trump posted on Twitter that he was “working hard, even on Thanksgiving,” to get Carrier to stay. “Making progress,” he added, in all capital letters. For both Mr. Trump and the company, the stakes are huge. His promise to reverse trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement, or Nafta, and bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States was critical in taking the Rust Belt out of the Democratic column and winning the White House. “Trump cannot afford to back down on this one,” said Robert Dilenschneider, a veteran public relations executive who advises companies and chief executives on strategic communications. “He prides himself on the art of the deal, and he’s going to make Carrier an offer they can’t refuse. ” “It’s a hallmark case and if Trump can win it, which I think he will, it will send a message to every single American company that’s thinking of going offshore,” Mr. Dilenschneider added. For the company, the costs of defying the are at least as high, if not higher, and may well outweigh the tens of millions of dollars to be saved by relocating production to Monterrey, Mexico, from Indiana. United Technologies is among the country’s biggest military contractors, producing engines for the Pentagon’s most advanced fighter jets and receiving more than $5 billion annually from the federal government. That equals 10 percent of the company’s revenue. The size of the federal government’s dealings with United Technologies has also caught the eye of legislators on Capitol Hill, like Senator Joe Donnelly, Democrat of Indiana. “It’s unfair to ask the same workers who have been laid off to pay tax dollars that will go to the company that fired them,” he said. “We’re in this together as Americans. When our workers succeed, our economy succeeds and our defense contractors succeed. ” Senator Donnelly is pushing for the government to consider outsourcing as a factor in deciding which companies receive federal contracts. Kenneth G. a professor of labor and employment law at the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University, said he also thought that Mr. Trump “could get a win here,” adding, “Because they are a defense contractor, the federal government has some leverage. ” “Whether he can do something that benefits the working class in general is a different story,” he said. “The underlying problems are very hard to address. Trying to hold back the economic tide of automation, and the loss of manufacturing jobs, is something I’m not sure anybody can do. ” While Carrier is best known for its it also sells a variety of other heating and cooling equipment for homes and small businesses, like the furnaces and fan coils made at the Indianapolis factory. And as a business, Carrier is much more vulnerable to public pressure than firms that primarily deal with other businesses, said Barbara J. Fick, a professor of law at Notre Dame Law School. She noted that not far from Notre Dame’s campus, at a plant in South Bend, Honeywell has been engaged in a bitter standoff since May with employees represented by the United Automobile Workers. “Honeywell doesn’t make a lot of things you can boycott,” Ms. Fick said. “It’s mostly . To the extent that Carrier makes and furnaces, you can hit them with the pocketbook. ” Although Carrier workers in Indianapolis say management at the factory has been traveling back and forth to Mexico in recent months, with Mexican engineers measuring machines that are expected to be transported to Monterrey, there is plenty of time for the company to change course. In a presentation this week, Carrier’s management told employees that the fan coil line would be the first to close in eliminating 300 to 400 jobs. But as that line closes, about 100 jobs will be saved temporarily by the creation of a new night shift making furnaces. furnace production is not set to end until to late 2018, while the final line to close, furnaces, won’t he shuttered until early 2019. That staggered schedule has given workers some hope that if a compromise between the new administration and the company does emerge, it may revolve around keeping the gas furnace production lines open, even if a smaller number of jobs are relocated to Mexico in the meantime. If a deal was reached, it could also help set the tone for a Trump presidency in terms of corporate America, Mr. Dilenschneider said. Much as Ronald Reagan’s decision to fire striking air traffic controllers in 1981 signaled to organized labor that political momentum was no longer on their side, keeping Carrier in Indiana would show that a Republican president was willing to stand up to corporate America. There are signs that Mr. Trump is already eager to show just that. This month, he took credit for Ford’s decision to keep Lincoln production in Kentucky, although it is not clear that any Ford jobs at the Louisville plant were actually in danger of going to Mexico. “It doesn’t make any difference who the president is,” Mr. Dilenschneider said. “If the president of the United States says, ‘Do it,’ you’ve got to give it some very serious thought. ” | 0fake |
Pope Francis Takes 12 Refugees Back to Vatican After Trip to Greece - The New York Times | MYTILENE, Greece — Pope Francis made an emotional visit into the heart of Europe’s migrant crisis on Saturday and took 12 Muslim refugees from Syria, including six children, with him back to Rome aboard the papal plane. The action punctuated the pope’s pleas for sympathy to the crisis confronting the refugees just as European attitudes are hardening against them. Those taken to Rome were three families — two from Damascus and one from Deir — whose homes had been bombed in the Syrian war, the Vatican said in a statement as the pope departed the Greek island of Lesbos, where he had visited the Moria refugee camp. “The pope has desired to make a gesture of welcome regarding refugees,” the statement said. The announcement capped a brief trip by the pope to Greece that again placed the plight of migrants at the center of his papacy. “We have come to call the attention of the world to this grave humanitarian crisis and to plead for its resolution,” Francis said during a lunchtime visit to the Moria camp, where leaders of Eastern Orthodox Christian churches joined him. “As people of faith, we wish to join our voices to speak out on your behalf,” Francis continued. “We hope that the world will heed these scenes of tragic and indeed desperate need, and respond in a way worthy of our common humanity. ” While the announcement had the appearance of a surprise, Francis told reporters on the plane ride home that the relocation of the refugees had involved planning and paperwork by the governments of the Vatican, Italy and Greece. In Rome, the Catholic charitable association Sant’Egidio will help care for the families and try to find them work. The pope did not explain how the families had been chosen, but said: “They are guests of the Vatican. ” Francis also showed reporters two drawings given to him by children in the Moria camp. One showed children drowning in the sea. The other showed the sun crying. “The children have these things in their minds, and it will take time before these memories go away,” the pope said. “If the sun is able to cry, so can we. A tear will do us good. ” While papal visits to refugee camps are not new, religious scholars said Francis’ rescue of the 12 Syrians sent an important signal that reflected his long history of affinity with the world’s most vulnerable, dating to his roots as a Jesuit priest in Argentina. “Welcoming the stranger is the heart of the Christian message,” said Charles Camosy, a professor of Christian ethics at Fordham University in New York. While Francis is often seen as a progressive pope, Mr. Camosy said, he also is “pushing a more traditional understanding of what Christianity is all about. ” Francis’ first papal trip in 2013 was to the Italian island of Lampedusa, to call attention to the refugees who were arriving there from Libya — or drowning before they reached shore. During his February visit to Mexico, Francis prayed beneath a large cross erected in Ciudad Juárez, just footsteps from the border with the United States, and then celebrated Mass nearby, where he spoke about immigrants. Upon landing in Lesbos on Saturday, Francis held a brief private meeting with Greece’s prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, before traveling across the island to the detention center in Moria, where people are held as they await rulings on their asylum applications — or as they wait to be deported under a recent agreement struck between the European Union and Turkey to curb migration. Beginning last summer, hundreds of thousands of migrants, mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, have poured into Lesbos after paying smugglers to make the short sea journey from Turkey. The procession through Greece and the Balkans toward Germany plunged the European Union into a political crisis and eventually led several countries to restrict or close their borders. The deal with Turkey includes a provision under which migrants arriving in Greece can be swiftly deported back to Turkey. Since the deal took effect last month, the number of migrants arriving in Lesbos has dropped sharply (even as the numbers arriving in Italy are steadily rising). Critics say the agreement has trampled on the civil rights of refugees fleeing war and betrayed the ideals of the European Union. At the migrants camp, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world’s Eastern Orthodox Christians, reminded Europeans and their leaders that Christians and others are judged on how they treat the powerless. “The world will be judged by the way it has treated you,” Bartholomew told the refugees. “And we will all be accountable for the way we respond to the crisis and conflict in the regions that you come from. The Mediterranean Sea should not be a tomb. ” Thousands of migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean, including a young child whose limp body washed ashore last year on the Turkish coast. A photograph of the child became a searing icon of the refugee crisis. “I hope that we never see children washing up on the shores of the Aegean Sea,” said Archbishop Ieronymos II, the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, who called for a greater response by the United Nations. “I hope to soon see them there, untroubled, enjoying life. ” At the Moria center, Francis slowly walked down a line of migrants, many of them Muslims, greeting people as some waved handwritten signs with slogans like “Freedom of Movement. ” Others propped their children above their shoulders or held out smartphones to photograph the pope. Inside a large white tent, Francis greeted a woman in a head scarf as she cradled her baby, as well as other refugee families. A small boy stepped forward and handed him a picture drawn with crayons. An Iraqi mother asked Francis to help her find medical care for her child’s bone cancer. At one point, a man began wailing as Francis placed his hands on the man’s head. “Please, Father, bless me!” the man shouted. “Please, Father, bless me!” Francis and the other religious leaders offered special praise on Saturday for ordinary Greeks who have welcomed refugees, taken some into their homes or provided food and clothing, even as they endure hardship amid the country’s financial crisis. Mr. Tsipras and other Greek leaders have called on the European Union to provide more help to the country as it has borne the brunt of the migrant crisis. Across Europe, the mood has soured in recent months, as many countries have closed or restricted their borders amid mounting public anxiety over the chaotic influx of more than a million refugees last year. The recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels have also darkened public attitudes and stirred sentiment in some areas, even as many refugees say they are trying to escape extremist violence. parties have seized on the crisis to make gains, most recently in regional elections in Germany. By appearing with the two Orthodox Christian leaders, Francis also took another small step in healing the breach between the Eastern and Western branches of Christianity. Francis has made ecumenical outreach a priority and in February became the first pope to meet with the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. Carlo Pioppi, a professor of church history at Santa Croce University in Rome, said the appearance by the three leaders showed they could put aside doctrinal and theological differences to highlight their shared concern about refugees. The three men described the refugee influx as one of Europe’s most serious crises since the end of World War II. “Regular people will understand the sign these three religious leaders are sending,” Professor Pioppi said in an interview on Friday. “To see them have lunch with refugees, all together, is a strong message of humanity. ” The British charity Oxfam released a statement on Friday calling for a moratorium on deportations of refugees from Greece to Turkey until the authorities can guarantee that asylum processes are followed. The group also raised questions about new “fast track” processes to review asylum cases that the Greek Parliament recently approved under pressure from the European Union. “Thousands are being held in squalid detention centers on the Greek Islands — this is the state of Europe in 2016,” Farah Karimi, the executive director of Oxfam Novib, the Dutch affiliate of Oxfam, said in the statement. “Shame on the E. U. for prioritizing detention and deportation over people’s rights to safety and dignity. ” | 0fake |
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