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Jill Abramson: ’Extremely Divisive’ Trump Is Benefiting From a ’Rage Machine’ - Breitbart | Sunday on CNN’s “GPS,” while discussing the negative political discourse playing a role in the shooting of Republicans practicing for a congressional charity baseball game, which critically injured House Majority Whip Steve Scalise ( ) former executive editor of The New York Times Jill Abramson said President Donald Trump and Republicans are more responsible because they are “benefitting from a kind of rage machine that operates in this country. ” Abramson said, “I do think that both sides are not equally at fault and that there’s been a bit of a false equivalency at work, especially in the discussion over the past couple of days. I think that in terms of political leadership right now that both President Trump and the congressional leadership on the Republican side are extremely divisive and that they are really benefitting from a kind of rage machine that operates in this country. ” ( RCP Video) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0fake |
Fear driving Cambodian opposition MPs abroad, party says | PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Around half the opposition members of Cambodia s parliament have left the country in fear of a crackdown by Prime Minister Hun Sen s government, a deputy party leader said. The leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), Kem Sokha, was arrested on Sept. 3 and charged with treason for an alleged plot to take power with U.S. help. The government has said there could be more arrests linked to the alleged plot, which the opposition says is just a ploy to ensure Hun Sen keeps his more than three-decade hold on power in next year s general election. Hun Sen s ruling Cambodian People s Party (CPP) has a slim majority in the 123-member parliament, which voted on Sept. 11 to allow the prosecution of Kem Sokha in a vote boycotted by opposition members. About half are out of the country in fear, Mu Sochua, one of three deputies to Kem Sokha told Reuters on Friday. I m taking my chances. We cannot live in fear and let the fear paralyze us. She said the party was still in contact with those members outside the country as the opposition tries to rally international pressure on the government. A spokesman for the ruling party said it was an internal issue for the CNRP if its members were abroad. Spokesman So Eysan said the CPP believed in a culture of dialogue but Kem Sokha s criminal act had destroyed it. The ship has left the port so it s already too late, said Sok Eysan. The government has said Kem Sokha s party could be dissolved if it doesn t drop him as its leader, something the CNRP has said it will not do. While Western countries have condemned the arrest of Kem Sokha and called for his release, Hun Sen has support from his close ally China, by far the biggest donor to one of Southeast Asia s poorest countries. Mu Sochua said she was still hopeful that Western countries would take stronger action against the government, but did not specify what. A statement alone is not going to help, she said. The evidence presented against Kem Sokha so far is a video from 2013 in which he tells supporters that he has support from unidentified Americans for a plan to gain power. The opposition says it is evidence of an election strategy, not a coup plot. | 0fake |
LATINOS MAKE DISGUSTING VIDEOS Bashing TRUMP: “Make America Mexico Again” [Video] | 1real | |
Ted Cruz Pulls The Last Trick From His Hat And Trump’s Ego May Not Be Able To Resist | The tried and true Donald Trump supporter doesn t care what the fuhrer does as long as he keeps saying catch phrase like we re gonna make America great again and we re gonna build a wall. As long as they can feel superior to Mexicans, Muslims and anyone with an education as they join in beating them up for wearing an offensive shirt that claims science is real to a Trump rally. No matter how much of a bump he gets afterwards and no matter how many times he declares himself victorious, the one thing Ted Cruz has on the Donald are his debating skills.Cruz isn t exactly a master. His shrill voice and the condescending look he gets on his face are enough for almost anyone to be willing to risk a night in jail for hauling off and punching him. At the end of the GOP debates, however, Cruz always got himself a nice little push in the polls. It s amazing that the smartest guy in the Republican room ended up being the least likeable guy in Washington. To call Ted Cruz smart in any other context is an insult to smart people.Cruz s big plan, then, is to challenge Donald Trump to another debate. He doesn t seem to be getting the memos. Trump is the only candidate with a mathematical chance of a secure nomination. He s polling high in every major contest left. His worst case scenario seems to be if the RNC screws him from his nomination with a contested convention, in which case the Republican party implodes anyway. The whole thing really has been glorious to watch.The one thing Cruz has going for him is The Donald s over-inflated ego. It may not allow Trump to simply back down from a senseless debate that can serve no purpose to Trump other than the loss of even more supporters. It s a noble move on Cruz s part; bold even to suggest another debate this late in the game. Unfortunately for him, his opponent has already kicked his political teeth down his throat and stands to gain nothing by accepting.That, of course, won t stop Ted Cruz from trying, so hopefully there are a few days of good Twitter name calling. That s far more interesting to cover than anything the GOP buffoons are still yammering about.Featured image via Joe Raidle/Getty Images | 1real |
The Anatomy of Crisis and the Decline of US Empire | The Anatomy of Crisis and the Decline of US Empire Submitted by Danny Haiphong on Tue, 11/08/2016 - 12:18 Tweet Widget by Danny Haiphong
There are multiple dimensions to the crisis that afflicts U.S. imperialism. The latest election is evidence of a crisis of legitimacy for the ruling parties. Americans are estranged from a government that spies on every one its citizens – and on the rest of the world, too. “Unemployment, poverty, racist state repression, and war are all the system has to offer.” Unable to escape a 40-year economic slump, the U.S. instead plots the destruction of its rivals. The Anatomy of Crisis and the Decline of US Empire by Danny Haiphong
“ The vast majority of oppressed communities, particularly Black workers, have seen their labor become disposable in a post-industrial society.”
Whether one analyzes the economic, military, or political spheres of US imperialism, one thing is abundantly clear. The very fabric of the United States is in deep crisis. The crisis is largely misunderstood by the vast majority of working and oppressed people living under it. But a specter haunts the US and it isn't anything like Hollywood's scary movies. That specter is the possibility that the people will become a conscious force of opposition to the crisis and seek to dismantle the system of capitalist empire that governs it.
Crises are genuinely thought of in economic terms. The economic base of capitalism is indeed suffering from protracted economic crisis. The US capitalist economy, and thus the world capitalist economy pegged to its hip, entered a period of stagnation in the mid to late 1970s. What followed was a slowdown in production facilitated by the increased monopolization, financialization, and increased technological capacity of the system. Capitalism's source of profit, labor, was now being exploited by an apparatus too big to expand the profits of the system without intensified exploitation. The aftermath of capitalism's periodic collapses from overproduction and under consumption have been characterized ever since by a complete and total assault on all workers.
“Wages have declined or remained stagnant for nearly four decades.”
The conditions of the crisis speak for themselves. Workers in the US, and the entire Western world for that matter, have seen conditions rapidly deteriorate as the capitalist system has sought to maximize profits in the face of productive slowdown. Free trade agreements such as NAFTA have given corporations the freedom to eliminate production domestically in order to seek a better deal internationally. Wages have declined or remained stagnant for nearly four decades . Unemployment has become a permanent fixture of life for millions and nearly one of two people in the US are considered poor or "near poor."
At this time, the US is a low-wage capitalist economy dominated by service oriented, precarious employment. Racism has played a large part in the disparity inherent under these conditions. The wealth gap between Black America and White America is larger than it was in the Civil rights era. Not only has Black America been the target of racist housing policies from predatory lenders leading up to the 2008 crisis, but the burden of privatization and austerity has been directly aimed at Black families. Hedge funds, for example, have used working class Black communities as the guinea pig to test the effectiveness of massive school closures and teacher layoffs as well as the expansion of charter schools. Thousands of Black teachers have lost their jobs as a result to the mostly white demographic of Teach for America corps members.
“ The wealth gap between Black America and White America is larger than it was in the Civil rights era.”
However, it is not enough to understand the crisis of capitalism through an economic lens. The crisis possesses many forms. Repressive state activity has become more pronounced, especially in the aftermath of the War on Terror. Racist repression in particular has intensified as the vast majority of oppressed communities, particularly Black workers, have seen their labor become disposable in a post-industrial society. Nearly 1100 Black Americans are killed every year by law enforcement all over the country. The war on Black and indigenous peoples that laid the foundation of the United States has only become more severe, as evidenced by the fact that one of every eight prisoners in the world is a Black American. The Dakota Access Pipeline struggle has shown that not even the concentration camps forced upon indigenous people are safe from the profit-seeking tentacles of the crisis-ridden system.
And every American can guarantee that civil liberties are a thing of the past. The NSA, FBI, and the rest of the intelligence community possess access to the entire population's mail and phone devices. A massive surveillance dragnet accountable to no one but the ruling class allows the US state to keep tabs on whoever resists the conditions of the crisis. War at home is ultimately a reflection of the broader war being waged around the world. The US capitalist system is a global system with the largest military state in human history. War has thus played a critical role in the response to system crisis.
The US military acts as the enforcement arm of neo-colonialism and capitalist exploitation around the world. It has expanded into nearly every African state through the US African Command (AFRICOM). The US military state continues to support fascism in Ukraine and fundamentalist Islam in places like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It has destabilized a number of nations in the last decade alone, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. The US has collaborated with NATO, Israel, and Turkey to militarily encircle Russia and China militarily and sponsor terror groups responsible for the massacres in Syria.
“The US imperialist system is predicated on the expansion of global capital by any means at its disposal, including the use military force to clear the way for corporate plunder.
But the US military is in crisis too. It is plagued by a disillusioned rank and file and the inevitability of a global confrontation with Russia and China if it continues on the current course. The demands of a stagnating global capitalist economy and the ever-increasing exploitation of masses of working people offer no potential for a reversal of fortune. The US imperialist system is predicated on the expansion of global capital by any means at its disposal, including the use military force to clear the way for corporate plunder. The US military state has grown both in size and in violence in order to prevent the global shift of power currently underway.
Russia and China have become the number one challengers to US global hegemony. China's economy will soon surpass that of the US and Russia's recovery from post-Soviet collapse has propelled the Putin-led nation back onto the global scene as a major factor in world affairs. These two powers are becoming increasingly close both economically and militarily. This has made the US ruling class increasingly nervous in the midst of economic decline. To maintain hegemony, the US military state set the world ablaze through endless war in every region of the world that dares to seek ties with Russia and China.
At this point, the US imperialist system cannot peacefully compete in any way with its so-called rivals to the East. The contradictions of the system have become unmanageable. Unemployment, poverty, racist state repression, and war are all the system has to offer. Another economic collapse is on the horizon. Crisis is built into the global capitalist system's constant drive to accumulate profit in the face of global misery. The decline of US imperialism and empire will not change regardless of the election. What is sure to change is the mass reaction to the decline as life becomes more and more unbearable under the grip of empire. Danny Haiphong is an Asian activist and political analyst in the Boston area. He can be reached at [email protected] | 1real |
Planned Parenthood sues Ohio over plan to restrict funds | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against Ohio officials on Wednesday over a plan by the state to restrict the U.S. healthcare agency’s access to state and federal funds, saying it was being singled out for providing abortion services. The lawsuit, filed in federal court on behalf of Planned Parenthood branches of greater Ohio and of the southwest region, said attempts to defund the healthcare agency and several affiliated programs were an “extreme punishment” exacted solely because abortion services are part of its range of care, court filings showed. Agency officials also said such actions violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution for singling out Planned Parenthood and treating it differently from other healthcare providers. Ohio Right to Life director Katie Franklin called the lawsuit “frivolous.” The Ohio bill was signed by Governor John Kasich in February and bars the state from contracts with organizations that perform or promote abortions. It is set to take effect on May 23. Kasich’s press secretary, Joe Andrews, said in an email he would not discuss pending litigation, but added the governor, a former Republican presidential candidate, was pleased to sign legislation “that continued our progress in moving funding to other eligible providers.” The lawsuit is the 15th filed by Planned Parenthood over access to care at its centers since mid-2015, when anti-abortion activists began releasing videos purporting to show group officials negotiating prices for aborted fetal tissue. Planned Parenthood denied wrongdoing and said the videos were distorted and politically motivated. Officials in 12 states have since blocked efforts to cut funding from the clinics, and the federal director of Medicaid, a government healthcare program for the poor, warned states in April against cutting off funds to Planned Parenthood simply because its services include abortions. Planned Parenthood officials said they were asking the court to hand down an order before the law takes effect. If allowed to continue, the action would “constitute an undue, constitutionally intolerable burden on the abortion rights of Ohio women,” the filing said. Also on Wednesday, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed into law a bill that directs the state’s spending of federal funds for family planning services to health centers and hospitals that provide a full range of healthcare. The governor’s office said in a statement the bill would eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood clinics out of federal grants for family planning programs. | 0fake |
BREAKING: HILLARY CAMPAIGN Planned Fake “GRASSROOTS” Millennial Movement To Steal Bernie Followers | Wikileaks released another email showing how phony Hillary s campaign has been from the start. Americans should never believe the polls. Hillary has NEVER given Americans a reason to want to get behind her. Its why she and her camp, with the help of the media are constantly manufacturing what appears to be (but really is not) support for her candidacy. The most HILL-larious part of this whole story is that Hillary s camp planned to use the young Tallahassee Mayor, Andrew Gillum to launch Hillary s fake grassroots group after he gave a speech at the DNC about how trust in government can be restored! Here is the attachment to an email addressed to Hillary s campaign manager, John Podesta:CONCEPT PAPEROBJECTIVE:Mobilize young voter participation for the 2016 election in support of Hillary ClintonSTRATEGY: Use young elected officials and entertainers to build a grassroots movement of under 40 voters as a vehicle to migrate support for Bernie into activism for Hillary.OPERATIONAL GOALS: Identify young elected officials (YEOs)across the country to become the face of a new organization that is focused on a progressive future. These young elected officials would promote both the organization, the ideas embraced by it and the need for civic engagement with an immediate focus on involvement in the 2016 election. They would be seen as the faces of a new progressivist movement that combines noble goals with political realities resulting in real progress.The organization would be built around a group of ideas or concepts as opposed to parties or individuals. The ideas should always reinforce the message that the under 40 generation needs to engage politically to shape their own future. Building the New Economy, Creating an Empowerment Society, Transitioning to a Sustainable World, Tearing Down Barriers are all phrases which might be included in the messaging. Support for the Hillary would be included in the messaging but initially as tangential to it, i.e. if you support these things then there really isn t another choice but her . Over time the messaging would transition more into the actionable item of involvement in the campaign and support for its efforts.The organization should be built around a Ready for Hillary type model: grassroots driven, limited engagement of the principal, both an organizational and small dollar fundraising component, centered on-line and in venues frequented by under 40 s college campuses, with a big emphasis on community colleges, nightclubs, athletic events, etc.The group should be branded separately from the campaign so people who engage with it feel like they created and own it as opposed to feeling swallowed by an organization that defeated them. A distinct name, artwork, website, spokespeople etc would be desired.TACTICS:The program should be launched initially in one state and then expand out. It should be seen as growing and spreading. We want people calling and asking if they can set one up in their state as opposed to forcing the model on them.The YEO s in that state would announce the formation of their group stating theirs goal to help elect a progressive President and engage young people with a goal of making sure their voices are heard and they are ready to participate. It should feel almost like we got together and decided to do this on our own . Depending on the organizational model, they could say they all support Hillary and are doing it to help but there are bigger and longer term objectives here, etc. Ideally you could say something like the campaign is providing limited resources but has agreed any funds you raise will be directed into youth outreach.They would then do a series of event which would be a college campus town hall during the day and a club type event that night. The town hall with students would be informal with talking with students about goals, dreams, political reality, how government can make things happen, how sometimes it doesn t, etc. It would end in a pitch for them to become engaged politically to build a progressive future. Later in the evening, these YEO s would attend and speak briefly at a campaign event in a bar/club featuring a local DJ or entertainer and has a nominal contribution as part of attendence. The campus event will be used to build buzz for the second event as well as the campaign itself. As momentum grows for the organization, bigger names would be brought in for the town hall events as well as bigger artists for the club events, furthering the momentum. Eventually, HRC/WJC/CVC as well as VP and Spouse would be integrated into these events but it should be seen as them coming to the movement as opposed to them trying to take it over.RECOMMENDATIONS:This program be launched by Mayor Andre Gillum in Florida. Goal would be early AprilTarget is to have 10 people at launchDo events in Miami, Palm Beach, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando in April.Convene a group of National YEO s in May/June to discuss their involvement.Have organization functioning in 5 battlegound states by June 1 Florida, Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina? | 1real |
The Battleship Debate | By Michael Shrimpton on October 30, 2016 Some Battleship Myths Busted
The comments on last week’s column (Aberfan – Disaster Or Attack?) threw up some unexpected comments about battleships, and the causes of World War I. As you can tell, it was a wide-ranging discussion! It also showed that that a number of myths about battleships, not to mention the causes of World War I, are still prevalent. First however, some comments on the exciting presidential race. Trump or Clinton?
I’m still predicting a win for Trump. The polls have tightened, which is not good news for Hillary, and the first straws in the wind suggesting a landslide for Trump have appeared. Some polls are still showing a lead for the Democrat, but the most reliable ones seem to be showing Trumpy ahead by 1 or 2 points.
A delighted Washington Post predicted this week that Trumpy has “next to zero” chance of winning. I’m not sure that’s true even if you accept the polls as accurate. The polls are suggesting a tight race. However pollsters have a history of getting it wrong when it comes to races involving conservatives. The margin of error in favor of liberal positions differs from one pollster to another, but between 2.5 and 5% seems about right.
Since the last two Republican candidates were scarcely conservatives, the reasonably good performance of most polling organisations in 2008 and 2012 has to be viewed with reserve. Polling performance breaks down when you have serious conservative opposition. They can be still an indicator, however, of momentum. The FBI (Photo credit: Hurricane Bianca)
I have heard of October surprises , indeed the Democrats sprang one over Bimbogate, or at least gave it the good old college try. It might have been better choosing bimbos who had actually met the Republican candidate, or at least met him without witnesses present, but there it is.
Having the FBI act with integrity when the suspect is the Democratic candidate for president and polling day is less than two weeks away wasn’t so much an October surprise as an October shock, no offense to the Fibbies intended.
Assuming – just assuming – that this wasn’t part of a deal between Mr O and Mr T, whereby Mr T agreed to keep quiet about Mr O’s Kenyan/Zanzibari origins in exchange for Mr O backing off the FBI, the timing of the FBI’s move was extraordinary. They are saying that it was due to fresh evidence coming into their possession, so it can’t have been that.
It is just possible that the boys in the Hoover building (that’s Hoover as in J Edgar, BTW, not as in the vacuum cleaner) were not aware of the large sums of money slushing, sorry finding, its way to the wife of their Deputy Director from the Clintons. It’s a bit of a mystery, and I don’t pretend to know the answer. Astonishing as it may sound, with respect, it may even be that the FBI have finally started to act with integrity and good faith. If so, that would be a positive development, although don’t expect the CIA to follow suit! If they did, the world really will have turned upside down. The CIA and Wikipedia WWI
People sometimes ask me why I write for VeteransToday, given the lousy pay (!) The short answer is that they are good people and don’t interfere with my freedom of expression. VT is also something of an intelligence clearing house, however. I hope readers learn something from my weekly columns (that’s why I write ‘em), but I also learn things.
One of the things I learnt this week via VT is that the CIA have a thing going with Wikipedia. I thought I was dealing with operatives – it was strange that so-called volunteer editors responded within minutes to any attempt by me to balance the Wikipedia attack piece on me. Turns out the CIA have an active interest in about 10% of Wiki sites, including mine.
Given that Director Brennan is an enemy of mine, with Jesuit connections, I helped expose the role of the Jesuit Order in providing the pretext for World War I and the Agency are heavily penetrated by my bitter enemies the DVD, via the Correa/COREA Group in Frankfurt, that would make sense.
The next installment in my WikiWar should be mediation. Goodness knows who they’ll suggest as a mediator – Angela Merkel probably, or the President of the European Commission. The mediator will definitely be driving a Volkswagen. The Naval Race Rear Admiral Sir Christoper Cradock
I’m inter alia an intelligence historian , so it’s nice to turn to an historical topic. It is incredibly important to get history right – otherwise we just repeat the same mistakes.
A number of commenters last week seemed to be laboring under the delusion, no offense intended, that World War I was started by the naval race between the British and German Empires. This nonsensical view, widely propagated since 1918 by German Intelligence and their allies, is still recycled on the BBC and by liberal faculty members, i.e. just about all of them.
World War I was not started by the British Admiralty, nor by accident. It was started by the Germans, who set up the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his lovely wife Sophie on June 28th 1914. The German army was already mobilising, implementing a war plan drawn up years before.
The build-up of the Imperial German Navy had similarly been underway for years, for purely offensive purposes. The German Navy was not designed to protect German interests abroad – its capital ships lacked the range and the habitability for that. It was aimed at bringing the Royal Navy’s Atlantic and Channel Fleets to battle in the North Sea (the famous Grand Fleet was only formed on the outbreak of war).
There is no way the German Navy could have matched the rapid, hemispheric deployment of a battlecruiser squadron to the farthest reaches of the South Atlantic in 1914, e.g., after the destruction of a weak British squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock at the Battle of Coronel. Vice-Admiral Sturdee’s great victory in the Battle of the Falkland Islands was of course made possible by the Naval Intelligence Department.
The boys had spotted that the First Sea Lord, von Battenberg, was a German spy and had deliberately refused to reinforce Cradock’s squadron. Von Battenberg was left in place and fed false position reports – no wonder the sight of the fighting tops of a British battlecruiser squadron in Port Stanley harbor so rattled the Hun commander, Graf von Spee, who was the runner-up in the battle which followed. The true position was stated millennia ago by the Roman general Vegetius: si vis pacem, para bellum. If you wan’t peace, prepare for war. Great Britain did not encourage the First World War by taking the limited steps that she did to prepare for it.
We needed more battleships and battlecruisers, not fewer. Sadly, the Liberal government decided to encourage German aggression by holding back spending on the Royal Navy. Had we been stronger, the Hun would not dare have invaded Belgium and Luxembourg in a flanking attack on the French army. Next Myth HMS Barham
The next myth propagated last week was that battleships were vulnerable to U-Boats. The truth is that the only British battleships sunk by U-Boat in both world wars, HMS Barham and HMS Royal Oak, were betrayed.
Royal Oak was sunk because the First Sea Lord Sir Dudley Pound was being blackmailed by Jerry and agreed to hold up the badly-needed block-ships requested for Scapa Flow by the C-in-C Home Fleet.
Had the block-ships been in place, as requested, Gunther Prien wouldn’t have got within five miles of Royal Oak. It is not even clear that the dear old Barham was actually sunk in November 1941 by U-331. It is more likely that her magazines were detonated by a radio-controlled IED set off by a German agent on the battleship ahead, which happened to have a cameraman ready to film the sinking.
All battleships after the turbine-powered Dreadnought were too fast for submarines, which until the advent of the first true submarine, the German Type XXI, had limited underwater speed and endurance. Forget the headline figure for underwater speed – at top speed a U-Boat’s batteries would be drained quickly. This made achieving a firing solution difficult. Battleships were also usually too well screened by destroyers.
They were such difficult targets that in practice only a U-Boat lying in wait could torpedo them. Then there was the difficulty in sinking them. Older battleships could indeed be sunk by a single submarine, even a single torpedo, ditto battleships whose design was held back by the absurd limitations in the Washington Treaty, designed to make the next world war winnable for the Bad Guys.
It is, however, intellectually dishonest to compare the latest subs with older battleships, or battleships, like the King George V class, designed to artificial limits. In World War II modern battleships designed without reference to the Washington Treaty, such as the wonderful Iowa class, incorporated excellent anti-torpedo protection. A single Jap sub, e.g. would have had trouble hitting an Iowa class fast battleship with enough torpedoes to sink her.
The King George V classic were a classic illustration of the dangers posed by the Washington Treaty. To save weight their outer prop-shafts weren’t armored, a weakness which proved fatal when HMS Prince of Wales was struck by a Japanese aerial torpedo in December 1941. In practice battleships were much less vulnerable to torpedo attack than any other type of warship. That is why all Japanese submarine attacks on American battleships in World War II failed, indeed the Japs only ever managed to sink American battleships in harbor in peacetime, and even then they only actually sank two. The other battleships damaged at Pearl Harbor were repaired, modernised and went on to avenge their sisters. Third Myth HMS Repulse
The vulnerability of battleships to air attack in World War II has also been greatly overstated. They were of course invulnerable to air attack in World War I, as no aircraft could carry an armor-piercing bomb heavy enough to sink them. No German or Italian battleship was sunk at sea by airpower in the whole of the war.
No American battleship was sunk at sea in either war, period. Only one British battleship, HMS Prince of Wales, was sunk by airpower in World War II, and she was betrayed. HMS Indomitable, the carrier designated as her escort, had been run aground, on Pound’s orders, whilst working up out of Kingston Harbour in Jamaica.
Attacking as they did outside fighter range, without combat equipment such self-sealing tanks, the Jap bombers would have been very vulnerable to Indomitable’s cannon-equipped fighters.
As I explain in Spyhunter, Force Z’s course had been betrayed to the Japanese in Saigon, via radio, by the German spy Rear-Admiral Palliser. Had Palliser not betrayed the British squadron it’s unlikely that the Japs would have found them. They had poor air reconnaissance, limited fuel reserves and could not just stooge around the South China Sea trying to find them.
HMS Repulse was a battlecruiser, not a battleship. Unlike her sister Renown, she had not been modernised. In particular, she lacked Renown’s modern 4.5” Dual Purpose (DP) battery, much more effective in the AA role than Prince of Wales’s DP fit. Bismarck firing at HMS Hood
HMS Hood , blown-up during the course of the Battle of the Denmark Strait, was also a battlecruiser and, like Repulse, she had not been modernised. The Chamberlain government and the Treasury denied the Admiralty the funds for her much-needed modernisation, precisely in order to make her easier for Jerry to sink.
As I explain in Spyhunter, it is very doubtful that Hood was actually sunk by KMS Bismarck and much more likely that she was blown up by an IED in either a 4” magazine, leading to secondary detonation of a main magazine, or a main magazine.
None of the broadsides fired by either Bismarck or her accompanying heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen is a good candidate for the alleged fatal shot. Prinz Eugen’s main battery was only 8”/60 caliber – her 270 lb shells were too small to have penetrated Hood’s heavy belt armor.
For decades, we have been favored with nonsense from pro-Germans about Hood’s main deck armor being much weaker than Bismarck’s (the true figures are 3” over the magazines for Hood and 4.7” for Bismarck) and Bismarck sinking her with plunging fire at long range. Bismarck, however, was photographed firing at Hood from the Prinz Eugen. As you can see from the photo, Bismarck’s main battery is nowhere near maximum elevation.
The Hun-loving editors of Wikipedia, BTW, still cannot bring themselves to acknowledge that the Bismarck was sunk by the Royal Navy. She was in fact finished off by torpedoes from the heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire, sinking shortly after the last torpedo hit, which Wikipedia would have us believe was a strange coincidence. HMS King George V
As I have mentioned, the King George V class , of which Prince of Wales was a member, suffered from design limitations imposed by the Washington Treaty. They also suffered from several design flaws, which would not have been repeated in later classes and partly flowed from the lack of cash given to the Admiralty in the 1930s.
They sacrificed AA firepower for spotter aircraft. Whilst the planes were well-protected in an armored hangar, it would have been better to rely on more powerful spotter/recon aircraft flown from escorting carriers.
The 5.25” DP secondary armament was an excellent anti-destroyer weapon, probably the best ever deployed on a battleship, but had too poor a rate of fire (around 12-16 rounds per minute) to be an effective weapon against aircraft. The dedicated AA gun, the multiple 2-pounder ‘pom-pom’, was the best in the world when it came into service in the late 1920s, but had been overtaken by the 40-mil Bofors. The mounts were not tri-axially stabilized and the class lacked tachymetric AA fire-control. These specific weaknesses however afford no grounds for saying that battleships generally were unduly vulnerable to aircraft. So far to the contrary, they were better able to stand up to bombs and torpedoes than carriers, were more stable gun platforms, had better firing arcs (this was particularly true of the US Navy – the Iowa class had superb firing arcs for their secondary and AA armament, e.g., whereas the firing arcs on the Essex-class carriers were limited) and better fire-control. Unsurprisingly, US fast carrier task forces in the Pacific used battleships to protect carriers against aircraft. HMS Inflexible
Of the five British capital ships sunk during World War II, two were unmodernised battlecruisers, two were probably sunk by IEDs and all five were betrayed in one way, shape or form. Without the assistance of the Abwehr, including interference by political assets in Number 10, the Cabinet Office and the Treasury with their design or modernisation, probably none of them would have been sunk at all.
The US Navy had the right idea. What was needed was balanced all-arms task forces, combining battlewagons, carriers, cruisers and destroyers. Admiral Henderson of the Royal Navy had in fact come up with the idea of fast carrier task forces protected by capital ships in the Mediterranean in the 1930s, but the Royal Navy lacked enough fast battleships and carriers to really make it work until 1945, with the British Pacific Fleet
Oh yes, we were in the Pacific alright , although the lack of defense expenditure and serious planning for war by pro-German weanies in Downing St before the war meant that it took three years for us to get there. Apart that is from our fine armored carrier HMS Victorious, which served briefly in the Pacific in 1943, flying USN squadrons, an episode which would make a fine war movie, if a movie-maker could be found with the guts to make it.
President Reagan also had the right idea in reactivating the Iowa class in the 80s. Had the Royal Navy not been forced to scrap HMS Vanguard, our last battleship, by the German asset Harold Macmillan, it is doubtful that General Galtieri would even have started the war. HMS Vanguard Falklands War
The very thought of that elegant and powerful fast battleship , virtually immune from the Exocet sea-skimming missiles (her belt armor was too strong for an Exocet to penetrate) emerging from the gloom of the South Atlantic to pulverise the Argentine Fleet or smash up Argentine forces ashore, would have given the Argies the willies. Vanguard’s deck armor, BTW, would have been too strong for any bomb the Argentine Air Force could carry.
No ship in the Argentine Navy could have remained operational after a single accurate broadside from HMS Vanguard, and she had fully-synthetic fire-control, i.e. could land her main battery guns on target whilst maneuvering. She was a formidable surface combatant. This Week’s Movie Review: Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016, dir. Edward Zwick)
This movie is huge fun . The first Jack Reacher movie, also starring Tom Cruise, was also huge fun, with the Bad Guys getting whacked all over the place. It’s always nice to see dirty cops getting their come-uppance! We could do with Jack Reacher in Thames Valley. No jury would convict.
Unusually for a sequel, this movie is as good as the original. If anything, it’s even better. Tom Cruise is excellent as the lead, although it was a disappointment for me that Robert Duvall was not retained. He’s one of my all-time favorite actors. Robert Knepper, as General Harkness, provides strong support, however, as does Cobie Smulders, who I think we’ll be seeing again.
The plot, based around bent military contractors, is more believable than most of the anti-military, anti-American rubbish emerging from liberal Hollywood, and the heroes come from the military. The movie moves at a cracking pace, and you are kept in suspense until the end about whether Jack is a father or not. I’m not going to spoil it for you by revealing the plot! It’s well worth going to see. | 1real |
Trump administration to review dozens of U.S. national monuments | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday will order a review of national monuments created over the past 20 years with an aim toward rescinding or resizing some of them - part of a broader push to reopen areas to drilling, mining and other development. The move comes as Trump seeks to reverse a slew of environmental protections ushered in by former President Barack Obama that he said were hobbling economic growth - an agenda that is cheering industry but enraging conservationists. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told reporters on Tuesday Trump’s executive order would require him to conduct the review of around 30 national monuments and recommend which designations should be lifted or resized over the coming months. He said he would seek feedback from Congressional delegations, governors and local stakeholders before making his recommendations. “I am not going to predispose what the outcome is going to be,” Zinke said. Rescinding or altering a national monument designation would be new ground for the government, he said. “It is untested, as you know, whether the president can do that,” Zinke said. The monuments covered by the review will range from the Grand Staircase in Utah created by President Bill Clinton in 1996 to the Bears Ears monuments created by President Barack Obama in December 2016 in the same state, covering millions of acres of land overlying minerals, oil and gas. Obama’s administration created the Bears Ears monument arguing that it would protect the cultural legacy of the Navajo and four other tribes and preserve “scenic and historic landscapes.” But Utah’s governor opposed the designation, saying it went against the wishes of citizens eager for development. The area lies near where EOG Resources (EOG.N) - a Texas-based company - had been approved to drill. Zinke said the broader aim of the order is to give states more input in the monument designation process, and “restore trust between local communities and Washington.” While he acknowledged that national monuments could bring tourism, he said he thinks federal land should be managed for “multiple uses.” Conservation groups and Native American tribal representatives slammed the looming order, suggesting it would be fought in court. “With this review, the Trump Administration is walking into a legal, political and moral minefield,” said Kate Kelly, public lands director for the Center for American Progress. A summary of the forthcoming order, seen by Reuters, said past administrations “overused” the Antiquities Act that allows presidents to create monuments. | 0fake |
France wants 'strong and stable' Germany, President Macron says | PARIS (Reuters) - France wants a strong and stable Germany to move Europe forward and will continue to work with the current German government, an official at President Emmanuel Macron s office said on Monday. For Germany and for Europe, we want our main partner to be stable and strong, to move forward together, the official said. This merely reinforces the need for France to make proposals, to take the initiative, to work on an ambitious European project that we will implement with our German partner, the official added. Efforts to form a three-way coalition government have failed, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday, pitching Germany into its worst political crisis in decades. | 0fake |
null | "Czechs do not have one characteristic of the nation, whether from the standpoint of ethnology, strategy, economics and language. Set a handful of Czech intellectually inferior to rule over minorities such as Germans, Poles and Hungarians, who along with thousands of years of culture, is foolishness and ignorance."
Source: Interview German PM Adolf Hitler for the "Daily Mail" 19/09/1938. | 1real |
Clinton, Obama pledge unity behind Trump presidency | (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump put aside the celebrations and focused on Wednesday on his 73-day transition to the White House as rival Hillary Clinton promised to bury the bitterness of their long presidential race and work to unify a divided country. After Trump’s stunning upset of the heavily favored Clinton, Democratic President Barack Obama and leading figures in the Republican Party who had struggled to make peace with Trump all vowed to move past the campaign ugliness. “Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead,” Clinton, the Democratic nominee, said in a concession speech in New York, joined by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and daughter Chelsea. While her loss was painful “and it will be for a long time,” she had offered to work with Trump as he prepares to begin his four-year term on Jan. 20, Clinton told supporters. A wealthy New York real estate developer and former reality TV host, Trump rode a wave of anger toward Washington insiders to win Tuesday’s election against Clinton. A former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state, Clinton also ran for president in 2008. Obama, who campaigned hard against Trump, invited him to the White House for a meeting on Thursday after a brutal night for the Democratic Party, which also fell short of recapturing majorities in both chambers of Congress. “We are now all rooting for his success in uniting and leading the country,” Obama said at the White House, adding he and his staff would work with Trump to ensure a successful transition. “We are not Democrats first, we are not Republicans first, we are Americans first.” But reflecting the bitterness of a long election campaign that often focused more on character than on policy, scattered anti-Trump protests broke out across the country, including in New York and Chicago, with demonstrators denouncing Trump’s campaign rhetoric about immigrants, Muslims and other groups. Thousands of protesters thronged Midtown Manhattan and marched toward Trump Tower on Wednesday evening, while at a park farther downtown, hundreds of people shouted: “Not my president.” In Chicago, thousands gathered outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower downtown while chanting phrases like “No Trump! No KKK! No racist USA.” Trump and his senior aides met at Trump Tower in New York to begin the transition. “They are hunkered down in meetings, plotting the next steps, the transition, the first 100 days, key staff positions,” said a source close to Trump’s campaign. Potential choices for his administration included Republican figures who eagerly supported Trump even when he faced opprobrium from other senior Republicans. Possible names included Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus as White House chief of staff, RNC spokesman Sean Spicer as White House spokesman, U.S. Senators Jeff Sessions and Bob Corker in possible roles as secretary of state or defense secretary, and former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich as secretary of state, a source close to the campaign said. Trump will enjoy Republican majorities in both chambers of the U.S. Congress that could help him implement his legislative agenda and appoint a Supreme Court justice to fill the vacancy created by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. In the Senate, Democrats secured a second gain on Wednesday, when Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte conceded defeat in New Hampshire to challenger Maggie Hassan, the state’s Democratic governor. But the Republicans retained their majority. “Now, Donald Trump will lead a unified Republican government and we will work hand-in-hand on a positive agenda to tackle this country’s big challenges,” House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who had a strained relationship with Trump, told reporters, saying Trump had earned a mandate in the election. In an Oct. 25 Reuters interview, Trump said his top priorities when he took office would be building stronger borders, repealing Obama’s national healthcare plan, aiding military veterans and working to create more jobs. In his victory speech early on Wednesday, he also promised to embark on a project to rebuild American infrastructure and to double U.S. economic growth. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday that repealing the healthcare plan known as Obamacare would be a “pretty high item” on the agenda. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that she spoke to Trump about passing a “robust” jobs bill. Worried that a Trump victory could cause economic and global uncertainty, investors initially fled stocks worldwide, but Wall Street made a dramatic turnaround and the U.S. dollar hit its highest level against the Japanese yen in nearly four months. The Mexican peso recouped some losses after falling to a record low. The currency has been vulnerable to Trump’s threats to rip up a free trade agreement with Mexico and to tax money sent home by migrants to pay to build a border wall. Speaking to cheering supporters after his victory, Trump said it was time to heal divisions. “It is time for us to come together as one united people,” Trump said. “I will be president for all Americans,” he said, praising Clinton for her service. His comments departed sharply from his campaign rhetoric in which he repeatedly branded Clinton as “Crooked Hillary” amid supporters’ chants of “lock her up.” Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, did not rule out on Wednesday the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton’s past conduct, a threat Trump made in an election debate last month. Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said the White House hoped the tradition of not using the criminal justice system to exact revenge on political opponents would continue under Trump. Senior House Republican Jason Chaffetz plans to continue investigating Clinton’s use of a private rather than government email server while she was secretary of state, a Chaffetz aide said. FBI Director James Comey has said a year-long probe by the agency into the setup revealed nothing to merit criminal charges. Despite losing the state-by-state electoral battle that determines the U.S. presidency, Clinton narrowly led Trump in the nationwide popular vote, according to U.S. media tallies. Fueling his upset win was Trump’s avid support among white non-college educated workers. He ran up big leads in rural areas, beating Clinton by 27 percentage points among voters outside of urban areas, a Reuters/Ipsos Election Day poll found. While Clinton, 69, won Hispanics and black and young voters, she did not win those groups by greater margins than Obama did in 2012. Younger blacks did not support Clinton like they did Obama. She won eight of 10 black voters between the ages of 35 and 54. Obama won almost 100 percent of those voters in 2012. At 70, Trump will be the oldest first-term U.S. president. The presidency will be Trump’s first elected office, and it remains to be seen how he will work with Congress. During the campaign, Trump was the target of sharp disapproval, not just from Democrats but from many in his own party. Foreign leaders pledged to work with Trump, but some officials expressed alarm the vote could mark the end of an era in which Washington promoted democratic values and was seen by its allies as a guarantor of peace. During the campaign, Trump expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, questioned central tenets of the NATO military alliance and suggested that Japan and South Korea should develop nuclear weapons to shoulder their own defense burden. Russia and Putin appeared to be winners from Trump’s victory. Defying years of U.S. foreign policy orthodoxy, the Republican had promised much warmer relations with Moscow, despite Russia’s intervention in the Syrian civil war and its seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region. Russia’s parliament erupted in applause after a lawmaker announced that Trump had been elected, and Putin told foreign ambassadors he was ready to fully restore ties with Washington. Russia is hoping that improved relations could yield an elusive prize: the lifting or easing of sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union to punish Moscow for its 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who sparred with Obama, spoke by phone to Trump, who proposed they meet “at the first opportunity,” Netanyahu’s office said. Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing and Washington shared responsibility for promoting global development and prosperity. Iran urged Trump to stay committed to the nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers, which Trump has sharply criticized. Several authoritarian and right-wing leaders hailed Trump’s victory. Other officials abroad, some with senior roles in government, took the unusual step of denouncing the outcome, calling it a worrying signal for liberal democracy and tolerance in the world. “Trump is the pioneer of a new authoritarian and chauvinist international movement. He is also a warning for us,” German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said in an interview with the Funke newspaper group. U.S. neighbor Mexico was pitched into deep uncertainty by the victory for Trump, who has often accused it of stealing U.S. jobs and sending criminals across the U.S. border. Trump campaigned on a pledge to take the country on a more isolationist, protectionist “America First” path. He wants to rewrite international trade deals to reduce trade deficits and has taken positions that raise the possibility of damaging relations with America’s most trusted allies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. | 0fake |
DEFIANT DEMOCRATS Announce Effort To Rehang Painting Depicting Police As Pigs..On Police Appreciation Day [Video] | 1real | |
PBS Islamic Lesson Plan Encourages Students to Identify with Radical Jihadists - Breitbart | A PBS high school lesson plan encourages students to empathize with young Palestinian terrorists who want to become suicide bombers to achieve martyrdom and suggests they would rather die because Palestinians have less land and are restricted. [The “Dying to Be a Martyr” multimedia lesson plan is available free of cost to teachers and students at PBS Learning Media, reports Justin Haskins at the Heartland Institute. It utilizes videos titled “Martyrdom,” “Suicide Bombing,” and “Israel and Palestine,” as well as internet sites and primary sources “to examine the roots of the Middle East conflict. ” Students are asked to be able to understand “why individuals and groups sometimes turn to tactics of terrorism. ” At first, students are asked to learn about the connections that all three major faiths — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — have to Israel. However, later on in the lesson, students view the video “Israel and Palestine,” and are asked to focus on 25 Majdi Amer, who built a bomb in 2003 for a suicide bomber in Haifa who ultimately killed 17 people, and wounded 50 more, on a bus. Students are asked to compare Majdi’s view of suicide bombing with that of Mohanned Abu Tayyoun, who wavers in carrying out his suicide mission and ultimately goes to jail in Israel. In Part III of the lesson plan, students view an interview with Mohanned in jail and are asked to “identify how Mohanned views his life and how he feels it differs from the lives of Israelis (Jews). ” “Martyrdom leads us to God,” he responds. “I don’t want this life. When you become a martyr, your prize for carrying out the operation is going to heaven … We Palestinians prefer to die, just kill ourselves, rather than live this worthless life. Our lives are worthless. We are hollow bodies living a pointless life. ” “Israelis enjoy their life,” Mohanned continues. “They go out at night. They have cafes and nightclubs. They travel all over the world. They go to America and Britain. We can’t even leave Palestine. ” Teachers are asked to check students’ understanding of the reasons Mohanned feels he would rather die and be a martyr than live his life. The lesson suggests that Mohanned may feel that way because “Palestinians have less land, fewer privileges, cannot come and go as they please. ” In Part IV of the lesson plan, Majdi is interviewed in a video and is asked why it is acceptable for him to kill women and children. “If the Israelis kill a child in Gaza, I’m ready to kill one in Tel Aviv,” he says. “If they destroy houses in Gaza, I’ll do it in Tel Aviv. If they give me security in my land, then there’s no problem. ” “No instructions are provided telling teachers to denounce the radical claims made by Majdi, and there are no other lesson plans describing the conflict from the point of view of the Israelis,” observes Haskins. JP Morgan Chase and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — which is funded by the federal government — fund the lesson plan’s website. The Christian Action Network (CAN) has filed a demand letter with the U. S. Education Department urging it to stop funding the Islamic lesson plans that are part of a program called “Access Islam. ” “So, PBS Learning Media is one of the websites that is promoting it,” CAN’s president Martin Mawyer recently told Breitbart News. “The Smithsonian also promotes it, the Indiana Department of Education promotes it, and even the United Nations promotes it. ” Mawyer claims that through the Access Islam curriculum, American students are taught the Islamic way of life in a way that crosses the line from academics to indoctrination. | 0fake |
[VIDEO] OBAMA ANGERS BALTIMORE FIREFIGHTERS WITH LIE ABOUT “One Fire” DURING RIOTS: Actual Number of Riot Fires Is Shocking | He just can t help himself This is what happens when you elect a racist community organizer as your President. Barry knows exactly what he s doing right now. Every word and every action is calculated and carefully orchestrated with other racists in his regime. Americans need to share stories like these to stop the bleed before it gets even more out of control How does he do it? How does Barack Obama manage to insult and pi$$ off one group after another of working Americans?President Obama took time Tuesday during his press conference with the Japanese Prime Minister to discuss the situation in Baltimore after the rioting and looting on Monday.Obama accused the media of looping one burning building for sensationalism.Point number four, the violence that happened yesterday distracted from the fact that you had seen multiple days of peaceful protests that were focused on entirely legitimate concerns of these communities in Baltimore. Led by clergy and community leaders, and they were constructive and they were thoughtful, and frankly, didn t get that much attention.And one burning building will be looped on television over and over and over again, and the thousands of demonstrators who did it the right way, I think, have been lost in the discussion.It s not clear which burning building he was talking about There were 159 fires set on Monday night by peaceful protesters in Baltimore.The International Association of Fire Fighters asked President Obama on Friday, Which one? Via: Gateway Pundit | 1real |
HUMAN SEXUALITY PROF Caught On Video Calling Trump Supporters “Terrorists” In Major Rant [Video] | The video of the professor s rant was sent to OCC College Republicans President Joshua Martinez, who posted the video below to Facebook. The professor is Olga Perez Stable Cox who teaches Human Sexuality at OCC. The video begins with the professor saying and a Vice President (Mike Pence) who is one of the anti-gay humans in this country. We are in for a difficult time, the professor continues. But again, I think we can get past that. That s when her rant starts to go off the rails. We have been assaulted. It s an act of terrorism. Yes, a college professor just said that electing Donald Trump was an act of terrorism. After sharing all of this, the professor then says that she is going to share some of his coping skills to get through a Trump presidency. While this is only one instance, other schools have had similar cases. At Purdue University, the student government provided an email template for students to send to their professors to miss class so that they can heal from the election.Read more: Red Alert Politics | 1real |
‘Kompromat’ and the Danger of Doubt and Confusion in a Democracy - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — Since the emergence of an unverified dossier with salacious claims about Donald J. Trump, Americans have debated the ramifications of the arrival of “kompromat” as a feature of American politics. But those debates — for example, over the ethics of publishing the dossier — have often framed this practice as little more than a political form of blackmail, and one particular to Russia. In fact, kompromat is more than an individual piece of damaging information: It is a broader attempt to manufacture public cynicism and confusion in ways that target not just one individual but an entire society. And although this practice tends to be associated with Russia — the word kompromat is a portmanteau of the Russian words for “compromising” and “information” — it is a common feature of authoritarian and semiauthoritarian nations around the world. Specific leaks may take aim at powerful individuals, but in the longer term, kompromat serves the interests of the powerful, which is why it is often a tool of autocrats. By eroding the very idea of a shared reality, and by spreading apathy and confusion among a public that learns to distrust leaders and institutions alike, kompromat undermines a society’s ability to hold the powerful to account and ensure the proper functioning of government. When Katy E. Pearce, a professor of communications at the University of Washington in Seattle, began studying access to technology in Azerbaijan, she expected to focus her research on how it could be a positive tool for promoting political freedom. But she changed her tack after encountering widespread fear of the ways that the government could use technology as a tool of repression. “When I was interviewing people, it kept on coming up and coming up,” she said. Kompromat is “a very cheap and easy way for the regime to demonstrate its power, and to harass people in a very visible way,” she added. That was a danger and a deterrent for the young activists she spoke to. But individual targets of kompromat are not its only victims, Professor Pearce said. It also harms society by diminishing public trust. Thomas Rid, a professor of security studies at King’s College London, wrote on Twitter that disinformation campaigns have “often deliberately blended accurate and forged details” to sow distrust and confusion. If the news media and public figures publicize lies, they lose their credibility as trustworthy sources of information. “There’s no reliable truth to rest upon,” Professor Pearce said. “Every piece of information you get is ‘possibly true, possibly false. ’” Degrading that trust can be deeply damaging. While in Russia in 2015, I was struck by how many of the people I met saw the world through a lens that I began to call the “prudent hypothetical. ” They reacted to all information, whether from official sources or thirdhand rumors, as if it might be true. I came to realize that it was a impulse, a way to prepare for any potential outcome in an unpredictable, unreliable world. But they were also careful not to rely on that information, lest it turn out to be a fabrication. They trusted only the facts they had verified themselves, and only the people to whom they had close personal ties. I had seen the same thing in Guatemala several years earlier. There, spreading lies and salacious gossip to discredit one’s enemies is referred to as a “campaña negra,” or a black campaign, rather than kompromat. But the result was the same: Public trust had been so eroded that lies were equally capable of destroying the honest and rehabilitating the criminal. When it appeared that Yasmín Barrios, the judge presiding over the trial of Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt, Guatemala’s former dictator, might convict him of genocide and crimes against humanity in 2013, a campaign of coordinated leaks and rumors portrayed her as a corrupt agent of foreign governments, willing to discredit her country in exchange for personal gain. Leaks and rumors attacked Judge Barrios personally, but by extension, they also undermined the credibility of the justice system in which she worked. For example, the news media reported that the judge had been seen dining with “foreign women” at a restaurant in Guatemala City, and suggested that this was evidence of foreign influence on her rulings. In fact, the “foreigners” were Judge Barrios’s Guatemalan mother, her neighbor, and a nun who was a friend of the family. But the rumors had their desired effect: They discredited not only Judge Barrios but also the genocide trial. The Guatemalans I met knew that the stories they heard through the news media might be part of disinformation campaigns. But lacking better options, many still saw the world through the lens of the prudent hypothetical, viewing everything as possible and nothing as certain. When General Ríos Montt was eventually convicted, many saw him as a victim of foreign machinations rather than a perpetrator of genocide and crimes against humanity. (His conviction was later vacated on procedural grounds.) Professor Pearce said she saw parallels between the use of kompromat overseas and recent news in the United States. Although the Trump dossier purported to be a warning about kompromat elsewhere, she said, it could also be seen as a form of kompromat itself. She listed the parallels to what she had seen in her research: Its content is damaging but unverified. Its distribution was multilayered, with a website — in this case, BuzzFeed — publishing the unverified material and other outlets amplifying its impact by reporting on the ensuing controversy. The document also fostered uncertainty and division. Masha Gessen, a Russian journalist, wrote in a recent opinion column in The New York Times that the release of the dossier had allowed Mr. Trump to say that “there was no such thing as truth, only a battle of opinions proffered by different actors, each of whom strives to be loudest. ” For some Americans, the dossier sowed concern about Mr. Trump’s vulnerability to Russian influence. Others saw its publication as evidence that Mr. Trump was the victim of a disinformation campaign. That may ultimately be to Mr. Trump’s benefit if allegations against him arise in the future. Americans were similarly divided in their views on the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer system. When Russian hackers leaked emails stolen from the committee, some saw it as evidence that Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, was a victim of foreign machinations, while others viewed the documents’ content as confirmation that Mrs. Clinton was unreliable and dishonest. The leaks distracted from more substantive campaign issues and fueled public distrust and rancor. Many people in the United States traditionally see the leak of confidential documents by like Daniel Ellsberg’s release of the Pentagon Papers, as a way to hold the powerful to account. We tend to believe that transparency serves the public good, and secrecy the interests of the powerful. Such a belief presumes that there is a fixed quantity of hidden information out there that the news media is or is not revealing. But in a kompromat society, incriminating material, real and fake, will be manufactured as needed to serve a political purpose. To smear a president, undermine a judge or sow distrust in an institution or process, all someone needs to do is create a set of documents salacious enough to attract discussion, persuade some corner of the web to publish them and then wait for the resulting controversy to be reported as news. That does not hold the powerful to account. And worse, it undermines the institutions that are supposed to do so. In the United States, Professor Pearce said, “grabbing on and holding to the truth is becoming more challenging. ” If kompromat becomes a more widespread tactic, public trust will erode even further. “A lot of the things that are good about the U. S. are because we have this kind of scaffolding,” she said. “I don’t want to live in an environment where I’m having to really be skeptical of everything, like people in authoritarian regimes have to be. ” “Living like that is horrible,” she said. “It is exhausting. ” | 0fake |
Group ends effort to draft House Speaker Ryan into election | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group that wanted to draft House Speaker Paul Ryan as a Republican presidential candidate is shutting down, a day after Ryan’s political operation sent the organization a cease-and-desist letter demanding it halt its campaign. In a statement on Friday the Committee to Draft Speaker Ryan said it had become “increasingly clear that the Committee’s efforts, however well intended, could become an unwanted distraction to the Speaker’s current responsibilities.” Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman who was Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential running mate on the Republicans’ 2012 ticket, has said he does not want to run for president this year and disavowed the Draft Ryan group. With establishment Republicans desperately searching for a way to stop real estate businessman and former reality TV personality Donald Trump’s march toward the party’s nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election, Ryan’s name has been mentioned often as an alternative. But Ryan’s political operation, in a letter sent Thursday, told the Draft Ryan group it should not be “misleading people into supporting your organization” and warned of legal risk, saying it believed the group’s actions “may constitute fraudulent solicitation of funds.” In its statement Friday, the committee acknowledged that neither Ryan nor his allies had sanctioned the group. “Nor was this, as it was incorrectly described in some media reports, an ‘establishment’ effort to oppose any candidate currently running for President,” the statement said. The effort had been funded by Earle Mack, a former U.S. ambassador to Finland. Mack had told The New York Times that he would spend up to $1 million on the Draft Ryan committee. The organization had wanted to advance the idea that if the Republican convention to formally nominate the party’s candidate was contested, “the best person to lead our country would be Speaker Paul Ryan,” the statement said. It said the group had received a “resounding response from around the country” and was confident that if it had stayed in operation, it would have surpassed its goal of collecting 1 million signatures on an online petition to draft Ryan. A spokesman for Ryan said in response to Friday’s announcement that Ryan was grateful for Mack’s “passion.” “He (Mack) cares deeply about the future of our country. Speaker Ryan does too, and that’s why he is focused on advancing a bold policy agenda with his House colleagues to unify our party and turn around our country,” the spokesman said. The Draft Ryan group was only registered with the U.S. Federal Election Commission last week as a Super PAC, an independent political action committee that may raise unlimited sums of money. (Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Grant McCool) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production. | 0fake |
Kurdistan region says Iraqi forces preparing major attack in oil-rich Kirkuk | BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi government forces and Iranian-trained Iraqi paramilitaries are preparing a major attack on Kurdish forces in the oil-rich region of Kirkuk and near Mosul in northern Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said on Wednesday. But an Iraqi military spokesman denied any attack on Kurdish forces was planned and said that government troops were instead preparing to oust Islamic State militants from a border area with Syria in the west of Iraq. Tensions between the KRG and the Iraqi government have been running especially high since the Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly voted for independence in a referendum last month. The Kurdish-held multi-ethnic region of Kirkuk has emerged as a flashpoint in the crisis as it is claimed by both sides. Iraqi forces and Shi ite paramilitaries, known as Popular Mobilisation, are deployed south and west of Kirkuk, in areas previously under the control of Islamic State. We re receiving dangerous messages that Iraqi forces, including Popular Mobilisation and Federal Police, are preparing a major attack .. on Kurdistan, said the KRG s Security Council in a tweet confirmed by a Kurdish official. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Oct 5 that his government wanted to avoid clashes with the Kurds, but Popular Mobilisation leaders have repeatedly threatened to oust Kurdish forces from Kirkuk. An Iraqi military spokesman denied the KRG claim. We are getting ready for the battle in al-Qaim, we re not concerned by confrontations other than with Daesh, he said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. The area around the border post of al-Qaim, in western Iraq, is the last Iraqi region still under the control of the militants who overran a third of the country in 2014. Offensives are being prepared south and west of Kirkuk and north of Mosul, said the KRG s security council. Iraqi forces captured Mosul from Islamic State in July, after a grueling nine-month U.S.-backed offensive with the participation of Kurdish Peshmerga. Kurdish forces are deployed north of the city, in an area also claimed by Baghdad. Abadi s government, seeking to keep the country together, has taken measures to isolate the KRG, including a ban on direct international flights to the region. Neighboring Iran and Turkey back Baghdad s stance, fearing the spread of separatism to their own Kurdish populations. Iraq s Supreme Judicial Council issued arrest warrants on Wednesday for the chairman of the Kurdish referendum commission and two aides for violating a valid (Iraqi) court ruling banning the independence vote as against the Constitution. | 0fake |
South Korea says U.S. designation of North Korea as terrorist sponsor to contribute to decentralization | SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea s foreign ministry said on Tuesday the United States decision to put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism is expected to contribute to the peaceful decentralization of the North. The announcement will not change the joint stance of South Korea and the United States in trying to bring North Korea to dialogue, the ministry said in a text message to reporters. | 0fake |
California voting expert bares naked truth about politics | SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Political consultants are sometimes accused of hiding the naked truth about the candidates they represent or the campaigns they devise. But California voting expert Paul Mitchell bared it all after Tuesday’s primary election, running naked around the grounds of the state Capitol building in Sacramento after his prediction in a key race turned out to be wrong. “When improbable things happen, some pay consequences,” Mitchell posted on Twitter early on Wednesday morning. Along with the posting was a photo of the darkened Capitol, a map of a running route from the athletic tracking app Strava and the title, “Streaking.” Last year, Mitchell firmly dismissed predictions that two Democrats would be chosen in Tuesday’s primary to vie for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat in November. He was so sure that would not happen - despite a change in the state’s open primary law advancing the top two vote-getters to the general election regardless of party affiliation - that he vowed to run naked around the Capitol if two Democrats were chosen. When it became clear on Tuesday night that state Attorney General Kamala Harris and U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez, both Democrats, topped the polls and would advance to the general election, Mitchell knew what he had to do. He parked his car in front of the Capitol building in downtown Sacramento in the darkest spot he could find, took off his clothes (including shoes) and ran, he said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “I couldn’t put up with all the badgering I would get if I didn’t do it,” he said. “There’s honor among politicos, I guess.” He managed to maintain his privacy to all but a couple of youths on skateboards. “It really doesn’t seem like it’s very dark outside when you’re streaking,” Mitchell said. | 0fake |
CNBC Just Confirmed Comey Is Abusing His Power To Help Trump | Comments
A bombshell report from CNBC confirms that FBI Director James Comey had in fact concluded that the government of the Russian Federation was interfering with the election, but fought to keep that information from being released to the public because it was “too close to the election.”
Instead, Comey prevented the name FBI from appearing on the statement the government ultimately made on October 7th.
This attitude stands in stark contrast to the cavalier way in which Director Comey threw a wrench into the election by writing a letter to “update” Congress on the Hillary Clinton email investigation since the FBI discovered emails that “may” be pertinent to their previous inquiries.
That announcement has drastically shifted the polling landscape of the election and given the Republican Party the final stretch ammunition that the Donald Trump campaign, sinking after weeks of sexual assault revelations, needed to bail themselves out and redirect the national narrative away from their own bad press.
The hypocrisy is astounding; it appears that the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation attempted to hide the machinations by a foreign power to interfere in the elections of the United States to protect the Republican nominee, who has a long documented history with the operatives of said foreign power and a personally profitable reason to cultivate their support.
The Director then said that he couldn’t release that information to the public – which definitely deserves to know if a foreign power is interfering with our electoral process – because it was “too close to the election” but then releases an intentionally vague and misleading letter concerning new emails that “may or may not be” pertinent to an investigation which the FBI itself had already exonerated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over?
It’s obvious that Director Comey has joined Congressional Republicans in their efforts to conduct a witch-hunt against one of our nation’s most devoted public servants and usher in the election of a treasonous sexual predator instead. | 1real |
Toxic chemicals found in children’s Halloween makeup – study | Toxic chemicals found in children’s Halloween makeup – study Toxic chemicals found in children’s Halloween makeup – study By 0 73
Halloween is supposed to make your skin crawl, but not like this. A new study finds the scariest part of the holiday may not be the costumes, but makeup for kids. Out of 48 makeup palettes, almost half contained toxic heavy metals.
Nearly 20 percent of makeup palettes contain lead and cadmium, according to the newly published study by the Breast Cancer Fund. The study found that some products contained as many as four metals, including arsenic and chromium.
Nine of the palettes were found to contain lead, a chemical that is unsafe at any level, for children particularly. Parents may have purchased and applied these products to their children unwittingly, as the makeup doesn’t have to list ingredients on their labels.
The BCF may have been among the first to test the palettes, as the FDA does not regulate this particular product.
“ The FDA that regulates makeup does not have the power to require pre-market testing ,” Jen Coleman with the Oregon Environmental Council told KGW.
The cosmetic safety law enacted 75 years ago does not require testing even for products marketed to children. While the FDA cannot do anything about the problem, they have issued guidelines to avoiding “ a rash, swollen eyelids, or other reaction ” this Halloween.
The guidelines make no mention of potential heavy metal poisoning, but they do offer advice like “ Follow all directions carefully ,” and “ Don’t decorate your face with things that aren’t intended for your skin. ”
What’s a parent to do in the meantime? Other than use all-natural makeup, the best option is to avoid dark pigments. The BCF study found a correlation between the darkness of the color and the lead content. The darker the color, the more lead it was found to contain.
Via RT . This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license. | 1real |
An FBI Agent Just Admitted His Bosses Are Pro-Trump, Hate “Antichrist” Hillary | Comments
Numerous FBI officials, both current and former, say the Bureau is intentionally attempting to influence the presidential election in favor of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump by damaging the candidacy of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
The interworkings of the FBI have been generously described as “chaotic” since Director James Comey declined not to recommend Hillary Clinton face criminal charges over her private email server, and this is because, as one current FBI agent described, “the FBI is Trumpland.”
This is a view shared by numerous other agents , none of which would speak directly on the record for fear of both professional and personal reprisal.
Comey then turned about-face and wrote a vague letter to Congress to announce the FBI would soon begin the process of combing through new emails which it had recently discovered that were tied to Clinton by way of Anthony Weiner , a disgraced Democratic congressman and failed New York City mayoral candidate who happens to be married to Clinton’s top aid, Huma Abedin.
The FBI looked at Weiner because of accusations that he had been having illicit sexual conversations with an underage g irl. Comey’s letter was almost immediately leaked by Congressman and self-appointed Clinton inquisitor Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and the dominoes began to fall in Trump’s favor. Clinton’s polling numbers began to sink, and the negativity surrounding the allegations of various sex crimes committed by Trump began to dissipate as the nation’s perpetually wandering attention returned to the ersatz email “controversy’.
One FBI agent said that Clinton is viewed as “the antichrist personified to a large swath of FBI personnel” which is why the information about Clinton has been timed to coincide with the election, “they’re pro-Trump.”
However, not all of the information coming out of the FBI is entirely anti-Clinton. Trump’s former campaign manager and former Putinist operative Paul Manafort, is also said to have an active investigation open against him and that the investigation is in its early stages.
A former FBI official has a different take on the matter and said, “There are lots of people who don’t think Trump is qualified, but also believe Clinton is corrupt. What you hear a lot is that it’s a bad choice, between an incompetent and a corrupt politician.”
The content of the newly discovered emails, if they even exist at all, are unknown as Comey wrote his letter to Congress before the FBI acquired a warrant to read the emails. This is further evidence of the FBI’s bias against Clinton as the FBI exists to investigate facts rather than spreading propagandistic rumor — particularly weeks before a presidential election which many have said is a clear violation of the Hatch Act which was enacted to prevent individuals like Comey from using the power of their office to engage in partisan political activities.
Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York City, hinted towards these actions by the FBI against Clinton two days before they transpired . He said, “I think he’s (Trump) got a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next few days. I mean, I’m talking about some pretty big surprises.” Now would Giuliani know the FBI was going to write a vague letter which would shake up the presidential election unless the FBI had already decided to take the action and time the release of the letter specifically to damage Clinton?
The Director of the FBI is a position that can only be appointed by a sitting president, and the director is given a 10-year term. The concern is due to the FBI’s bias against Clinton, and the likelihood of her victory, it would appear all but impossible that James Comey would be capable of fulfilling his duties. The president has the discretion to unilaterally fire an FBI Director. The Congressional Research Service found “there are no statutory conditions on the President’s authority to remove the FBI director.” If Clinton is able to beat back the FBI’s last-minute attempts to influence the election, it is all but assured that she will fire Comey on her first day in the Oval Office. Related Items: | 1real |
Popular Pro-Trump Account ’Pizza Party Ben’ Suspended by Twitter - Breitbart | “Pizza Party Ben,” a popular comedy account and friend of former Breitbart Senior Editor Milo Yiannopoulos, was suspended without warning on Twitter early Friday. [Attempting to view the account, which had nearly 70, 000 followers, will return users with a suspension notice, puzzling fans on the platform as to why he was removed. “This is my only post that was out of the ordinary yesterday,” claimed Ben in an email to Breitbart Tech, citing a tweet he had posted sarcastically declaring, “I’m Muslim now. ” Pizza Party Ben has previously written for Breitbart News. Several Twitter users both protested and mourned Ben’s suspension on Friday, with many pointing to the account as simply the next victim of the platform’s suspension rate for conservatives, libertarians, and free speech activists. Good morning to everyone except whoever suspended this patriot pic. twitter. — Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) March 31, 2017, Come back @PizzaPartyBen! pic. twitter. — Mike Cernovich 🇺🇸 (@Cernovich) March 31, 2017, Our President can get @PizzaPartyBen’s Twitter account restored. @realDonaldTrump @POTUS > #FreePPB, a loyal subject, an innocent jokester. — MILO Magazine (@MiloWear1A) March 31, 2017, . @PizzaPartyBen did nothing wrong #FreePizzaPartyBen #FreePPB pic. twitter. — David Hirst (@d_hirsty) March 31, 2017, @Jack banned @PizzaPartyBen because Ben became a Muslim l! You’re a bigot, Jack! — DJ ALASKANBASED3X (@AlaskanBased) March 31, 2017, ICE finally got him. @PizzaPartyBen, — Mitch (@kitchmamps) March 31, 2017, PizzaPartyBen suspended pic. twitter. — Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 31, 2017, Today we are all @PizzaPartyBen pic. twitter. — Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 31, 2017, The Republic of Kekistan demands freedom for the POW @PizzaPartyBen, — Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 31, 2017, Pay respects to @PizzaPartyBen fallen veteran of the Great Meme War. #kek #Kekistan #MAGA #PizzaPartyBen #FreeBen pic. twitter. — Dan 🇺🇸 (@DanSlovakdijock) March 31, 2017, . @PizzaPartyBen converts to Islam, gets a lifetime ban hours later. Coincidence? I think not! pic. twitter. — The Swog Blog (@TheSwogBlog) March 31, 2017, “Twitter suspending @PizzaPartyBen for literally no reason is almost as sad as site owned by Saudi Arabia claiming to promote free speech,” posted one account. Twitter suspending @PizzaPartyBen for literally no reason is almost as sad as site owned by Saudi Arabia claiming to promote free speech. — God Emperor Trump (@realGETrump) March 31, 2017, “Why are pedophiles on here but you suspend my friend?” asked another user, tagging Twitter CEO and activist Jack Dorsey in the post. I want my @PizzaPartyBen back! !! @jack @Twitter why did you suspend him? Why are pedophiles on here but you suspend my friend? — Saltwater ❤️ P (@SWFLBeachBabe) March 31, 2017, Pizza Party Ben joins a long list of prominent conservatives and libertarians who have been suspended on Twitter, including Milo Yiannopoulos, rapper Azealia Banks, pharmaceutical entrepreneur Martin Shkreli, DNC hacker Guccifer 2. 0, a Saudi women’s rights group, a game developer who criticized Islam, another game developer who called for mosque surveillance, a conservative lawyer, and even Twitter’s free competitor, Gab. Breitbart Tech reached out Twitter regarding the suspension but have yet to receive a response. Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook. | 0fake |
Alabama Republican Governor BUSTED Lying To Congressman To Cover Up Affair (AUDIO) | They say the cover-up is always worse than the act itself, and Alabama Governor Robert Bentley is learning that lesson right now.The Republican governor has refused to resign and is currently facing impeachment because Bentley was caught on tape talking to Rebekah Mason, a staffer who works for him, about the extramarital affair they were conducting at the time with each other. I love you, Bentley told Mason in the recording. I love to talk to you. Baby, let me tell you what we re going to have to start doing, we re going to have to start locking the door. If we are going to do what we did the other day, we are going to have to start locking the door. Clearly, Bentley told Mason they ll have to lock the door because their relationship became physical andthe logical reason why they would have to start locking the door is so someone doesn t walk in on them and catch them in the act.The audio tape of Bentley and his mistress caused Bentley s wife to divorce him and as previously mentioned, the Alabama legislature has started impeachment proceedings against him.But now it appears that Bentley actually tried to cover up his affair by lying to a state lawmaker during a telephone call that was recorded.Alabama state Rep. Allen Farley caught Bentley on tape accusing the gambling industry in the state of spreading false allegations about him and Mason because he claims they were desperate enough to block his tax measures that they would sink to any low to do it. There is no affair going on, Bentley claims in the audio recording. He then goes on to talk about Mason and how his wife is jealous of her and again denies that he is having an affair with her.The 25 minute phone call continues with Bentley denying that he ever used government money or the government plane to help him carry on the affair.Bentley then goes on to claim that there is a conspiracy against him orchestrated by the casino industry to force him to stop pursuing his tax agenda. Casino gambling people are feeding this story, Bentley said. These guys, let me tell you what they re most concerned about. They re most concerned about a lottery and me signing a compact with the Indians. That s what they re concerned about That is the loaded gun right there. And they will do anything because these guys are poised to make hundreds of millions of dollars. Here s the audio via YouTube.So the plot has definitely thickened in this scandal and it looks like Bentley is in deep sh*t right now. He repeatedly lied about the affair before the first recording came out proving that he is a liar. And now we have a recording of Bentley flatly lying to a state congressman in an effort to cover up his affair by falsely accusing a major industry in Alabama of basically trying to blackmail him.If this isn t enough to result in Bentley s ouster the people of Alabama need to install a brand new state legislature.Featured image via YouTube | 1real |
Unbending on border, Ireland says there work to do to get Brexit deal next month | DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland, armed with an EU veto and insistent on an open Irish border after Britain leaves the bloc, is hopeful agreement can be reached by mid-December but believes sufficient progress has yet to be made. Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Thursday his country needed more clarity from London. The border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which will be the UK s only land frontier with the bloc after its departure, is one of three issues Brussels wants broadly solved before it decides next month on whether to move the talks onto a second phase about trade, as Britain wants. I am hopeful this can be reached in December, but it is by no means pre-determined... We need a lot more clarity, Coveney told a parliamentary committee while repeating that with three weeks to go, Dublin has still not received proposals from London to allow talks to move on. Before it can sign off on the first phase of talks, the Irish government wants Britain to spell out in writing how it intends to make good on its commitment that the 500-km (310 mile) border will remain as seamless post-Brexit as it is today. Dublin has said this can be best achieved if London commits, on behalf of Northern Ireland, that there would be no regulatory divergence north and south of the border. Coveney said that includes all areas from agriculture to state aid rules. Speaking to reporters in Paris, Ireland s European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee said Dublin would continue to resist the idea expressed by some British ministers that talks need to move onto the trade phase before the border issue can be resolved. They are asking us to take a leap in the dark and we are not going to take a leap in the dark. We need something more concrete, McEntee said. The border question is particularly sensitive given the decades of violence over whether Northern Ireland should be part of the UK or Ireland. Some 3,600 people were killed before the 1998 peace agreement. We have been very clear in terms of what we re asking for, that hasn t changed for months. What has changed, perhaps, is the expectation that Ireland, maybe when we came under a bit of pressure, that we might back off or accept that this would be deferred into phase two, Coveney said. Some people seem to be surprised that that s not happening, maybe they weren t listening when we told them the first time, or the second time or the tenth time but I think people are listening now. | 0fake |
U.N. agrees international experts to probe Yemen war crimes | GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations agreed on Friday to establish a group of eminent experts to examine all human rights violations commmitted in Yemen s war and to identify those responsible. In a last-minute compromise hammered out between Western powers and Arab countries, the U.N. Human Rights Council adopted by consensus without a vote a resolution which the Yemen delegation said it accepted. A credible international investigation is necessary in order to comprehensively, transparently, independently and impartially establish facts and circumstances surrounding violations with a view to put an end to the cycle of impunity in Yemen, the Dutch delegate told the forum on behalf of a core group of Western states. (This version of the story corrects second paragraph to say adopted without a vote, not with a vote). | 0fake |
Trump Supporters At ‘Mother Of All Rallies’ MASSIVELY Outnumbered By Marching Juggalos | Saturday, September 16th, 2017 will surely go down as the strangest day for rallies in our nation s capital since at least January, when millions of invisible people attended Donald Trump s inauguration ceremony.Two different gatherings are taking place, quartered in different sections of the National Mall, but surely visible to one another: Trump supporters have come together to put on what they re calling the Mother of all Rallies, with expected attendance undoubtedly in the zillions, and a rally with an actual purpose is also taking place. Juggalos, or fans of the band Insane Clown Posse, are in D.C. to protest what they call an unfair label from the FBI and Department of Justice classifying them as a loosely organized hybrid gang. It s clear which group has the more ardent supporters, and it isn t the one I m calling (for the purposes of this piece) the Trumpettes. Donald Trump is known for his loyalty demands, but I m not sure he s ever met a Juggalo, because they showed up today:WASHINGTON, DC SEPTEMBER 16: People gather for a rally during the Juggalo March at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, September 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)That s the Juggalos showing up. The Juggalo March, at the time of this writing, is just getting underway.This, on the other hand, is the majority of the Trump rally happening just across the way:WASHINGTON, DC SEPTEMBER 16: Pro-Trump security forces try to keep people away on the National Mall on September 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)You ll note from the captions that these two photos are both by Getty photographer Tasos Katopodis. The Trump rally began, according to the Facebook event page, at 11 AM EDT, while the Juggalo March wasn t scheduled until 2 PM Eastern.The Trumpette organizers have tried to distance themselves from the white supremacists that organized the Charlottesville, Boston, and Portland rallies held in the name of free speech. Unfortunately for them, they don t seem to realize that the majority of people who show up at those rallies don t care who the president is, they just want to be allowed to shout racial slurs again without fear of public reprisal.Reaction to the stark difference in attendance was widespread:"The Juggalos outnumber the white supremacists at the Lincoln Memorial today." is not a sentence I ever thought I'd write. Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) September 16, 2017Someday the Battle of Juggalos vs Trump supporters will be in a Ken Burns documentary."My dearest Martha, whoop whoop."#JuggaloMarch #MOAR pic.twitter.com/oHLV2rUiM1 Edmund Hanlon (@EdmundHanlon) September 16, 2017There are more Juggalos marching today against Trump than pro-Trump folks marching in their "Mother of All Rallies". ?#JuggaloMarch #MOAR Charles Clymer? ? (@cmclymer) September 16, 2017And in what must be a crushing blow to the Trumpettes, the Juggalos have Antifa, the other side that Trump cannot stop dreaming about every night, there in solidarity. Not being violent, not pepper spraying anyone, just together to show the love:Antifascist contingent in solidarity with Juggalos at DC march against FBI gang classification pic.twitter.com/RZTbmCFaM9 Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) September 16, 2017The Juggalos give a big "whoop whoop" to "hating Confederate monuments." Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 16, 2017Welcome to 2017, everyone.Featured image via Al Drago/Getty Images | 1real |
TRUMP CAMP HAS BRILLIANT PROPOSAL That Would Help Pay For The WALL with Mexico…This Keeps Getting Better And Better! | One thing we ve noticed is that Trump has surrounded himself with great people who have a wealth of knowledge about the border and immigration. Senator Jeff Sessions is one of those people. He s been an advocate for closing our borders for quite some time. Sessions and so many others must have really schooled Trump well on the border. The speech last night was dead on and full of great ideas. A new proposal has come up and is a brilliant idea. It s just being considered but the idea of using seized assets from drug cartels something to think about since $8.7 billion was brought in just last year from seized assets. That could pay for the wall in one year To fund construction of a new U.S. border wall, Donald Trump and senior advisers are considering various ideas, including the use of assets seized from drug cartels and others in the illicit drug trade.As the debate over who will pay for the wall dominates the discussion on cable news, sources involved in the pre-planning of the GOP nominee s Mexico trip told LifeZette the Trump camp is looking for innovative ways to pay for the construction of the border wall that both countries can support. Sensitivities in Mexico regarding Trump s visit, and specifically paying for the border wall, are running high. For decades, the illicit drug and arms trade has endangered and destroyed the lives of countless Mexicans and Americans A senior Trump policy advisor stressed the proposal was just one of several funding options being discussed and said the idea was not raised during Trump s meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pe a Nieto.Advocates of the make the cartels pay plan believe it has the added benefit of punishing the worst of the worst who bring violence to our streets and prey on innocent Mexicans and Americans, while giving political cover to both leaders to accomplish their objectives. Sources close to both the Mexican government and the Trump campaign have confirmed that this proposal exists, but wish to remain anonymous given the preliminary nature of the discussions.Read more: Lifezette | 1real |
Experts: Obama Helped Trump With Illegal Database | Home | World | Experts: Obama Helped Trump With Illegal Database Experts: Obama Helped Trump With Illegal Database By Carlos Mohón 15/11/2016 09:43:43
ARIZONA – USA – As the Obama administration encouraged illegal immigrants to come over the border, Donald Trump wants to stop this, and send them back.
Thanks to Obama’s initiative to acquire a database of illegal immigrants in America, and a pledge of amnesty , which allowed many to sign up, Donald Trump now has a complete list of people to be deported from America.
Every year many people try to gain entry into the United States utilising legal channels of entry, and millions are denied. It is therefore wrong that many others who wish to come to America can just walk across a border, and were encouraged to do so under the Obama administration.
Trump has already outlined a plan to deport 2-3 million illegals who arrived illegally from South American countries and who pose a serious danger to the populace. The deportation of illegals with criminal records and links to gangs will be a first step, however there are still approximately 12 million known illegal aliens residing within the U.S.’s border, and these will be rounded up and deported in the next year or so.
The logistics of rounding up these people and putting them on secure buses back to the border will be enormous. Some advisers are saying that there will be elements who try and flee from immigration control officers, however, they will have no place to go. They will not be able to work, or rent out a place to sleep, once they are caught they too will be rounded up and thrown out of the country.
Many illegal immigrants are now going underground or fleeing back across the border, so Trump has a big job in front of him, that is if he does not go back on his word. Share on : | 1real |
Be Winter Wise: Woolley Hats Stop Heart Attacks | By Lizzie Bennett Every winter we are bombarded by information about the cold and how to protect ourselves from it and from health issues associated with it. Wrap up warm, keep one room heated to a... | 1real |
JESSE WATTERS Takes On Young Anti-Trump Protesters: “He said that black people are ignorant” [Video] | 1real | |
Protests in Paris Ahead of Putin Visit to French Capital | PARIS (AP) — Human rights activists are gathered in Paris to draw attention to the situation of gays in Chechnya before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to France. [The activists want French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the issue with Putin at their Versailles palace meeting. They held a banner “Stop homophobia in Chechnya” at a square in front of the Eiffel Tower. Amnesty International France vice president Cecile Coudriou says “it’s important that Mr. Putin is ready to hear, we hope, strong words coming from Mr. Macron, to say ‘stop’ to that homophobia which has lasted for too long. ” Human Rights Watch said in a new report last week that officials in Russia’s Chechnya humiliated inmates during visits to detention facilities where gay people were allegedly held and tortured. MOSCOW (AP) — On a trip that will likely shape ties for years to come, President Vladimir Putin is set to visit France for talks on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron after expressing sympathy for his rivals during the campaign. After Moscow lost its bets in the French vote, the visit offers the Russian leader a chance to turn the page and try to establish ties with Macron as the Kremlin has struggled to mend a bitter rift in relations with the West. The meeting comes in the wake of the Group of Seven’s summit over the weekend where relations with Russia were part of the agenda, making Macron the first Western leader to speak to Putin after the talks. The Kremlin has hailed the visit as a chance for Putin and Macron to get to know each other and better understand their views on a range of disputed issues, including the Ukrainian crisis, the war in Syria and Russia’s ties with the European Union. Macron’s invitation for Putin was a surprise after his tough stance on Russia during the presidential campaign that contrasted with the platforms of some of his rivals, including candidate Marine Le Pen and conservative Francois Fillon, who both have spoken for ending Western sanctions against Moscow over the Ukrainian crisis. Amid the Congressional and FBI investigation into Russia’s alleged meddling in the U. S. presidential vote, Macron’s aides claimed in February that Russian groups were interfering with his campaign. Moscow has strongly denied all allegations of election meddling. Putin, however, made his preferences in the French presidential election clear by hosting Le Pen at the Kremlin in March — part of Russia’s efforts to reach out to nationalist and forces in a hope of boosting their influence in the West. Over the years, Putin also has frequently met with Fillon, the French prime minister in and praised him as an experienced statesman. Analysts say the visit to Paris offers Putin an opportunity to improve ties with France that had steadily deteriorated in the closing months of Francois Hollande’s presidency. “As a person who pays utmost attention to personal contacts, Putin believes that only a meeting could give answers to many questions about Macron as a person and president of France, as well as his future foreign policy course and his stance on Russia,” Tatyana Stanovaya of the Center for Political Technologies, an independent wrote in a commentary. “Putin understands quite well that just one productive meeting could lead to a radical revamping of ties. It would be silly not to use that chance. ” In October, Putin abruptly shelved a trip to Paris after Hollande alleged that Russia could face war crime charges over Syria. Hollande declared that he wouldn’t take part in the opening of the newly built Russian Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center in the heart of the French capital and was only interested in talking about Syria. As part of his trip Monday, Putin is scheduled to visit the center near the Seine River that includes the Holy Trinity Cathedral along with a school and a book shop. The site was sold to Russia under former President Nicolas Sarkozy amid criticism from rights groups about France’s outreach to Putin. Prior to that, Putin and Macron are set to have talks at Versailles and then tour an exhibition there marking the 300th anniversary of Russian Czar Peter the Great’s trip to Paris that was prepared by St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum. With Peter the Great widely seen as a ruler who modernized Russia and sought to open it up to the West, the exhibition offers a symbolic backdrop for both parties to talk about the importance of ties, and, more broadly, rapport between Russia and the West. Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Russia is dissatisfied with the current level of political contacts, adding that the talks will offer a chance to review them. “The meeting is very important for both Russia and France,” he told reporters. Ushakov noted that he expects an “interesting discussion” on ways to implement a 2015 Minsk deal for eastern Ukraine, which was brokered by Germany and France. The U. S. and the EU have made the prospect of lifting economic and financial sanctions against Moscow contingent on fulfilling the peace agreement. The deal has helped reduce the scale of fighting between Ukrainian forces and separatists in eastern Ukraine, but clashes have continued and political elements of the agreement have stalled. Ukraine and Russia have blamed one another for the lack of progress. Ushakov said that the two leaders will also have a “frank” discussion on Syria, where Russia has backed President Bashar Assad and France has pushed strongly for his removal. He added that last week’s suicide attack on Manchester Arena emphasized the need to pool efforts in the fight against international terrorism, so the talks will also touch on that. | 0fake |
Teenager ‘enamored with ISIS’ in court over ‘viable device’ found on London Underground | Teenager ‘enamored with ISIS’ in court over ‘viable device’ found on London... Teenager ‘enamored with ISIS’ in court over ‘viable device’ found on London Underground By 0 53
A poker-fixated teenager, who was “enamored with ISIS” and charged in connection with a “viable device” found on the London Underground, has appeared in court.
Damon Smith, 19, of South East London, has been accused of unlawfully and maliciously making or possessing an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or cause serious danger to property, the Metropolitan Police said. BREAKING – 19 year old Damon Smith charged with possessing or constructing explosives after device left on London tube train last Thursday pic.twitter.com/b0BekmI1aw
— Mark White (@skymarkwhite) October 26, 2016
He did not enter a plea in relation to the charge during his hearing at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
Defence counsel Simon Eastwood, however, indicated that his client, who has a form of autism, would be pleading not guilty on the grounds it was a prank, according to Sky News.
The device was found last Thursday on a tube carriage on the Jubilee Line at North Greenwich station, near the O2 Arena. It had been left inside an abandoned black Adidas rucksack and was found by two members of the public.
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The station was evacuated for several hours, and counter-terrorism police destroyed the item in a controlled explosion.
The prosecution told the court that experts carried out a forensic examination of the package and deemed it to be a “viable improvised explosive device” which would have caused injury had it detonated.
The bomb was a “pressure” type device and contained grey powder, ball bearings, and a clock-type detonator, the court was told.
Four properties have been searched in connection with the investigation.
On Saturday, another device was discovered at an address in Newton Abbot by police investigating the North Greenwich incident. The item was later declared not viable.
Smith had just moved to London from Newton Abbot, Devon, to study IT at the London Metropolitan University.
He has been described as a “mummy’s boy” and a “loner,” with an interest in martial arts and online poker.
Friends of Smith have also claimed he was “enamored” with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), Sky reports.
“He had a Koran and knew several phrases and he wore a black headscarf. Damon had replica guns and air rifles and even posted a video of himself shooting a replica Glock on YouTube,” a former friend told the Sun.
Smith has been remanded back into custody and will next appear at the Old Bailey on November 17.
Via RT . This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license. | 1real |
House ethics panel investigating Democrat Corrine Brown | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives Ethics Committee said on Wednesday it had opened an investigation into Democratic congresswoman Corrine Brown of Florida. The committee said in a news release that it voted on March 16 to establish an investigative subcommittee to look into allegations Brown improperly solicited charitable donations, used campaign funds for personal purposes, failed to comply with tax laws and made false statements to the House and the Federal Election Commission. | 0fake |
Trump Just Gave The Most BIZARRE Response For How He’ll Defeat ISIS (VIDEO) | Audience members and viewers watching MSNBC s Commander-in-Chief Forum were treated to a rare, once-in-a-lifetime moment last night when Donald Trump actually told the truth for a few seconds about his plan to defeat ISIS.Host and moderator Matt Lauer had been grilling the Republican nominee on the insanity he s been spewing about having a secret plan to defeat ISIS that he can t reveal (supposedly because it would just tip-off the terrorist group). While Trump has previously been quick to find creative ways to dodge or turn around questions in a way that confuses people and avoids having to actually provide an answer, The Donald slipped up this time. By complete accident, Trump revealed that regardless of what he s said in the past, there is no plan at all.In trying to clarify a contradictory statement that Trump had made in a speech earlier that day in which Trump had said he d give military leaders 30 days to devise a plan to defeat ISIS, Lauer asked Trump: So, is the plan you ve been hiding this whole time asking someone else for their plan? Trump stumbled over this question right away, unintentionally showing Americans that Trump has yet to come up with a strategy: No. But when I do come up with a plan that I like, and that perhaps agrees with mine or maybe doesn t I may love what the generals come back with Lauer continued to question Trump about releasing the plan, and criticized him for taking a plan from generals even though Trump has previously said that he knows more about ISIS than they do. This part of the interview was completely bizarre as Trump loses his footing and Lauer knew the Republican nominee was vulnerable but it was perfect. Trump was finally being exposed for the liar he is.You can watch this part of the interview below:Is Donald Trump s counterterrorism plan to ask for someone else s plan? #NBCNewsForumhttps://t.co/A5IN7J9S9l MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 8, 2016Featured image via Spencer Platt / Getty Images | 1real |
‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6, Episode 6: A Dragon Queen on the Campaign Trail - The New York Times | The problem with emerging naked from a flaming temple is that it’s hard to top. It’s hard to top, that is, unless you happen to have a dragon with a flair for dramatic timing. So it went on Sunday, as Daenerys Targaryen wrapped up this week’s “Game of Thrones” with a stump speech for the ages. Populist rhetoric? Check. I know most khals prefer an elite inner circle of bloodriders, Dany told the assembled, but I want you all. Relatable local reference? Check. I remember like it was yesterday, Khal Drogo promising me the Seven Kingdoms at the Mother of Mountains, easily my favorite mountain in Essos. Demonization of outsiders? You better believe it. Look at them over there, with their iron suits and stone houses. They think they’re better than you, but we’re going to show them different. Oh and by the way, did you happen to notice that I’m sitting on an actual dragon right now and let me hear you say it: Are you with me? Now and always? They were. It’s hard to blame them — it was quite the performance. I was ready to air out some iron suits and tear down a stone house or two myself, and I don’t even own an arakh. Dany’s dragon rally wrapped up an episode titled “Blood of My Blood,” which you may recall is how Dothraki leaders and bloodriders address one another. The phrase also applied neatly to nearly every other story of the night. There was the excruciating in Horn Hill, as well as the loathsome Walder Frey’s harsh treatment of his own . (Welcome back, Tobias Menzies.) In King’s Landing, the marriage of Tommen and Margaery and their ongoing issues create all sorts of awkward ties between the Lannisters and Tyrells. That whole thing’s not going to end well. Finally there was Uncle Benjen, the brother of Ned Stark, who made a heroic return to the story, saving Bran and Meera from their Wight pursuers with some sort of flaming mace. (I guess all the other Wights got lost?) But first back to Dany. The speech, a near copy of the one Khal Drogo made in Season 1, was fiery enough to almost make me overlook a couple of things. One was the convenience of Drogon’s arrival, as alluded to above. You’ll recall that he was the one who kicked off this whole Dothraki revival tour at the end of last season by dumping Dany in a field and apparently disappearing. Now he’s back at her beck and call? Or are we to believe that Drogon knew all along that Dany’s capture was for the best in the long run? (Can dragons have greensight?) I guess another possibility is that this was the plan all along — that once Dany realized where she was, she hatched a plan to be captured and assume command of the Dothraki forces. But if that was the case, why not just use the dragon to do it? (Or why leave the ring for Daario and Jorah to find?) It’s not a huge thing, but I hope the writers clarify at some point rather than continuing to rely on the Drogon ex machina route. The other thing: Dany didn’t exactly refute Daario’s point that she was a conqueror, not a did she? Rather, he almost seemed to remind her oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to rile up everyone with my dragon … My colleague James Poniewozik recently wrote about Dany’s inclination toward “permanent revolution,” contrasting it with Tyrion’s belief in realpolitik solutions. Will Tyrion’s steadying hand be enough to offset Dany’s proclivities, or at least keep her from burning everything up the way her mad father did? She certainly seems to have a knack for it. I assume that was him, the Mad King Aerys II, in Bran’s visions. He seemed just as charming as advertised. It was interesting that the show chose to include him in the same episode that found Dany reaffirming her toppling intentions — could it have been a warning? Which is to say: Are we sure we want Dany to be successful in her attempt to retake Westeros? She’s been a sympathetic character largely because she’s been a liberator of the oppressed, but isn’t that also an expedient way to build an army? Have we been backing someone who would actually be a disastrous ruler? For the record, I would love it if the mother of dragons turned out to be a villain in this story, though I don’t really expect it to go that way. (The dragons seem destined to be the fire opposing the White Walkers’ ice.) But there could be a fascinating reckoning coming, though it likely won’t be anytime soon. This is Dany we’re talking about — so far she’s more prone to spinning wheels than breaking them. It could take her another season and a half just to get back to Meereen. Speaking of leisurely arcs, Benjen’s been missing for a while — it turns out he was killed by White Walkers but saved by a strategic dragonglass stab by some forest children. (Read that sentence again this show is so nutty sometimes.) Bran spent much of the escape trying to boot up like a cable box, downloading seemingly the entire story, including some intriguing things we haven’t seen yet. (Troubling thought: What if this whole show ends with Bran staring at a snow globe?) The good news for Bran is that he traded a Hodor for a ranger, an upgrade in ability if not in heart. (No offense, big guy, wherever you are.) The previous Raven brought in Benjen to watch Bran’s back, and he also suggested that they’d all be returning to the main story soon, hopefully, by heading to the Wall to wait for the Night King. I’m sure Jon Snow will appreciate having another formerly dead guy around, too — maybe they can start a support group. Back in King’s Landing, the High Sparrow is proving cagier than many of us probably expected (or wanted). The joint offensive came to naught because the Sparrow and Margaery brought Tommen into the fold. What just happened? Mace the lovable doofus asked his mother in King’s Landing. “He’s beaten us,” she replied. Of course, it’s easy to look smart when your opponent is an inbred a few swords shy of a throne. (If Joffrey’s penalty for Jaime and Cersei’s sins was psychopathy, Tommen’s would seem to be imbecility.) Not only did Tommen thwart the planned overthrow of the Faith Militant by embracing it, he shunted Jaime off to deal with the Blackfish situation at Riverrun. That’s fine with me: I like Jaime better on the road, anyway, especially if he takes Bronn with him. (The preview of next week’s episode seemed to suggest as much.) Cersei was good with it, too. “Stand at the head of our army where you belong,” she told him. “Show them what Lannisters are … ” And then they both got so fired up with all the revenge talk, they collapsed into each other’s arms. Don’t ever change, you crazy kids. I don’t think for a second that Margaery is buying any of the Sparrow rhetoric — if you had any doubt that she was a formidable operator, notice how slickly she avoided her own walk of shame. But I’m actually more intrigued by the person we’ve seen hardly at all: her brother Loras. When we last saw him, he was coming apart, groveling in the dirt and ready to do anything to make it all stop. I can’t help thinking the show is setting him up for some sort of shocking kamikaze act. Tommen is too valuable to Margaery — she controls him and if he goes, she’ll be left looking for another heir to hook up with. (I don’t even know who would be next, aside from the eternally rowing Gendry.) Jaime is heading out to Riverrun. So that leaves … Cersei? Would the show go there? She has a trial by combat coming up, as she reminded us Sunday. And when’s the last time anything went wrong at one of those? Sorry — I meant “right. ” When’s the last time anything went right at one of those? Finally, over at Tarly Acres, Sam’s big reunion with his family combined the real twin pillars of “Game of Thrones”: Awful fathers and terrible dinner parties. Meeting the prospective is always tense, even if you don’t belong to a loathed people and your significant other isn’t hated by one of his parents. Which is to say: Gilly never really stood a chance of being accepted. And Sam knew it, strategically withholding all potentially inflammatory information from his letter. “It wasn’t a very large piece of parchment,” he explained pathetically, which I enjoyed. But hey, at least they got a nice sword out of it. I’m not totally sure why the show’s spending so much time on Sam and Gilly, aside from perhaps using them to stand in for all the humble family units at risk of getting ground up by these clashes between more powerful clans. That said, you saw Sam’s house. He’s not exactly the salt of the earth. I imagine the whole point of the homecoming was to put that Valyrian steel sword in Sam’s hands for future use. You will never wield that sword, his father told him, which I imagine most of us heard as “you will definitely be wielding that sword before long. ” It happened quicker than I thought, but good for him. With a dad like that, he deserves it. • It looks like our long, faceless nightmare may almost be over: Arya has effectively cut her ties with the House of Black and White. We thought she seemed unlikely to kill the Meryl Streep of Braavos and she did not, which no doubt delighted the horrible Waif. (Jaqen’s “don’t let her suffer” absolutely went in one ear and out the other.) I’m happy for Arya to introduce the Waif to Needle and then move on, perhaps as a new understudy to replace the troupe’s resident Eve Harrington. I’m not sure we’ve seen the last of those guys, based on the warmth between Arya and the actress, and the casting of Richard E. Grant as the temperamental playwright. • I don’t think we’re through with Jaqen either, or he with Arya. I suspect all the apparent exceptions he’s made for her — overlooking her nobility, giving her another chance after she killed Meryn Trant — signal an agenda he hasn’t revealed yet. I do think we’re done with stick beatings though, and for that, a man is glad. • “I think our father could learn a thing or two from your father,” Sam’s sister told Gilly, which made me laugh, and then made me feel guilty for laughing. Craster was the worst, which is saying something on this show. • You need at least 1, 000 ships, Daario told Dany. Hmm, if only there were a couple of renegade siblings with a bunch of ships … • Hodor. (Never forget.) • What did you think? Was dinner at the Tarlys the worst one yet? What did you make of Bran’s visions? Who’s naming these swords, anyway? (Heartsbane?) Who’s been the most reprehensible father on this show? Please let us know in the comments. | 0fake |
Former Congressman Has a Back Up Plan If Trump Loses the Election, And It Includes His Musket... | Getty - Alex Wong The Wildfire is an opinion platform and any opinions or information put forth by contributors are exclusive to them and do not represent the views of IJR.
With the election a little under two weeks away, former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh is all in for Trump.
But if you thought you were anti-Hillary, you may want to think again.
Walsh, who's made no secret about his disgust for the former Secretary of State, sent out this head-turning tweet on Wednesday: 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
No, it's not a parody. Walsh just said he is going to grab his musket if Trump doesn't win the 2016 presidential election. And yes, he invited others to join him.
CNN's Jake Tapper saw the tweet and like most of us, he wanted Walsh to clarify his comments: @WalshFreedom what exactly does that mean? — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 26, 2016
Walsh responded: @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
Others weighed in, too: — Brian Fagioli (@brianfagioli) October 26, 2016 @walshfreedom @jaketapper Doing what it takes to get your country back? It’s called voting. Never heard it referred to as “musketing” — John Blanco (@ZaBlanc) October 26, 2016 I don't think @WalshFreedom understands the meaning of "civil disobedience." pic.twitter.com/qqdX6WDbP9 — John Haltiwanger (@jchaltiwanger) October 26, 2016
But one commenter said, “I think you got a good portion of gun owners that are with you. But seriously a musket. You might want to update your arsenal.” | 1real |
MILO Named LGBTQ Nation’s 2016 Person Of The Year - Breitbart | Breitbart Senior Editor MILO has been named LGBTQ Nation’s 2016 person of the year, an award for the “top newsmaker” in the LGBTQ community. [MILO beat Vice Mike Pence for the top vote, receiving 70, 000 votes, over 80% of all votes. Pence also received a formidable 23, 000 votes. LGBTQ Nation say interview with MILO will be released next week. In their announcement of the award, LGBTQ Nation noted some of the allegedly “awful” reasons why MILO made the news in 2016, before acknowledging the Breitbart senior editor’s ability to influence the news cycle. Yiannopoulos made the news throughout 2016 and always for truly awful reasons. He was a queer cheerleader for Donald Trump, whom he called “Daddy. ” He has harassed and demeaned transgender people repeatedly. Hate him or love him, one thing Yiannopoulos truly excels at is getting attention for himself and his causes. If he decides to highlight an issue, his fans will follow his every word on the subject and more often than not, it’ll get moved to a mainstream audience as the story picks up steam from online chatter. For a gay guy from Britain, he has truly made his mark on conservative American politics and entertainment. He’s been able to brand himself the ultimate gay provocateur in a year of provocateurs. Yiannopoulos, however, wanted to add to his list of accomplishments in 2016, telling LGBTQ Nation his list included, “My banishment from Twitter, recently announced book deal ( now!) college tour, my jawline, and a really cute Siberian fox sable fur I just snapped up. ” LGBTQ Nation’s editorial staff added a note to the article indicating they removed a reference to MILO as a member of the movement. Read the full announcement at LGBTQ Nation here. DANGEROUS is available to now via Amazon, in hardcover and Kindle editions. And yes, MILO is reading the audiobook version himself! | 0fake |
North Korea says nearly 3.5 million volunteer for People's Army as tensions rise | SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday that nearly 3.5 million workers, party members and soldiers volunteered to join or rejoin its army to resist new U.N. sanctions and to fight against the United States in the current geopolitical tension between Pyongyang and Washington. Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s official newspaper, said the volunteers had offered to join or rejoin the People’s Army after the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) issued a statement on Monday condemning new sanctions imposed by the United Nations in retaliation for North Korean missile tests. Earlier this week, nuclear-armed North Korea threatened to strike the United States and its Pacific territory of Guam. KCNA said on Wednesday a mass rally was held in Pyongyang to support the government. North Korea has previously mobilized large crowds to show its resolve when tensions escalate. In August 2015, 1 million North Koreans offered to enlist or re-enlist in the army when a mine exploded in the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas, raising additional tensions. North Korea warned foreign diplomats to leave Pyongyang in 2013 when it suspended work at a joint inter-Korean industrial park and threatened missile strikes on U.S. Pacific bases, notably in Guam and Hawaii. | 0fake |
Republican Senator Hatch rejects bipartisan healthcare deal | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch on Wednesday rejected a bipartisan healthcare deal aimed at stabilizing Obamacare, saying the Senate bill was too costly. “No way to pay for it. Oh my gosh, give me a break. I appreciate the innovation and the attempt to do it right. But it doesn’t help,” the Utah Republican told reporters. “I certainly don’t think it’s a good idea.” As the Republican head of the Senate finance panel, Hatch oversees legislation that addresses the financial aspects of healthcare policy. | 0fake |
David Letterman Shreds The ‘Goon’ In The White House: ‘It Makes Me Sick’ That Trump Represents Us | Late night television icon David Letterman gave a scathing review of Donald Trump s time in the White House. According to the comedian, Trump is a soulless goon and it makes him sick that he is representing the United States. (Boy can I relate to that feel.) I m disappointed that this man is representing me and my country. It makes me sick, Letterman told GQ.Letterman has known Trump for a long time and said that he doesn t regret having the former reality tv star on his show numerous times over the years. No, no reason to regret it . But we always looked forward to having him on. He was a great guest. He was just a big, wealthy dope who d come on and we would make fun of his hair. I would refer to him as a slumlord, Letterman continued.However, Letterman said that since that time, Trump has managed to prove to the world that he is completely without a soul. But now, this goon I don t know. He s demonstrated himself to be a man without a core, a man without a soul. Is there a guy in there? Letterman asked.This isn t the first time Letterman has stepped forward to denounce Trump. In March, the former host of The Late Show called out Trumpy for the steady stream of lies that he spews forth without even a hint of regret. How do you know if Donald Trump is lying? His lips are moving, Letterman said. If we get a president sometime soon who does not have a mental disorder, Twitter will be useful, he added.Letterman told GQ that he would love to have the opportunity to sit down with Trump one on one in a tv studio so he could ask him this important question: All right, Don: What the fuck happened? Featured image via Mike Coppola/Getty Images | 1real |
Mueller, New York attorney general cooperating on Manafort probe: Politico | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is working with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on its investigation into President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his financial transactions, Politico reported on Wednesday. Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, Politico reported Mueller’s team, which is investigating possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia, and Schneiderman’s aides have shared evidence and talked frequently about a potential case in recent weeks. The cooperation “could potentially provide Mueller with additional leverage to get Manafort to cooperate in the larger investigation into Trump’s campaign, as Trump does not have pardon power over state crimes,” Politico reported. CNN reported on Tuesday that Mueller had issued subpoenas to an attorney who formerly represented Manafort and to a Manafort spokesman. Manafort’s Virginia apartment was raided by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation last month. The longtime political consultant and lobbyist is being investigated for possible money laundering and has been targeted as someone who might testify against former colleagues, two people familiar with Mueller’s work have said. Politico said no decision had been made on whether to file charges, and quoted one of the sources as saying “Nothing is imminent.” Mueller’s team has been looking into Manafort’s lobbying work and financial transactions, including real estate deals in New York. Manafort, who headed Republican Trump’s campaign for several months in 2016, has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Schneiderman, a Democrat, said in May that Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey threatened the integrity of the agency. Trump has called Schneiderman a “lightweight.” Russia has denied any meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump has denied any collusion by his campaign and has condemned the investigation as political witch hunt. | 0fake |
BREAKING…Internal Memo From OBAMA’S Corrupt EPA: FLINT NOT WORTH “Going Out On A Limb For” | Wow! Bernie and Hillary have been making hay over the Flint water crisis for months now, using the crisis to secure votes from the black community. Leftists have been converging on the city like rats in search of the last peice of cheese on earth and now we have proof that Obama s EPA knew about the crisis, but didn t think the people of Flint were worthy of protecting.An internal Environmental Protection Agency memo showed officials didn t think Flint is the community we want to go out on a limb for while residents of the Michigan town drank lead-contaminated water.House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz presented an internal memo between the EPA official who oversees Michigan, a branch manager in the EPA s Region 5, the associate director of the water division for Region 5 and an EPA environmental engineer about the water crisis in Flint.In the memo, one of the officials it wasn t clear who based on the screen shown by Chaffetz said Flint wasn t worth helping. Perhaps she already knows all this, but I m not so sure Flint is the community we want to go out on a limb for, the memo stated.Chaffetz was incredulous at the memo. Are you kidding me? he said, looking at Susan Hedman, the former director of EPA s Region 5, which oversees much of the Midwest including Michigan. Why isn t Flint the community they go to? Of all the communities, the community having trouble is the one you go all out for, Chaffetz said. Via: Washington Examiner | 1real |
Lawsuits Against Monsanto’s Roundup® | By Catherine J Frompovich When I published the article, “Glyphosate Contaminates the Global Ecosystem: The Damning New PAN Report”, I mentioned a law firm as a resource because of the lawsuits it has... | 1real |
AWESOME! PRESIDENT TRUMP Shows Off His Strength…Obama Would Have Hurt Himself Doing This [Video] | Obama would have hurt himself doing this (see video below). The Corning Glass CEO visited the White House with other business leaders and had President Trump test a specialty glass made by Corning called Valor Glass. CEO Wendell Weeks had President Trump press the lever on the old glass and then on the new Corning s Valor Glass.The result was awesome! Weeks told President Trump: My associate wanted me to inform you a thousand pounds is about the same as a punch from a professional boxer. Trump exerted 1,000 pounds of pressure!REMEMBER WHEN OBAMA WAS FILMED EXERCISING? HOW COULD WE FORGET!Barack Obama works out at a private gym in Warsaw s 5-star Marriott hotel Ouch! It almost doesn t seem real. He s grimacing with 8-10 pound dumbbells in his hands. How can that be? | 1real |
REPORT: Ann Coulter Cancels UC Berkeley Speech - Breitbart | Conservative author and speaker Ann Coulter has been forced to cancel her speech at UC Berkeley amidst worries for her safety on campus. [Fox Business reports that Coulter has chosen not to ago ahead with her speech at UC Berkeley which was planned for this week. The conservative author caused waves across the college campus when her event was announced and received opposition from the UC Berkeley administration, which at one point banned Coulter, although this ban was later rolled back. Law enforcement sources warned Fox News that there was a “99% chance” of violence on the campus of UC Berkeley if Coulter went ahead with her speech. The Young America’s Foundation group was also forced to pull their support of Coulter’s talk due to security concerns, the group blamed the college administration for allowing radicals to terrorize conservatives on campus. Watch the report from Fox Business below. #BreakingNews: @AnnCoulter cancels UC Berkeley speech. pic. twitter. — FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) April 26, 2017, **UPDATE** Former Breitbart Senior Editor Milo Yiannopoulos declared that he would bring a free speech army to UC Berkeley later this year in a Facebook post following the report of the cancellation of Coulter’s event: **UPDATE** Reuters has confirmed with Coulter that the event has been canceled: “There will be no speech,” Coulter wrote in an email to Reuters on Wednesday in which she also criticized two conservative groups who had originally sponsored the event, saying they were no longer supporting her. “I looked over my shoulder and my allies had joined the other team,” she wrote. “I have no sponsor, no lawyer, no court order,” she added. “I can’t vindicate constitutional rights on my own. I was just supposed to give the speech. ” Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart. com | 0fake |
Comment on Wikileaks Reveal Clinton Ties To Rothschilds And Occult Cabal by Time to hail Hillary Clinton – and face down the testosterone left | Van Badham – News | By wmw_admin on July 27, 2016 Baxter Dmitry — Your News Wire.com July 25, 2016 From left to right: Hillary Clinton and Evelyn de Rothschild, Bill Clinton and Lynn Forester de Rothschild. Click to enlarge
The Wikileaks classified email dumps have exposed Hillary Clinton for what she really is – a member of the infamous Rothschild family’s inner sanctum, with occultist beliefs.
Lending further credibility to the idea that Presidents are not elected but are selected by a global shadow government, the Wikileaks email dumps expose Hillary Clinton’s close relationship with the infamous Rothschild banking family and hints for a potential Rockefeller-State partnership.
The fact the mainstream media have been exposed colluding with the Clinton campaign cannot come as a surprise, considering she is the Rothschild’s selected candidate.
Lynn Forester de Rothschild wrote an email on April 18, 2010, in which she tells Hillary she would “ love to catch up ” — and “ I remain your loyal adoring pal .” Clinton responds “ let’s make that happen ,” and signs her response, “ Much love, H .”
On September 23, 2010, Clinton emailed Lynn Forester de Rothschild saying, “ I was trying to reach you to tell you and Teddy that I asked Tony Blair to go to Israel as part of our full court press on keeping the Middle East negotiations going … ”
Rothschild responds, thanking Clinton for “ personally reaching out to us ,” and adds, “ You are the best, and we remain your biggest fans .”
A January 9, 2012, email discusses a meeting set to take place at Jacob Rothschild’s “ historic estate, Waddesdon .” OCCULTIST TIES Bohemian Grove gathering. Click to enlarge
Hillary Clinton is so deeply entrenched in the elite New World Order establishment that she even bows down to Moloch, the same occultist god they perform human sacrifice rituals for at the annual Bohemian Grove meetings.
In an email from August 29 2008, a senior government staffer writes to Hillary Clinton, “ With fingers crossed, the old rabbit’s foot out of the box in the attic, I will be sacrificing a chicken in the backyard to Moloch . . . ”
Thanks to the Wikileaks Hillary Clinton Email Archive (containing 30,022 emails, free to search), we now have more concrete proof that Hillary Clinton and other globalist elites have occult ties. Nobody randomly uses Moloch in a conversation. Most people don’t even know what Moloch is. Clinton email. Click to enlarge
But Bohemian Grove, the playground of the world’s most wealthy and powerful men, has been performing sacrifice rituals to Moloch since the 1800s, offering charred human flesh according to some reports.
Given the reputation Bohemian Grove has for deciding the next President of the United States in the year before the election (see former Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan, the Bush dynasty, as well as Hillary’s husband Bill Clinton), it should come as no surprise that Hillary is wriggling her way into their dark, secretive world
The Bohemian Grove club might be infamously male only, but temporary exceptions have been made for women before, and as it is apparent the New World Order has decided it is in their interest to ordain Hillary as the next President then they will bend their rules to let her in.
This explains why the mainstream media – and social media platforms – are working overtime to get Clinton elected. The global elites have spoken and the mainstream media has begun marching to the beat of their drum – supporting their selected candidate, and destroying the chances of anyone they see as a threat to their corrupt, elite club. | 1real |
Democratic debate 2015: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders finally face off | Watch the first Democratic presidential debate Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. ET live on CNN and CNNgo ; join the conversation at #DemDebate
Washington (CNN) The shadow boxing that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have played at for months -- they've barely mentioned each other on the campaign trail -- will give way to more direct jabs Tuesday night.
That's when the two rivals line up on stage at the first Democratic debate of the 2016 campaign, sponsored by CNN and Facebook. The encounter will provide a crucial opportunity for Clinton and Sanders -- the leading Democratic contenders -- to contrast their personalities, experience and approach to the key issues in the campaign.
Though Clinton and Sanders have rarely mentioned each other's names, they are clearly reacting to each other and their rival's potential weaknesses. Sanders took aim at Clinton's Wall Street record and Iraq vote over the weekend; she put him on the defensive on guns and his poor standing with minority voters.
Until now, they have each had good reason for avoiding full contact with the other. Clinton hasn't wanted to elevate Sanders and his surprisingly strong poll numbers, while Sanders has wanted to maintain his untraditional, above-the-fray image.
On Tuesday, that calculus will change. And the distinctions they've subtly staked out on a range of issues are only likely to grow sharper.
In the weeks leading up to the debate in Las Vegas, the two Democrats have been carefully finessing their political positions in relation to each other and their party's wide coalition, offering clues about how they will spar Tuesday night.
Sanders has been signaling he will try to strike a contrast with Clinton on reining in Wall Street and on her record of support for military interventions overseas. The former secretary of state, meanwhile, is under pressure to prove to progressives who have flocked to Sanders that she genuinely cares about the middle class. She's expected to highlight her differences with her rival on gun control and to demonstrate the broad support she has among minority voters -- a key sector of the Democratic coalition where Sanders is struggling.
As he limbered up for their clash, Sanders threw down the gauntlet on the Iraq War -- a thrust that Clinton has struggled to counter in the past -- hinting that she has hawkish views that are out of step with the majority of Democratic voters.
His campaign issued a statement reminding voters that he, then a member of the House of Representatives, voted against authorizing the Iraq war in late 2002. At the time he argued that the conflict would destabilize the Middle East, kill large numbers of Americans and Iraqi civilians and hamper the war on terror against al Qaeda.
The statement did not once mention Clinton -- but it did not have to. The then-New York senator did vote to authorize the Iraq war, and that vote was one of her greatest vulnerabilities in the 2008 Democratic campaign against Obama, who also opposed the war.
The Sanders statement raised the possibility that Clinton's vote could haunt her for a second presidential campaign.
"Democrats are no more fond of the Iraq war now than they were back then. That could be a problem," Peter Beinart, a foreign policy expert and CNN contributor, said Monday. He added that another Democratic candidate, former Virginia senator and Vietnam war veteran Jim Webb, who was also against the war, could double-team with Sanders to cause trouble for Clinton on the issue.
Sanders has also been staking out territory to Clinton's left on Syria. The former secretary of state recently distanced herself from Obama's much-criticized policy on the vicious civil war by calling for a no-fly zone to be set up to shield refugees.
Sanders issued a statement earlier this month pointing out that he opposes such an idea, warning that it could "get us more deeply involved in that horrible civil war and lead to a never ending entanglement in that region."
The statement appeared to be a clear appeal to Democrats who share Obama's antipathy toward getting the United States entangled in another Middle Eastern conflict and who are wary of Clinton's more activist instincts on foreign policy.
Sanders is not alone in seeing Clinton's foreign policy record as a vulnerability. Another Democratic candidate, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, also picked up on her Syria position Sunday -- saying on CNN's "State of the Union" that a no-fly zone was not advisable and warning that the former secretary of state was "always quick for the military intervention," apparently referring to her previous support for military action in nations such as Iraq and Libya.
Another area where Sanders seems more in tune with the progressive Democratic base is on Wall Street, especially since he has raised most of his money from small donors -- unlike the former secretary of state, who has been relying on big budget fund-raising events with rich contributors. Even with his small-donor focus, Sanders is nearly neck-and-neck in the fund-raising race with Clinton.
Clinton has made strenuous attempts to connect with what her campaign has called "regular" Americans, stressing the need to raise up the middle class to feel the benefits of the economic recovery. But Sanders has said that she hasn't done enough, an argument he may expand upon on the debate stage.
"People will have to contrast my consistency and my willingness to stand up to Wall Street and corporations with the secretary," Sanders said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
The Vermont senator also will likely draw an implied contrast with Clinton on two other issues -- the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact the United States and 11 other nations reached this month and the Keystone XL pipeline designed to carry oil from Canada's tar sands across the United States.
Clinton now says she is a 'no' on both issues, but she took months to get there -- despite fervent opposition to both projects from the left flank of the Democratic Party.
"I am glad that she has reached that conclusion," said Sanders in Washington last week when asked about Clinton's opposition to a trade agreement she championed repeatedly as secretary of state. "This is a conclusion that I reached from day one."
Yet Sanders is not alone in curating the battlefield for the Democratic debate. Clinton, while getting in line with progressive Democratic positions on big issues, has also been preparing to strike key contrasts with Sanders.
Guns are one policy issue where Sanders is not completely in sync with the Democratic base, so Clinton is likely to exploit it on Tuesday night.
She has been promising a forthright effort to enact new gun control laws after a string of recent mass shootings. It partly seems to be an attempt to focus attention her rival's record on guns, which recently saw him express his openness to reforms that would hold gun manufacturers liable for crimes committed with their weapons.
Clinton has also spent the runup to the debate cementing her links to key voting blocs of the Democratic coalition -- especially in sectors of the party where Sanders is weak. She can point to broad appeal in the party, which could be key to eventually blunting the challenge from Sanders after early-voting contests in the less diverse states of Iowa and New Hampshire where he is strong.
In recent weeks, Clinton has met representatives of the Black Lives Matter movement and has even criticized Obama for not going far enough in changing immigration laws.
"Hillary has done a lot of work leading up to this debate that has pretty much gone unnoticed," Patti Solis Doyle, Clinton's 2008 campaign manager, said on CNN on Monday.
"She's rolled out Latinos for Hillary, she has rolled out Women for Hillary, she has met with the leadership of Black Lives Matter, she has checked a lot of boxes walking into this debate," she noted. "I think she is going to display tomorrow night (Tuesday) her vast support among this coalition."
The challenge that Sanders faces reaching out to minority voters, who are a vital part of the Democratic Party voting bloc, was underscored by a new CNN poll Monday finding that only 1% of nonwhite voters in the important early voting state of South Carolina favor him.
That is a showing that Sanders must improve on if he is to come from behind and beat Clinton for the nomination. | 0fake |
[VIDEO] RINO STRATEGIST KARL ROVE HAS SOLUTION TO GUN VIOLENCE: Repeal Second Amendment | Why does FOX News even give this guy a microphone? He lost his relevance about a decade ago, and yet FOX News still thinks Americans care about anything he has to say. He was against gun control before he was for it Republican strategist Karl Rove said on Fox News Sunday the only way to stop gun-related violence, like the Wednesday massacre at Emmanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston S.C., was to repeal American citizens Second Amendment rights.When Chris Wallace asked Rove how we can, stop the violence, the long-time gun-rights advocate stated that we have made great strides as a nation in empathizing with the victims of these types of shootings, but the only way to guarantee they will stop is to remove guns from society. What do you think?WALLACE: How do we stop the violence?What do you think? ROVE: I wish I had an easy answer for that, but I don t think there s an easy answerWhat do you think? We saw an act of evil. Racist, bigoted evil, and to me the amazing thing is that it was met with grief and love. Think about how far we ve come since 1963. The whole weight of the government throughout the South was to impede finding and holding and bringing to justice the men who perpetrated the [Birmingham] bombing.What do you think? And here, we saw an entire state, an entire community, an entire nation come together, grieving as one and united in the belief that this was an evil act, so we ve come a long way.What do you think? Now maybe there s some magic law that will keep us from having more of these. I mean basically the only way to guarantee that we will dramatically reduce acts of violence involving guns is to basically remove guns from society, and until somebody gets enough oomph to repeal the Second Amendment, that s not going to happen.Via: Daily Caller | 1real |
Olivia Newton John's Daughter Is Vocal About Plastic Surgery Addiction...Here Are the Family Photos She Doesn't Show - Independent Journal Review | Share on Twitter
Chloe Lattanzi, actress and daughter of Grammy-winning singer and Hollywood actress, Olivia Newton-John, is talking openly about the body image struggles she had as a teenager—and the things she did to combat her poor self-image. Image Credit: Screenshot/ YouTube
Appearing on Wednesday's episode of “The Doctors,” Lattanzi revealed that she had implants and plastic surgery when she was younger because she suffered from body dysmorphia .
Body dysmorphia is a disorder which makes people obsess over parts of their body.
People with the disorder imagine their bodies to be severely flawed, to the point that it makes it difficult for them to function normally.
Lattanzi spoke about her particular experience with the disorder as a teenager, and the anorexia, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression that accompanied it:
“I went through this sort of chubby phase [as a kid]- I ate to comfort myself. I would see comments in magazines about how I was chubby. So around 16 I started to restrict food, exercise more.” Image Credit: Chris Weeks/Getty Images
Over one summer in particular, Lattanzi lost a lot of weight, but her new thinness brought with it problems, too.
She said she turned to plastic surgery and implants:
“When I was in the height of my body dysmorphia, I had a whole bunch of fillers. I’ve had that all removed from my face because I like the way I look naturally.”
Recently, Lattanzi saw some photographs of herself as a teenager and doesn't understand why she thought her appearance was so defective. Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
She says she's never shown the pictures to anyone before, but that they're a valuable tool for providing context to the mental illness from which she was suffering.
Now, having recovered from body dysmorphia and anorexia, the 30-year-old says she regrets making so many changes to her appearance:
“I look back at myself and I as a teenager and I’m like, 'What a beautiful young woman.' What was I thinking? Why was I so insecure?” Image Credit: Screenshot/ YouTube
Lattanzi feels that social media's focus on appearance is a major culprit when it comes to young women struggling with negative self-image:
“I think so many young girls are going through body dysmorphia — we’re constantly told how we’re supposed to look via Instagram and filters. There’s constant pressure for us to look perfect.”
Now, Lattanzi says she's “stable and in a loving relationship,” but she's still plagued by some anxiety.
She says the memory of her illness is a wound that may never completely heal. Image Credit: David Livingston/Getty Images
Body dysmorphia affects about 1.7% to 2.4% of the general population—or one in 50 people.
It is often accompanied by eating disorders, depression, and anxiety disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Surprisingly, according to some studies, cases of body dysmorphia are more often found in men than women. | 1real |
Debris and dust: Raqqa 'sacrificed' to defeat Islamic State | RAQQA, Syria (Reuters) - The ancient mud brick walls circling Raqqa s deserted old city are almost the only structure still intact. Inside, shops and homes spill crumbling concrete onto either side of the narrow roads, block after block. Fighting between U.S.-backed militias and Islamic State in the jihadist group s former Syria stronghold has peppered mosques and minarets with machine-gun fire while air strikes flattened houses. No building is untouched. The old clock tower could be heard from outside the walls once. It s damaged now. It s silent, Mohammed Hawi, an Arab fighter from Raqqa, said at a nearby home occupied by the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance (SDF). Raqqa, where Islamic State plotted attacks abroad during its three-year rule, is almost captured in a months-old offensive backed by U.S. air cover and special forces. But driving militants out has caused destruction that officials say will take years and cost millions of dollars to repair. The nascent Raqqa Civil Council, set up to rebuild and govern Raqqa, faces a huge task. It says aid from countries in the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS is so far insufficient. Raqqa s uncertain political future, as it comes under the sway of Kurdish-led forces which neighbor Turkey opposes, and is still coveted by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is partly what has made coalition countries hesitate, diplomats say. But failure to quickly return services to the city that was once home to more than 200,000 people, mostly now displaced, risks unrest, they warn. Infrastructure is completely destroyed, water, electricity networks, bridges. There s not a single service functioning, said Ibrahim Hassan, who oversees reconstruction for the Raqqa council at its headquarters in nearby Ain Issa. We gave our city as a sacrifice for the sake of defeating terrorism. It s the world s duty to help us, he said. A major bridge leading into eastern Raqqa lies collapsed after a coalition air strike. Beyond it, damaged water towers and the skeletons of teetering residential blocks dot the skyline. Awnings hung by militants to hide their movements flap in the wind. Senior council member Omar Alloush estimated at least half the city is completely destroyed. There are also bodies under rubble, of civilians and terrorists. These need reburying to avoid disease outbreaks, he said. Amnesty International has said the U.S.-led campaign, including air strikes, has killed hundreds of civilians trapped in Raqqa. Residents have reported civilian deaths, but it is difficult to establish how many people have died. The coalition says it does all it can to avoid civilian casualties. But the city is densely built up and militants firing from homes are often targeted by air raids. Council officials said with the battle still raging in a small, encircled area of the city center and countless explosives rigged by militants in areas they abandoned, reconstruction has not yet begun. The focus is on emergency aid, food and water, de-mining, Hassan said. The council wants to get services up and running as soon as possible, but has limited capacity and is staffed by volunteers. At its headquarters the offices of several departments consist of a single desk in a shared room. Support from the international community has improved and we feel less isolated, but it s been modest, Hassan said. The United States delivered several bulldozers and other vehicles to the council to clear debris recently, the Raqqa council said, out of a total of 56 due to arrive. Even 700 wouldn t be enough, Alloush said. Raqqa council volunteers have said they told the coalition it will take 5.3 billion Syrian lira (about $10 million) a year to restore power and water supplies, roads and schools. It is feared delays could reignite unrest. Groups that took over Raqqa in 2013 didn t run it well, a Western diplomat in the region said, referring to Syrian insurgents who seized the city from Assad s forces earlier in the six-year-old civil war, before IS arrived. That s partly what allowed Daesh (IS) to take over. If there s a gap in humanitarian assistance and no effective local governance structure, the risk of future violence increases. The council said coalition countries were reluctant to aid the Raqqa council, made up of local engineers, teachers and doctors. We ve suffered from bureaucracy in the decision making process for foreign aid, Hassan said. Some coalition countries were concerned about relations with NATO member Turkey over support for a governing body perceived to be allied to Kurdish militia, the diplomat said. The SDF, which for now controls much of Raqqa, is spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, a foe of Ankara which is fighting its own Kurdish insurgency. Turkey opposes the YPG s role in capturing Raqqa. Council officials say Raqqa will be governed independently of a self-run administration for northeast Syria that is dominated by Kurds, but is expected to have close relations with it. The extent of those relations is to be decided by elected officials once elections can be held. A second diplomat in the region said reluctance to aid the council was partly over concerns whether it properly represented the ethnic make-up of mostly Arab Raqqa, seeing tension if local Arabs were sidelined. Several prominent council members are Kurdish. There is also uncertainty over whether Raqqa will remain allied to the self-run parts of northern Syria, or if it would fall back to Assad in future upheaval. Assad has sworn to retake the entire country. For now, with Turkey s borders closed to SDF-controlled areas, aid to Raqqa comes a longer route through Iraq s Kurdish region. Raqqa council says it may have to be self-sufficient. We re waiting for help to repair the east bridge, co-president Leila Mustafa, a civil engineer, said. If it doesn t arrive soon, we ll begin ourselves, using any means we have. | 0fake |
Trump to name ex-Georgia Governor Perdue as agriculture secretary | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will name former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue as his nominee for secretary of agriculture on Thursday, a senior transition official said on Wednesday. Perdue, 70, served on Trump’s agricultural advisory committee during his presidential campaign. His nomination, which must be confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, will complete Trump’s proposed cabinet just before he is sworn in as president on Friday. By nominating a former governor from a Southern state, Trump eschewed candidates from major Farm Belt states in the Midwest that produce the bulk of crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat which dominate agriculture exports. Georgia is a key producer of crops such as cotton and peanuts. While Georgia governor, Perdue had to handle a severe drought in 2007, during which he took steps to cut water usage and at one point led a service outside the state capitol to pray for rain. Perdue, a Republican, was elected twice as governor, serving from 2003 to 2011. Before that, he was in the state senate representing a rural swath of the state about 100 miles (160 km) south of Atlanta. He switched political parties from Democratic to Republican in 1998 amid redistricting in the state and shifting demographics. Trump received strong support from the agricultural community as the farm economy slumped amid falling prices for key commodities. Ron Moore, president of the American Soybean Association (ASA), said he thought Perdue would support agriculture exports. “I think he will be very much in favor of trade,” Moore said in a telephone interview. The ASA, with 15 other farm groups, this month urged the incoming administration to “protect and enhance” agricultural trade and its impact on the rural economy. Trade, a signature issue during the campaign in which Trump accused China of unfair practices, is critical for the farm economy. U.S. farm and food exports to China were more than $20.2 billion in 2015. Prices for soybeans rose 16.2 percent during 2016 on strong demand from China, which buys nearly 30 percent of the U.S. crop. Soybean exports helped boost U.S. gross domestic product in the third quarter. Some farmers are concerned that Trump’s criticism of China could lead to deteriorating trade relations and put exports at risk. An influential Chinese state-run newspaper warned this week that U.S. agricultural imports and U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co could be targets for retaliation in any trade war ushered in by Trump. Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau, praised Perdue as a strong voice. But environmental groups opposed the nominee. “Farmers need a champion in the USDA who will fight for conservation programs to help farmers be more resilient in the face of extreme weather, not pray for rain,” Kari Hamerschlag, deputy director of food and technology at Friends of the Earth, said in a statement. After finishing his second term as governor, Perdue founded Perdue Partners, a global trading firm that consults and provides services for companies looking to export products. His cousin David Perdue is serving his first term representing Georgia in the U.S. Senate. The nominee is not related to chicken magnate Frank Perdue. | 0fake |
ALL IN…IN THE HOOD…for Donald Trump! | ALL IN…IN THE HOOD…for Donald Trump! Donald Trump is on track to win more of the African-American vote than any other Republican in modern memory, said John Yob, CEO of a Michigan-based polling firm, Strategic National . And that’s why Barack Hussein Obama is running around campaigning so hard against him for Hillary. While that so-called “racist” Donald Trump along with Rosa Parks and Muhammad Ali, were receiving the Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition Organization… …Hillary Clinton was singing the praises of Democrat Senator Robert Byrd, former leader in the Ku Klux Klan before becoming a U.S. Senator. Breitbart On Friday, a poll of 506 Pennsylvania voters by Harper Polling showed Trump has the support of 18.46 percent of African-Americans. An Oct. 30 poll of 1,249 likely voters in Pennsylvania showed Trump has 19 percent support among African Americans, while another 7 percent remain undecided. That poll has a error margin of 2.77 percent. In next-door Michigan, two nights of a tracking poll conducted for Fox 2 of 1,150 likely voters showed Trump with 14 percent support and 19 percent support. That’s equivalent to a two-point shift from Clinton to Trump in the state. Trump is gaining in Michigan partly because many African-American voters — especially younger voters who backed Sen. Bernie Saunders — distrust Clinton, said W ayne Bradley, state director of African-American engagement for the Michigan Republican Party. That distrust has helped cause a sharp drop in the number of absentee ballots mailed in from Detroit, even as other part of the state send in more ballots that before, Bradley said. Faced with a low turnout, the Clinton campaign is trying to frighten African-Americans to vote, but “t hat’s not a convincing enough argument,” he said. Trump’s gain among African-American voters is happening in many states, alongside an overall reduction in African-American enthusiasm and support for Obama’s designated successor. That drop-off in support from Obama’s 93 percent level will likely reduce the turnout for Clinton. That’s a problem for Democrats, because a 7.5 percent drop in nationwide African-American turnout would be equal to a one-point drop in a nationwide vote for Clinton. Reports say the early-voting turnout by Africans Americans has dropped by up to 10 percent in North Carolina and by somewhat less in Florida . President Barack Obama and other top Democrats have hopscotched through the states to push that turnout back up by election day. But pollsters face problems when trying to gauge opinions in a high-stakes emotional competition. Some concerned people lie to pollsters. For example, roughly 7 percent of college grads hide their support for Trump when they’re ask by pollsters over the phone, perhaps out of fear of penalties if their choice was made public. So when polls show a non-answer from respondents, for example, many undecided voters, the votes may be hiding a weak or strong preference for Trump. These factor may be impacting polls of African-Americans, who are being hammered by claims from Clinton and Obama that Trump is supposedly a racist. “If you accept the support of Klan sympathizers — the Klan — and hesitate when asked about that support, then you’ll tolerate that support when you’re in office,” Obama told an African-American crowd in North Carolina on Nov. 3. (See above for Hillary’s support of the KKK) A national poll by TIPP showed Clinton at only 75 percent support among all non-whites, including Hispanics, African-Americans and Latinos. That poll showed Trump getting support from 15 percent of non-whites , leaving 5 percent undecided and 5 percent supporting other candidates. Amid the disagreement, rivalries and complexity, Bradley is confident that Trump will do well among African-Americans. His final tally as the GOP candidate “will be a higher number that it has been in the past… [because] he’s working, he’s coming to these cities to deliver the message.” The African-American vote may even be enough to help push Trump over the so-called “blue wall” of Democratic northern states that stands in his path to the White House. Some say Trump is likely to get 16-25% of Black vote. | 1real |
Republican Satisfaction In ‘Trump’s America’ Takes 17 Point Dive In Just One Month | According to a Gallup poll released on Thursday, Republican satisfaction with the direction in which the USA is heading took its biggest hit between the months of May and June in the time since Donald Trump took office, dropping a massive 17 points.While satisfaction among Democrats and independents also fell during the same time period, one and three points, respectively, the level of satisfaction among Republicans plummeted from 58% in May to only 41% in June. To add insult to injury, these latest numbers bring the overall satisfaction rating among Americans to a paltry 24%, the lowest since July, 2016, which came on the heels of a spree of killings of African-American men at the hands of police officers and then a spate of shootings of law enforcement officers, pushing the country to the brink. That s a pretty tough act to follow.The latest drop in Trump s satisfaction rating comes amid a slew of controversies in the last several weeks, especially his decision to abruptly fire FBI director James Comey, the man who just so happened to be responsible for handling the investigation into Russian interference in last year s presidential election. The fact that it was revealed that Trump may have also divulged highly classified information to the Russians only compounded the problem.What Comey had to say under oath at his Senate inquiry last week didn t help matters for the President much, either, such as the revelation that Trump had not only asked Comey in February to drop the FBI investigation into former national security advisor Michael Flynn, but also asked for Comey s loyalty. Fortunately for all of the United States of America, Comey instead promised his honesty.If President Trump can take any satisfaction from any of this, it is the fact that the previous six US Presidents also suffered dwindling satisfaction ratings of their time in office. Perhaps not to this extent within the first five months, but it did happen eventually.Featured image via Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images | 1real |
America Might Not Deserve Trump, But Dems and Hillary Deserved To Lose | Tweet Widget by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon
President Donald Trump? How did such a thing happen? A competent and purposeful Clinton campaign should have beaten Donald Trump. How did Hillary Clinton and one-percenter Democrats snatch defeat from the jaws of certain victory? America Might Not Deserve Trump, But Dems and Hillary Deserved To Lose by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon
It’s over. The crotch-grabbing racist con man beat the lying corporate warmonger. Donald Trump is president-elect of the US.
It didn’t have to happen that way. Trump’s winning 58 million votes were a hair fewer than Clinton’s popular vote, a million or two less than Republican losers McCain in 2008 and Romney in 2012, six and ten million behind Obama’s 2012 and 2008 numbers. The buffoonish Trump was elected with such a low turnout because Hillary Clinton’s campaign was even less competent and credible. To borrow the condescending language Barack Obama deploys before black audiences, Hillary’s campaign never gave Cousin Pookie much reason to get up off the couch and vote.
Republican and Democratic parties are alike owned by their one-percenter investor/contributors. Democratic party shot callers decided they’d risk losing with Hillary Clinton rather than winning with Bernie Sanders. So Democratic party leadership, their media allies and the entire black political class got behind Hillary Clinton and helped collude and conspire to eliminate VT Senator Bernie Sanders, the Democrat with the best chance against any Republican opponent.
Once Bernie Sanders was eliminated Hillary waged a lazy and ineffective campaign, playing a hand with just three cards.
The first was the broken record of how unthinkable and unprecedented a disaster a Trump presidency would be… a clownish sexual predator who pronounced climate change a hoax and would criminalize abortion, open concentration camps, repeal Obamacare, legalize stop and frisk, build a wall, appoint neanderthals to the Supreme Court, deport six or ten million immigrants instead of Obama’s paltry two million and who might be in hock to the Russians. Except for the thing about the Russians, it’s roughly the same picture Democrats have drawn of every Republican presidential candidate since Nixon. A story told that many times just gets old. Party leaders counted on it anyway, and it wasn’t enough. That was incompetence.
A second and relatively weak card Democrats played was conjuring up an Imaginary Hillary Clinton, a defender of womens’ and human rights who held hands with the moms of killer cop victims, and occasionally mumbled about black lives mattering and the need to reform the criminal justice system. But Hillary’s decades-long record as a tool of banksters, billionaires and one-percenters was so well established in the public mind that Imaginary Hillary was a difficult sell, not credible.
The one-percenter Democrats’ third card, on which they staked a lot was the early and unconditional endorsement of Hillary Clinton by and Michelle. This had proven effective in Chicago in 2011 and 2015 where Obama’s blessings in 2011 and 2015 were key to fastening Rahm Emanuel on the city’s jugular vein after a half century of Daley rule. The entire black political class got behind Hillary too, from civil rights icons who ruminated on how they hadn’t seen Bernie Sanders back in the day to some other wise heads who assured us a vote for the Green Party’s Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka was an act of “ narcissism ” or maybe white privilege . But at the end of ’s time in office, the Obama endorsement didn’t carry the clout it used to.
Thanks to two generations of lazy Democrats who refused to try to consolidate the victory of the 1965 Voting Rights Act the Supreme Court in 2013 nullified its key provisions, enabling a constellation of laws and practices aimed at limiting access to the ballot on the part of students, minorities, the elderly and constituencies likely to vote Democratic. In the 2016 election cycle these practices stripped another few million Democratic voters from the rolls.
All in all, Democrats were the authors of their own defeat this presidential election. Hillary couldn’t campaign against the one percent because her party is a party of the one percent. Hillary Democrats including Bernie himself after the convention could no longer acknowledge joblessness, low wages, lack of housing, permanent war or the high cost of medical care or they’d be campaigning against themselves.
Donald Trump didn’t win because of some mysterious upsurge of racism and nativism. He won because Hillary Clinton’s campaign was even less inspiring and less competent than his own, and worked hard to snatch its own defeat from the jaws of victory. America might not deserve President Donald Trump. But Hillary Clinton didn’t deserve to win, Bruce Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report and co-chair of the GA Green Party. He lives and works near Marietta GA and can be reached | 1real |
Teacher Resigns After Being Caught Knocking Special Needs Student To The Floor (VIDEO) | Every parent s worst fear is that a teacher will abuse their child. This fear is even greater for parents like myself with special needs children that won t be able to tell us when a teacher like Amelia Stripling is hurting them. Fortunately for Sarah Patterson, the mother of a 4 year old student at Tift County Pre-K Center in Tifton, Georgia, the school has cameras and someone willing to speak up:According to Sarah Patterson, the mother of the boy, her son just turned 4 years old on Wednesday, days after Stripling casually walked around an open classroom door and shoved her knee in the boys back without warning, causing him to lurch forward and to the ground.Stripling then helped the boy up with the help of another adult before giving him a shove into the classroom.It s easy to see that Stripling was trying to get him to move into the classroom. But it s also clear that she was completely unconcerned about how rough she was and only mildly concerned that her student might have hit his head on the ground. If the whole incident had not been caught on tape and reported, Stripling would almost certainly still be working with special needs kids.Here s the video: WALB.com, South Georgia News, Weather, SportsThe United States is staring down the barrel of an educational crisis that will guarantee more scenes like the one above. Never mind the fact that there s a concerted effort underway to gut public education, stripping resources and talent and giving them to charter schools that waste billions with worse results; an even greater emergency is the rapid rise of autistic students and the complete failure of our school systems to prepare for them.My family is lucky. We lived first in New York City, which takes early intervention for special needs children VERY seriously (the earlier they get help, the better off they ll be). Then we moved to Northern Virginia (the very liberal part that turned the state purple) and they also take special needs education very seriously. Compare that to Southern Virginia (the inbred redneck to our hippie liberal) where they refuse to officially diagnose my clearly autistic nephew and told his mother that they can t be bothered helping him learn to tie his shoelaces so she should just get him Velcro sneakers.There s going to be a lot more of Southern Virginia than Northern Virginia in this country as millions of kids with special needs move through an educational system that doesn t know how to help them. They can barely handle what they already have and all too often resort to the kind of abuse that Stripling does. Sure, parents with money will be able to afford the expensive services their kids will need but even middle class families will unable to cope. And the working poor? Tough luck! Have fun sending your kid off to a school with a staff that s untrained, uncaring or both.Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
Twitter Users DESTROY Clinton Puppet James Comey #ComeyResign – TruthFeed | Twitter Users DESTROY Clinton Puppet James Comey #ComeyResign Twitter Users DESTROY Clinton Puppet James Comey #ComeyResign Breaking News By Amy Moreno November 7, 2016
If you thought FBI Director James Comey was a bought and paid for Obama shill, today proved it.
Sunday afternoon Comey announced he had completed the investigation of 650K emails, which he started nine days ago, and that there would be no charges against Hillary Clinton.
Um, first off, it took him over a YEAR to go through 53K emails, so how the hell did he BUST through 650K so fast?
Impossible.
Next, we just learned today that Hillary had her MAID printing off classified emails for her.
And finally, the FBI said that they were 99% certain at least FIVE countries had HACKED Hillary’s ILLEGAL server.
My God, what more does a person have to do to get friggen arrested?
It’s obvious the FBI has been compromised, and James Comey is a Clinton and Obama flunky.
Twitter exploded at the news, and the cries for Comey to resign are shaking the very foundation of the social media platform using the hashtag #ComeyResign. FBI Director Comey has officially killed every ounce of integrity the FBI had left. #ComeyResign
— Boss Trump (@TrumpTheBoss) November 7, 2016 This "news" from Comey should only help Trump get more votes. The corruption is overwhelming & very disturbing. #ComeyResign | 1real |
Hillary Clinton says U.S. threats of war with North Korea 'dangerous, short-sighted' | SEOUL (Reuters) - Former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that cavalier threats to start war on the Korean peninsula were dangerous and short-sighted , urging the United States to get all parties to the negotiating table. Clinton also called on China to take a more outfront role in enforcing sanctions against North Korea aimed at curbing its missile and nuclear development. There is no need for us to be bellicose and aggressive (over North Korea), Clinton told the World Knowledge Forum in the South Korean capital of Seoul, stressing the need for more pressure on North Korea and diplomacy to bring Pyongyang to talks. Tension between Pyongyang and Washington has soared following a series of weapons tests by North Korea and a string of increasingly bellicose exchanges between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Picking fights with Kim Jong Un puts a smile on his face, Clinton said, without mentioning Trump by name. Clinton also indirectly referred to Trump s social media comments on North Korea, saying, The insults on Twitter have benefited North Korea, I don t think they ve benefited the United States . The war of words has seen Trump call the North Korean leader little rocket man on a suicide mission, and vow to destroy the country if it threatens the United States or its allies. In turn, the North called Trump mentally deranged and a mad dog . Talks between the adversaries have long been urged by China in particular, but Washington and its ally Japan have been reluctant while Pyongyang continues to pursue a goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile to hit the United States. On Tuesday, Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan said the United States did not rule out the eventual possibility of direct talks with North Korea. The situation on the Korean peninsula was now touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment , North Korea s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Kim In Ryong had told a U.N. General Assembly committee on Monday. In Seoul, the vice foreign minister said on Wednesday South Korea was considering levying its own sanctions on the North, although no decision has been made yet. Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, said Washington s allies have increasingly been expressing concern over the reliability of the United States, advising Washington to avoid becoming distracted with North Korean threats and be as forcefully patient as possible. Regarding China s role in reining in North Korea, Clinton said Beijing would be better off trying to tighten and absolutely enforce sanctions against North Korea. North Korea s relationship with its main ally and trading partner China have been strained by its rapid pursuit of weapons programs, with many of Pyongyang s recent tests coinciding with major Chinese events. There had been fears that North Korea would conduct another test to coincide with the start of China s five-yearly party congress on Wednesday. Instead, Pyongyang sent Beijing a congratulatory message. The central committee of the North s ruling Workers Party of Korea said China had made great progress in accomplishing the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics under the guidance of the Communist Party of China. We are greatly pleased over this, the party central committee said in the message carried by the official KCNA news agency, adding that it sincerely wished the China congress satisfactory success . Chinese President Xi Jinping did not mention North Korea in his more than three-hour-long address at the opening of a key Communist Party Congress. Clinton said retaliatory actions by China over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea, which targeting the latter s firms doing business in China, would be unnecessary had Beijing done a better job reining in the North. China says the powerful radar of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system could be used to pierce its territory, and has taken aim at South Korea s businesses. South Korea and the United States have repeatedly told China that THAAD aims only to defend against North Korea s missile threats. The Chinese can t have it both ways, Clinton said. They can t do less than they could to tighten economic pressures on North Korea and same time discount the real threat South Korea and its citizens face. | 0fake |
Judge Uses Trump’s OWN WORDS To Prove ‘Travel Ban’ Is About Banning Muslims, Slaps Down Order | In the second time in less than two months, Trump s attempt to ban Muslims from entering the United States has been slapped down by a federal judge.The state of Hawaii officially blocked Trump s refashioned executive order that he had hoped would allow him to ban Muslims from certain Middle Eastern countries. The court case was closed just six hours before the ban was scheduled to begin.The temporary restraining order, which applies nationwide, blocks the Trump administration from enforcing sections 2 and 6 of the new executive order the travel and refugee portions of the order.It will now be up to Trump to decide whether he wants to appeal or give up. The last time he was faced with this reality check, Trump promptly freaked out, promising to SEE YOU IN COURT only to later drop plans to appeal. Instead, he had gambled everything on this rewrite. And he just lost again.SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017In an incredible twist, US District Judge Derrick Watson used Trump s very own words as part of his reasoning for slapping down the executive order.Judge then QUOTES TRUMP regarding the "religious animus driving the promulgation of the Executive Order." pic.twitter.com/T0KCc06RMY Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) March 15, 2017It s fitting that Trump s big mouth was his undoing. For years now he has publicly held the position that if elected he would ban Muslims from coming to the United States. Now that he is actually in office, his argument was that his executive order had nothing to do with religion. The countries he picked just happened to be Muslim-majority. The people he detained in airports just happened to be Muslims. The exemptions he said would be allowed just happened to be non-Muslims. Judge Watson wasn t buying any of it.Calling Trump s comments significant and unrebutted evidence of religious animus driving the promulgation of the Executive Order. Put another way: This order is bigoted to its core as was the previous one.Watson concluded: Any reasonable, objective observer would conclude, as does the Court for purposes of the instant Motion for TRO, that the stated secular purpose of the Executive Order is, at the very least, secondary to a religious objective of temporarily suspending the entry of Muslims. This judge has Trump pegged.Featured image via Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images | 1real |
WATCH: Republican Rep Thinks Poor Americans Can Afford Healthcare If They Don’t Buy A Cell Phone | Republicans are delusional if they really believe forgoing a new cell phone will allow poor people to afford healthcare.But that s exactly what Utah GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz believes.On Monday, House Republicans passed a monstrous bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act which pretty much leaves 30 million Americans out in the cold without insurance. Republicans stripped subsidies away from low-income Americans and will give them to families who can actually afford to pay for healthcare without government aid. The bill also wipes out the Medicaid expansion that allowed millions more to obtain coverage. Furthermore, the bill kills the insurance mandate, which guaranteed that enough Americans would have health insurance that the insurance pool would be able to cover people with pre-existing conditions. The bill also makes senior citizens pay more for healthcare and defunds Planned Parenthood, which would strip low-income women of the health services they need, including cancer screenings.During an interview to defend his party s evil bill on Tuesday morning, Chaffetz actually had the gall to claim that poor people could afford health insurance if they didn t go out and purchase iPhones.Seriously, he literally used this as an excuse to strip 30 million people of their health insurance. You know what, Americans have choices, and they ve got to make a choice, Chaffetz said. And so maybe, rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and want to go spend hundreds of dollars on, maybe they should invest in their own health care. Here s the video via Twitter.GOP Rep. Chaffetz: Americans may need to choose between new iphone they just love and investing in health care https://t.co/5Hxwn2uOl5 New Day (@NewDay) March 7, 2017Chaffetz s ignorant remarks make it clear that he doesn t know anything about the cost of healthcare, probably because his healthcare is free courtesy of American taxpayers.As Raw Story points out, the average cost of a health insurance plan is $235 per month while an iPhone costs just $27 a month with a two-year payment plan.In short, choosing not to buy an iPhone will not do anything to help poor Americans afford healthcare.Meanwhile, Republicans like Chaffetz can actually afford to buy their own health insurance because they make $174,000 a year. But they don t have to buy their own insurance because they get government healthcare along with the best hospitals all on the taxpayer dime.Chaffetz, and every Republican who voted for this bill, is a hypocrite and they should be ashamed of themselves.Featured image via screenshot | 1real |
Idaho Town Is Rattled Months After Reports of a Brutal Assault - The New York Times | DIETRICH, Idaho — Anonymous phone callers from distant area codes have unleashed tirades of invective on the residents of this tiny rural town. Strangers cruise its paved and dirt roads, seeming to drive through just for a look. And come fall, Dean Grissom’s and grandchildren will be going to another school. “Their parents think the kids aren’t safe,” said Mr. Grissom, 57, who works for the Idaho Fish and Game agency. He said that sending the children to classes in Shoshone, eight miles away, was unnecessary in his view, but that he understood the parents’ fears. A town he loves has been damaged. There is a lot of debate here about what happened at the town’s only school on Oct. 23 after a football practice: an assault, a racist attack, bullying, a failure of supervision by school officials, or some combination. Hardly anyone disputes, though, that this town of 350 people has been shaken to the core. State and local prosecutors say that several white football players bullied and brutally assaulted a mentally disabled black teammate in a locker room that October day, shoving a coat hanger into his rectum while other boys held his arms. Two of the players accused in the attack were charged as adults with felony sexual assault and could face life in prison if convicted. A third teammate has been charged as a juvenile. A preliminary hearing on the criminal charges is scheduled for Friday. In addition, a $10 million federal civil suit was filed last month by the boy’s adoptive parents, Tim and Shelly McDaniel, who are white. In it, they accused the school district and its administrators, trustees, employees and volunteers of failing in their legal duty to protect the McDaniels’ son, who they say endured months of racist taunts, humiliation and physical abuse. After the attack, the boy required treatment at two hospitals for rectal injuries. “The school district and individual defendants acted with deliberate indifference to the harassment, humiliation, mental and physical abuse and mistreatment of the plaintiff by students of the district and thereby permitted and caused him to be bullied, beaten and raped,” the lawsuit said. In big ways and small, the repercussions of both the crime and the family’s response are already rippling out, no matter what happens in court or at the school, which has 245 students in grades . Mr. McDaniel, 60, who has taught science at the school for 21 years, put the family’s house up for sale last month and is looking for work elsewhere. The cars and trucks that sometimes slowly cruise by out front, he said, and the funny looks he gets around town have unnerved him and his wife, who is 51. On July 1, a state law allowing Idahoans to carry a concealed weapon without a permit will take effect, and Mr. McDaniel said he planned to be armed after that. “If I could be gone today, I’d be gone,” he said, sitting outside in the yard on a recent afternoon as dogs wandered about near chicken and goat pens. The McDaniels stood out here in rural Idaho even before the episode. Over the years, they have adopted 20 children of various races — white, Hispanic and black — many of them with physical, mental or emotional troubles, including autism and fetal alcohol syndrome. A few years ago, Mr. McDaniel raised hackles by teaching sex education in his science classes with illustrations that some critics said were too graphic, and one of his daughters led a campaign on Facebook to save his job. The legal terrain to come is a minefield in itself, education law experts said. Courts have generally recognized that school officials cannot be everywhere all the time, and have not typically held teachers, administrators or coaches legally responsible for occasional bullying. But that deference can fade when race, religion or disability is involved, said John Dayton, a professor of education law at the University of Georgia. In those cases, courts have sometimes tilted hard the other way, he said, if they find that a clearly vulnerable group or category of students was not sufficiently protected. Other education experts said the central question raised by the McDaniels’ lawsuit — whether school officials should be held responsible for failing to stop a culture of bullying before it escalates to violence — had become harder to answer as new and different ways of bullying have proliferated. “The expectation of supervision has increased,” said Ann E. Blankenship, an assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Southern Mississippi. Technology, she added, “opens the door to bullying opportunities 24 hours a day. ” Don Heiken, Dietrich’s mayor, has publicly called on the school to fire people involved in the football program, who he said must have been aware that bullying, if not outright racism, was getting worse. The boy, according to his parents’ suit, was stripped of his pants on the bus after one football game, while other students took photos. He was “continuously” subjected, the suit said, to “wedgies” — his underwear yanked sharply upward, sometimes so violently that he came home with torn shorts. “They had to have known,” Mr. Heiken said in an interview. It probably did not help, Mr. McDaniel said, that in a school where sports are hugely important, his son was unskilled at football. Unable to remember the plays, the boy was called offsides — crossing the scrimmage line before the ball was snapped — six or seven times in a row in a single game, his father said. Dietrich itself, about 35 miles from Twin Falls and about 60 miles from the resort community of Sun Valley, is changing and growing, which has become part of the discussion about what happened here. The population has doubled in the last couple of decades and is expected to double again even faster, according to a planning presentation made recently to the town council. Lynn Johnson, 78, said “outsiders,” as he called the wave of newcomers, were changing the town where he has lived for the past 42 years, and not always for the better. Both of the students charged as adults in the case — Tanner Ray Ward, 17, and John R. K. Howard, 18 — were relatively new to the community, for example. The defendant being tried as a juvenile has not been named in court documents. “Neither of them boys are from Dietrich,” said Mr. Johnson, who drove a school bus and did maintenance work for the school for 17 years. “It wouldn’t have happened without them. ” A lawyer for Mr. Ward declined to comment, and a lawyer for Mr. Howard did not respond to phone messages. The school superintendent and principal, both defendants in the civil suit, did not respond to emails and phone messages. Mr. Grissom, who lives just a few blocks from the school, said that he knew and admired the McDaniel family, and that he thought that admiration was shared in much of the town. That they would move away was one more piece of the damage, he said. “People look at this and say a lot of people are prejudiced here,” Mr. Grissom said. “They’re not. ” | 0fake |
Secret Documents Apparently Reveal A Senior U.S. Senator Reported Of Witnessing Two UFOs | Three U.S. government officials deemed to be highly reliable reported witnessing two UFOs hovering near a train line. The report of the sightings was filed 61 years ago, but their supporters allegedly covered up the said report.
Alien researchers obtained formerly confidential files that detail senior Senator Richard B. Russell and two aides’ account about seeing two flying saucers taking off.
During a fact-finding mission to Russia, Sen. Russell was on a Soviet-era train. He was a chairman of the Armed Services Committee and considered as one of the most influential U.S. senators. He died after serving for 38 years in 1971.
According to the documents obtained by the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR), Sen. Russell was in the Transcaucasus region with his two aides at around 7 p.m. on October 4, 1955, when the incident took place.
He reportedly spotted two disc-shaped UFOs when he looked out of the window. These UFOs were taking off from a place close to the railway tracks, according to the documents.
The documents further reveal that the senator called over aide Lt. Col. Hathaway and interpreter Ruben Efron to look out of the window as well. Both of them also saw the two craft taking off.
The senator and the aides reported the sighting to U.S. Embassy in Prague, in Czechoslovakia, and U.S. Air Force, but the account was apparently kept strictly confidential.
The documents disclose that air attaché at the embassy, Lt. Col. Thomas Ryan, filed a top secret Air Force intelligence report on the senator and aides’ sighting on October 14, 1955, after meeting the trio.
The filed top secret report states that Lt. Col. Hathaway told Lt. Col. Ryan that the trio saw a disc ascending almost vertically at a relatively slow speed. The outer space of the UFO revolved slowly to the right, to an altitude of approximately 6,000 feet. Its speed increased sharply as it flew north. The second unidentified flying disc was seen about a minute later performing similar actions. About 1 to 2 miles south of the rail line was the take- off area.
CIA agents also interviewed the trio and a fourth unidentified witness.
The documents reveal that Mr. Efron described the visibility as excellent and the UFOs glide without any noise heard and exhaust glow or trail seen.
The fourth unidentified individual stated that one UFO had a white light on top and a slight dome.
All witnesses claimed that the disc had a pinkish-white glow and ascended in a vertical manner with the glow moving slowly in a clockwise direction around the perimeter, providing a pinwheel appearance.
On October 18, 1955, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was briefed, and the FBI penned a memo on November 4, stating that Lt. Col. Hathaway’s testimony would support the existence of a flying saucer.
The men remain their silence publicly, but details were leaked to a Los Angeles Examiner reporter who approached Senator Russell.
The senator’s response to journalist Tom Towers was that he already discussed the matter with the affected government agencies and they thought it wasn’t wise to publicize the issue at that time. The senator refused to divulge further details to the reporter.
The Air Force, FBI, and the CIA documents remained confidential for 30 years before being declassified in 1985, but their details emerged only after FUFOR obtained the documents under a Freedom of Information Act request.
FUFOR chairman, Dr. Bruce Maccabee, said these long-secret documents show for the first time that a powerful U.S. senator saw and reported a UFO. He believes that the witnesses were prevented from talking about the incident. The chairman added that these documents reveal the CIA took the UFO report seriously.
Source: Latest UFO Sightings
| 1real |
SUPER TUESDAY RESULTS: Trump Takes 6 States, Cruz Takes 2…Cranky Bernie Takes VT, Benghazi Hil Wins Big | HAPPY SUPER TUESDAY! Here are the results so far, courtesy of Weasel Zippers. The win for Donald Trump may not be as YUGE as he had hoped, but he and Hillary come out of Super Tuesday as the clear winners of the Super Tuesday states.Here s a link to the results. In some of the states you have to get at least 20% to get any delegates at all.10:49 Here s the estimated delegate count at this point by the NY Times:10:26 Rubio may end up winning Minnesota, he s ahead by 10 points at this point.10:15 Ted Cruz: January 20, 2017 will be Barack Obama s final day in office. Our campaign is the only one that can beat, has beaten and will beat Donald Trump. I congratulate Donald Trump on his victories tonight. 15 states have voted and every one has been won by me or Donald Trump. For the candidates who have not won, I ask for you to come together and uniting. Head to head we beat Donald, so we must come together.10:12 Ben Carson not dropping out. Fox still talking about maybe, maybe Rubio can get some delegates.10:05 Trump: I don t know if Hillary is going to be allowed to run, what she did was a criminal act. I am a unifier, when we unify there is no one who is going to beat us.Trump seems to be taking a conciliatory attitude toward Ted Cruz, not so Rubio.9:49 Trump sounding presidential, saying will win in November, that many polls say he would win. However, most polls actually show he would lose to Hillary, except for one poll, the USA Today poll.Trump congratulates Cruz on winning Texas, and says Rubio did badly.9:37 Trump press conference about to start. Word is it s endorsement of Gov. Rick Scott of Florida. That might have some effect in the race there on the 15th. Guess not: | 1real |
BREAKING NEWS: Man With Laptop On American Airlines Flight To Honolulu Subdued After Attempting To Break Down Cockpit Door [VIDEO] | Tick tock. America will now wait until conservative news sources release his motive.UPDATE: The man who attempted to breach the cockpit has been identified as a Turkish man. Flight attendants, an off-duty Los Angeles police officer and other passengers were able to stop the man and secure him in a seat. It was all kind of surreal, said Penny Lorenzen, a passenger on the flight.Her husband was among those who got up to try to stop the man. It took seconds, said Lee Lorenzen, of Orange County, Calif. He was pushing against the cart and a bunch of guys grabbed him. They found some duct tape. There were pillows and blankets. And they taped him to his chair. Hawaii News Now A man was subdued after he tried to breach the cockpit of an American Airlines flight to Honolulu, a source familiar with the situation told ABC News.American Airlines said in a statement that law enforcement met the plane upon landing in Honolulu following a disturbance on the flight. The plane was escorted by two F-22 fighter jets for the duration of the flight following the disturbance, U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement. ABC NewsA source at the TSA told ABC News that the man was waiting for the bathroom near the cockpit when a flight attendant asked him to sit down. He had a laptop with him and appeared to try the cockpit door before he was subdued, the source said.The man, whose identity was not immediately available, was escorted off American Airlines Flight 31, after it landed safely at 11:35 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time, according to a statement from the airline.A government source confirmed that he had been loitering near the restroom and was carrying a laptop. Flight attendants asked him to return to his seat and he refused.He then seemed to lunge towards the cockpit door. That s when several passengers subdued him.He was arrested on the ground by the FBI.The flight, which originated from Los Angeles, was to arrive in Honolulu about noon. The flight departed from Los Angeles International Airport at 8:34 a.m. local time. NBC Los AngelesLATEST: 2 F-22 fighter jets escorted American Airlines Flight 31 to Honolulu Int l Airport due to disturbance on board, Pacific Command says pic.twitter.com/Ee8zTg4PN3 ABC News (@ABC) May 19, 2017 | 1real |
Trump and U.S. House tax lawmaker reopen door to 401(k) changes | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump and the U.S. House of Representatives’ top tax law writer reopened the door on Wednesday to changes in the 401(k) retirement savings program, just days after Trump seemed to rule out such a step under a broad Republican tax overhaul project. Trump told reporters he wants to protect the popular tax-deferred savings program, but said it was possible it could be part of congressional negotiations over tax cuts. “Maybe we’ll use it as negotiating, but trust me ... there are certain kinds of deals you don’t want to negotiate with,” Trump said on the White House South Lawn as he prepared to depart on a trip to Dallas. On Capitol Hill, Representative Kevin Brady, the Republican chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means committee, said Trump and lawmakers were discussing how to handle 401(k) plans. The employer-administered plans have been used for four decades by millions of workers to save for retirement. “No decision’s yet been made on if there will be any changes,” Brady told reporters. “We’re simply considering ideas to help people save more and save early in life. “If we can reach consensus on that, including with the president, in a good way, we’ll move forward - but if not, we will keep things as they are,” Brady said. “All the focus is on can we help people save more.” Currently, employees may contribute up to $18,000 a year to the tax-deferred accounts, with those 50 and older able to contribute up to $24,000. Savings are typically invested in mutual funds. Brady was expected to introduce tax overhaul legislation next week, as Trump has long promised. Republican leaders want Congress to approve the measure by the end of this year. It includes a sharp cut in the corporate tax rate. But many details are still being worked out, including how to offset revenue that would be lost to tax cuts. One way to do that might be to limit pre-tax 401(k) contributions, which would help the government realize more revenue in the near term but would result in a decline in revenue generation down the road. Earlier this week, after The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that Republicans were considering capping annual contributions at $2,400, Trump wrote on Twitter: “There will be NO change to your 401(k)”. Tampering with 401(k) plans, which have largely replaced defined benefit pensions in the United States, would risk alienating tens of millions of workers, as well as the mutual fund operators which rely on the plans for much of their business. Many companies match a percentage of their employees’ 401(k) contributions. Changes to the tax-deferred savings program could also provide ammunition to Democrats, who have painted Trump’s plan, with its $6 trillion in tax cuts, as a gift to the rich and corporate America that would balloon the federal deficit. | 0fake |
Scary Times For California Farmers As Snowpack Hits Record Lows | The water outlook in drought-racked California just got a lot worse: Snowpack levels across the entire Sierra Nevada are now the lowest in recorded history — just 6 percent of the long-term average. That shatters the previous low record on this date of 25 percent, set in 1977 and again last year.
And it has huge implications for tens of millions of people who depend on water flowing downstream from melting snow — including the nation's most productive farming region, the California Central Valley.
Last year was already a tough year at La Jolla Farming in Delano, Calif. Or as farm manager Jerry Schlitz puts it, "Last year was damn near a disaster."
La Jolla is a vineyard, a thousand-or-so acres of neat lines of grapevines in the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. It depends on water from two sources: the federal Central Valley Project and wells.
Until last year, Schlitz says, wells were used to supplement the federal water.
"Now, we have nothing but wells. Nothing. There's no water other than what's coming out of the ground," he says.
Last year, one of those wells at La Jolla dried up. The farm lost 160 acres — about a million dollars' worth of produce, plus the wasted labor and other resources.
This year, the outlook is no better: The Central Valley Project, which decides where and when to release what water is left in California's reservoirs, has already warned that most farmers downstream won't get any water for the second straight year.
As KQED reports, "More than 400,000 acres of farmland were fallowed last year because of scarce water. Credible sources have estimated that figure could double this year."
La Jolla is plowing miles of trench in the dry earth to bury water pipes connecting wells to fields and fields to wells. The farm owners want to make sure that they can move water from working wells to the places that need it.
"We're getting prepared in case we lose one, we lost two. We lose three? Watch out, man, I'm going to unemployment," says Juvenal Montemayor, the owner and founder of La Jolla. He says this is the best they can do.
Now, drilling a new well isn't a short-term option. "You try to get a well done right now? No way. It's like a two-year waiting time for wells," he says.
Then there's the cost: a half-million dollars for a single well, he says. "Now ask me if I want to make a well. No, I don't want to make a well. I don't have a choice," he says. "I don't have a choice."
That's the tough situation La Jolla and many other farmers in the Central Valley face: They won't be getting any federal water.
Groundwater reserves are getting lower and lower as farmers and towns drill deeper and deeper, sucking out more water than there is coming in.
It's gotten so bad in the San Joaquin Valley that the ground is actually sinking. Last summer it sank a half-inch each month.
Back among the grapevines at La Jolla, Schlitz points to the mountains on the horizon, their tops barely sprinkled with snow.
The snow supplies roughly a third of all of California's water, on average. The Sierra Nevada snowpack is supposed to be a storage bank. It holds the snow late into the spring that then melts gradually. The runoff feeds reservoirs that supply water for millions of people — and the Central Valley. This year, California's chief snow surveyor says, there may not even be runoff.
"That's our lifeblood up there," Schlitz says. "Whatever comes out of there, you know, that's our lifeblood." | 0fake |
Crazy Alabama Republican Demonstrates Why Religion Doesn’t Belong In Government | This why the Founding Fathers wanted separation of church and state.Ever since conservative Christians pushed Congress and President Truman to pass a law establishing a National Day of Prayer in 1952, Christian fundamentalists have made every effort to force their religious beliefs down the throats of every American.Despite a ruling by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 2011, which says the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional because the Constitution bars Congress from making any law that respects an establishment of religion, the National Day of Prayer persists. It s a religious exercise that serves no purpose in our secular government, and it alienates people who are non-religious and people who do not worship the Christian deity.It also forces the President to sign a proclamation every year declaring the observation of the day, which means an atheist president would be forced to recognize religion every year in direct violation of the First Amendment.Republicans have been particularly crazy about inserting religion into government, and an Alabama Republican wrote a disturbing resolution this year that demonstrates precisely why we need separation of church and state.GOP state Rep. Mack Butler wrote up a National Day of Prayer resolution that demands America turn into a Christian nation that bans abortion and returns to traditional values, which one assumes includes banning same-sex marriage and outlawing contraception as well as forcing non-Christian citizens to convert against their will. He even goes so far as to call the citizens of Alabama wicked and called upon them to pray to prevent God from punishing them and the country.Here s the full text of HJR 316.WHEREAS, God has blessed America, where freedom exists for all, regardless of belief or creed; and WHEREAS, America s heritage is a beacon to the world, a shining city on a hill; and WHEREAS, America s exceptionalism was not only on a thoroughfare for freedom beat, but a leader and protector of values and safety around the world; and WHEREAS, though American s sovereignty did not and would not rule the world, rather than a colonial power, she shared her bounty; and WHEREAS, America has turned from her values, she is engaged in practices antithetical to her heritage by not protecting the poor, defenseless, and unborn, and has permitted the law to discriminate pitting one s rights against the rights of others; and WHEREAS, America now sits in her sanctuary while the rest of the world is falling into turmoil with genocide against Christians and radical Islamic terrorists wreaking havoc; and WHEREAS, America s Judeo-Christian tradition recognized a freedom of religion, the first freedom, that let all religions coexist; and WHEREAS, traditional values have been removed from the public square where all values were once spoken; and WHEREAS, religious freedom is threatened and God is mocked; and WHEREAS, just as Jesus observed when he drew close to Jerusalem before His crucifixion and wept over the city that thought it knew of the things made for peace, it was now hidden from their eyes and just as high government officials often invoke the name of God, yet they tempt God by abandoning His truths; and WHEREAS, America must reaffirm her freedom and her faith; and BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA, BOTH HOUSES THEREOF CONCURRING, That we urge America to reaffirm and protect its freedoms. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the fifth day of May 24 2016 be set aside as a day of reflection by the citizens of the State of Alabama who will humble themselves and pray and seek God s face and turn from their wicked ways so that God will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.America faces many problems including the threat of terrorism, climate change, income inequality, and being overtaken by the rest of the world when it comes to education, just to name a few. Alabama faces serious budget issues as well as healthcare and education issues. Yet all conservatives want to do about it is pray rather than construct and pass legislation that solves the problems. They literally believe that believing in God is all we need to do and all of our problems will magically be solved. This is counter to the hopes of the Founding Fathers that our government would lead by the use of reason. If we want to solve the problems our country faces, the first thing that needs to happen is to kick religion out of government once and for all. We need lawmakers, not preachers. Then we can get to work dealing with our problems constructively instead of pretending that some invisible deity will come to our rescue. When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obligated to call for help of the civil power, it s a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one. ~Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, letter to Richard Price, October 9, 1780 Featured image via YouTube | 1real |
GLP Forum (godlike productions) | GLP Forum (godlike productions) « on: Today at 10:28:07 AM » Has anyone on here kept track much on the forum: godlike productions or GLP forum? It is not easy trying to get past the trolls but it seems to stay up with current news so I usually go there to see what the recent news was. I was posting there with a link and when I tried to post it, I was immediately banned. Anyone else go there at all on this forum? Does anyone on here know anything about this forum like who controls it? Lee51 | 1real |
The Best Ways to Support the #NoDAPL Protectors | The Best Ways to Support the #NoDAPL Protectors Posted on September 9, 2016 The Best Ways to Support the #NoDAPL Protectors
Photo by Arlo Iron Cloud Want to support #NoDAPL but can’t make it to the camp? Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Project was kind enough to share the following list.
We’ll be updating it we get more information on ways to stand with the Sacred Stone Camp.
1. Contribute to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s fundraiser by clicking here
2. Call or Email your Congressional Representative or Senator. You can use this page to find out who they are and how to contact them.
3. Call or Email Denis McDonough, Chief of Staff to the President and Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of Army Corp of Engineers. Tell them to rescind the permits granted to Dakota Access: Denis McDonough, Chief of Staff to the President dmcos@who.eop.gov Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of Army Corp of Engineers joellen.darcy@us.army.mil | 1real |
SFO, LAX Lead Nationwide Protests of Trump Executive Order - Breitbart | Thousands of demonstrators gathered at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Saturday to protest President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily banning entry to nationals from countries. [Though the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) helped obtain a judicial stay of the deportation of several arriving passengers, hundreds of protesters vowed to stay at SFO until those who had been detained were released. SFO protesters are hearing that two more detainees remain in the airport. This crowd is committed to staying until every last one is out. pic. twitter. — Meagan Day (@meaganmday) January 29, 2017, 10, 000+ At JFK Protesting #MuslimBan … NYC Taxi Union On the Way — More Protests at EWR, Dulles, SFO, SEA, BOS, DEN, PHL, LAX pic. twitter. — Impeach Donald Trump (@Impeach_D_Trump) January 28, 2017, ”Let them in.” Protesters are blocking the entrance to the International Arrivals terminal at #SFO. #MuslimBanprotest pic. twitter. — AJ+ (@ajplus) January 29, 2017, #BREAKING — Police are blocking @CityAttorneyLA Mike Feuer from entering customs section at #LAX to speak with #MuslimBan detainees @KNX1070 pic. twitter. — Cooper Rummell (@KNXCooper) January 29, 2017, The San Francisco Chronicle reported: “Among the protesters were local politicians, including Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, who held a sign reading, ‘We are a sanctuary state! Let them in! ’” At LAX, seven people were still detained by immigration officials as of Saturday night, according to the Los Angeles Times, though at least one woman with a valid green card had been released. Protests were held in other cities, including Chicago and New York. Peoples mic + Elizabeth Warren = Occupy never ended pic. twitter. — Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) January 29, 2017, Protester and cops in #JFKTerminal4 #MuslimBanprotest pic. twitter. — Charlotte Alter (@CharlotteAlter) January 29, 2017, The executive order, issued Friday and effective at midnight that evening, temporarily bars most visitors and immigrants from seven countries previously identified by the Obama administration as problematic — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen — for 90 days. It also suspends refugee arrivals for 120 days, ends the resettlement of Syrian refugees, and sets a limit for refugees in the 2017 fiscal year at 50, 000 people. It represents a fulfillment of a key Trump campaign promise. Those initially detained at the nation’s airports included several with the legal right to reside in the U. S. apparently including some children who were U. S. citizens traveling with parents — prompting criticism of the order’s implementation. At least some of those were apparently later allowed to continue into the U. S. In 2011, the Obama administration suspended the resettlement of Iraqi refugees in the U. S. after two Al Qaeda terrorists were discovered living in Kentucky as refugees. Joel B. Pollak is Senior at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. | 0fake |
Britain's Brexit rebels offer compromise on latest EU exit laws row | LONDON (Reuters) - British MPs who inflicted defeat on Prime Minister Theresa May last week in parliament over Brexit have signalled a possible compromise to avoid another row on Wednesday when legislation taking Britain out of the EU is debated. The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, which will repeal the 1972 legislation binding Britain to the EU and copy existing EU law into domestic law, has tested May s authority to deliver on her Brexit plan during several days of line-by-line debate. Last week, 11 lawmakers from her Conservative Party rebelled against their leader, joining forces with the opposition to force through changes giving parliament greater guarantees of a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal. However, another row - this time over the government s desire to fix the planned date of Britain s departure into law - could be averted on Wednesday after rebels said they were prepared to agree to it if another proviso were inserted in the bill allowing that date to be changed if necessary. Pro-EU Conservative Nicky Morgan, who voted against the government last week, said on Twitter she would back the plan when it comes to a vote. Some of the other rebels also publicly indicated their support. Last week s defeat underscored just one of the serious difficulties May faces in taking the country out of the EU. As well as navigating a divided parliament without an overall majority, she has to please ministers who are deeply split over the country s long term relationship with Brussels and negotiate a deal from an EU which is keen to send a discouraging message to other potentially wayward states. The initial move to define March 29 2019 in law as exit day was designed to ease pressure on the government from Brexiteers who fear slow negotiations and opposition to the divorce could cause delays. The government has not confirmed it will accept the compromise plan - which represents a watering-down of its original intention - but has said it will consider its response and remains open to changes that will improve the legislation. However, ministers have limited room to manoeuvre with over 40 Conservative lawmakers signed up to the proposal - more than enough to defeat May if opposition parties also back it. It would be foolhardy to make assumptions either about the votes of colleagues or about the decisions of government. But I am cautiously optimistic that the government will accept my amendments and that they will carry, said Oliver Letwin, the former minister responsible for brokering the compromise. Wednesday s debate is the last in the current stage of the legislating process but the bill will receive further scrutiny in both chambers of parliament over the coming months before it is finally approved. | 0fake |
With Budapest closer to Moscow, Orban grants money to Russian Orthodox churches | ZALAVAR, Hungary (Reuters) - Twice a month a few dozen Russian orthodox believers gather in a small Catholic chapel whose foundations date back to the 11th century, their temporary place of worship as they do not have a church of their own in western Hungary. These worshippers now have a good chance of having their own church built in the spa town of Heviz, after Prime Minister Viktor Orban granted 2.4 billion forints ($9 million) in the budget to the renovating and building of Russian Orthodox churches. Channelling state money to the Hungarian branch of the Russian church, which had just 2,365 followers in the latest census in the mostly Catholic country of 10 million, was seen by political analysts and critics as a bid to win favor with President Vladimir Putin. Orban signed off the decree and it was published on Feb. 1, the day before he received Putin in Budapest. It was their fourth meeting in two years and Putin was back on Aug. 28 for a judo event when they met again. On that day, Orban allocated an additional 313 million forints to the Russian Orthodox church. Although the amounts are small, some analysts and critics see the bolstering of the Russian Orthodox Church with state cash as significant in the context of Russian-Hungarian relations. This move is on the one hand a gesture toward Vladimir Putin, and the Russians, a small community living here in Hungary, but at the same time it really shows the ... influence of Russia on Hungary, said Peter Kreko, director of think-tank Political Capital. Hungary s alignment to Russia is unsettling to fellow European Union member states where Russia s alleged interference is taken with such alarm that several countries have moved to set up agencies to counter it. Inside the European Union, Hungary promotes scrapping economic sanctions imposed after Russia s annexation of Crimea in 2014, saying it hurts trade. Trade ties between Russia and Hungary include a gas supply pact with Gazprom and a deal for Russia to finance and build a nuclear power plant. Construction is due to start next year. In February, Orban said Hungary wanted open and transparent relations with Russia. On the western half of the continent, there is a strong anti-Russian sentiment ... and anti-Russian politics has come into fashion, Orban said at a joint news conference with Putin. We had to defend our economic relations in this environment. When asked about the church grant, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told Reuters: We work together with all the churches very closely. The 2.4-billion-forint grant to Russian Orthodox churches compares to around 11 billion for similar investments and programs in other churches also in the 2017 budget. Andras Racz, an associate professor at Pazmany Peter Catholic University, said that both sides wanted different dividends from the relationship. The cooperation is pragmatic from both sides, just they want different things: the Hungarian side wants primarily economic benefits ... while the Russian side has primarily political and strategic motivations, which of course includes some long-term strategic economic position building, he said. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Russian Orthodox church emerged from decades of oppression to find post-communist politicians ready to help re-establish its role. Religion helped fill the ideological vacuum left by the failure of Marxism, while the church, an integral part of Russian history and culture, fitted well into the new nationalism. The church has developed into a thriving institution that works closely with the Kremlin to promote common interests. With backing from oligarchs, it has built or restored tens of thousands of churches, mostly at home but also in over 60 countries including distant locations such as Havana, Caracas, Bangkok and Pyongyang. As the Russian Orthodox believers left the small, Christian chapel in Zalavar, with the smell of incense lingering, priests removed Russian icons from the walls. Some Russian tourists were happy to hear that a church would be built in the spa town of Heviz, where thousands of Russians arrive on charter flights to take the waters of one of the world s biggest thermal lakes, landing at a nearby airport at a former Soviet army base. I think this is not only a matter of religion, but also our history ... so this is good, this is appropriate, Aleksander Kulchitskii, on holiday from the Russian city of Ryazan, said. Some Hungarians, however, were less convinced. Klara Kispal, a pensioner on holiday in Heviz, said she agreed with Orban s anti-migration policies but she could not support paying for a Russian Orthodox church in the town. I don t think this is a good move... I am religious, Roman Catholic, and (the government) should promote our religion not a foreign religion, she said. | 0fake |
Conviction Thrown Out for Ex-Rutgers Student in Tyler Clementi Case - The New York Times | An appeals court in New Jersey on Friday threw out the conviction of the former roommate of Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers University freshman who killed himself six years ago after he was spied on while having sex with another man. The Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey in Newark overturned a lower court’s conviction of the Dharun Ravi, on several counts of bias intimidation because of a change in state law. The court called for a new trial of Mr. Ravi on 10 other counts that included invasion of privacy and tampering with evidence. Mr. Ravi was convicted in 2012 in a case that drew international attention to the bullying of gay teenagers after Mr. Clementi jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge. Mr. Clementi’s life and death were taken up by advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, and the case delved into the risks that are sometimes associated with coming out as Mr. Clementi had struggled with questions about his sexuality. Mr. Clementi’s suicide at age 18 came just days after he learned that Mr. Ravi had used a webcam to spy on him and had used social media to invite others to watch a sexual encounter in the dormitory room Mr. Clementi shared with Mr. Ravi. Mr. Ravi was not charged in his roommate’s death, and Mr. Clementi did not leave behind an explanation of what drove him to kill himself. Some of the charges on which Mr. Ravi was convicted fell under a state statute on bias intimidation that was unlike any other in the United States. The statute said defendants could be convicted if their victims “reasonably believed” that they were harassed or intimidated because of a characteristic such as race or sexual orientation. But last year, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the law was unconstitutional. The court threw out those charges and concluded that the evidence that prosecutors presented to prove them had “tainted the jury’s verdict on the remaining charges” and deprived Mr. Ravi of a fair trial. Lawrence S. Lustberg, a lawyer who argued that the law was unconstitutional, said that the appeals court had little choice but to decide that the convictions reached using that statute were wrong. Having done that, it was “pretty straightforward” to conclude “that the whole trial was deeply infected by that error,” Mr. Lustberg said. The Middlesex County prosecutor’s office will now have to decide whether to appeal or to try Mr. Ravi again on the other 10 charges. After apologizing for his actions, Mr. Ravi served 20 days in jail on some of the charges and was ordered to pay $10, 000 to a program to help victims of hate crimes. But Mr. Clementi’s parents, Joe and Jane, rejected the “ apology” as a “ piece. ” They also criticized the judge, Glenn Bermen of State Superior Court, for not sentencing Mr. Ravi to jail for bias crimes, saying he missed a chance to highlight their seriousness. A spokesman for the Middlesex prosecutor’s office did not respond to requests for comment. Mr. Ravi’s lawyer, Steven D. Altman, also did not reply to requests for comment on Friday. Joe and Jane Clementi responded to the ruling with a statement released through the Tyler Clementi Foundation, which they founded to help end bullying. “In light of today’s decision, we will do what we encourage all people to do before they push that send button, and that is to pause and consider the implications of their message,” the statement said. “Does it encourage and build someone up or does it destroy and harm another person? Our world moves very fast which pushes us to be impulsively spontaneous and sometimes harsh. ” Reached by phone on Friday evening, Ms. Clementi said the prosecutors told her that they would notify her family next week about how they would proceed. She said she did not have an opinion on whether the litigation should continue. “Social media is a great tool, but it can be used for good and it can be used for harm and destruction,” Ms. Clementi said. “This just fosters my desire to keep moving and make sure that other people hear this and know this. ” The appeals court judges did not minimize their disapproval of what Mr. Ravi had done. “The social environment that transformed a private act of sexual intimacy into a grotesque voyeuristic spectacle must be unequivocally condemned in the strongest possible way,” the opinion said. “The fact that this occurred in a university dormitory, housing college students, only exacerbates our collective sense of disbelief and disorientation,” it continued. “All of the young men and women who had any association with this tragedy must pause to reflect and assess whether this experience has cast an indelible moral shadow on their character. ” | 0fake |
Illustrious Catholic Scholar Michael Novak Dies at 83 | After battling with cancer, Michael Novak, renowned American scholar and defender of the economy and religious liberty, died on Friday at the age of 83. [The list of Novak’s accomplishments is long and varied. Hailing from the cultural left in the 1960s, Novak gradually came to see liberalism as morally and intellectually bankrupt, a journey he recounted in a winsome memoir titled Writing from Left to Right: My Journey from Liberal to Conservative. A Catholic theologian, Novak wrote more than 50 books on a broad range of topics during his prolific career, including the groundbreaking 1982 work The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, in which Novak made a moral case for the free market system. He also defended the idea of business as a vocation, an idea he revisited in greater depth in his 1996 book, Business as a Calling: Work and the Examined Life. Novak was the first theologian to make an moral, cultural, and political case for the market economy in a systematic way, garnering him enduring opprobrium from the religious and secular left. “Democratic capitalism,” Novak wrote, is “neither the Kingdom of God nor without sin. Yet all other known systems of political economy are worse. Such hope as we have for alleviating poverty and for removing oppressive tyranny — perhaps our last, best hope — lies in this much despised system. ” As many theologians were promoting liberation theology as a remedy for economic and social problems in Latin America, Novak rejected the idea of embracing socialism as a solution to for peoples, well before the public collapse of socialism in 1989. In her own memoir titled The Downing Street Years, Margaret Thatcher praised Novak’s “new and striking language” and “important insights,” and added that his writing on the morality of political economy “provided the intellectual basis for my approach to those great questions brought together in political parlance as ‘the quality of life. ’” Under Ronald Reagan, Novak worked as U. S. ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights as well as providing eleven years of service on the boards of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. In 1978, Novak began work as a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington, D. C. where he served as director of social and political studies. In 1983, he was named the George Frederick Jewett Chair in religion and public policy and remained there until his retirement from the post in 2009. As Catholic League president Bill Donohue noted, “Michael Novak was more than a brilliant and dedicated Catholic, his range of scholarship was astounding. ” “Theologian, sociologist, economist, political scientist — he was all of these and more,” Donahue said. This author feels a particular debt of gratitude for more than 20 years of friendship and collaboration with Michael Novak, who was always insightful, gracious, loyal and true. In his 2008 book No One Sees God: The Dark Night of Atheists and Believers, Novak made the argument that the line of belief and unbelief “is not drawn between one person and another, normally, but rather down the inner souls of all of us. ” He has now entered the realm where belief gives way to vision, doubts to certainty and pain and sorrow to eternal joy. Requiesce in pace, Michael. Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome | 0fake |
BREAKING: FL MUSLIM TERRORIST Worked For Security Company Who Quietly Transports And RELEASES Van Loads Of ILLEGAL ALIENS Away From Border For U.S. Government | As a side note, the illegal aliens who are being dropped off across America in vans are OTM s or Other Than Mexicans. Can the mainstream media PLEASE start doing their job and exposing this corrupt administration? In a surprising discovery, the Palm Beach Post first reported that according to state records, Orlando shooter Omar Mateen who as we reported earlier was licensed as a security guard and also holds a firearms license was employed by the US subsidiary of G4S plc, a British multinational security services company, whose US-headquarters are located in Jupiter, Fla, and which also happens to be the world s largest security company by revenue.Shortly thereafter, G4S confirmed that Omar Mateen has worked for the company since 2007. This is the statement released from G4S: We are shocked and saddened by the tragic event that occurred at the Orlando nightclub. We can confirm that Omar Mateen had been employed with G4S since September 10, 2007. We are cooperating fully with all law enforcement authorities, including the FBI, as they conduct their investigation. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the friends, families and people affected by this unspeakable tragedy. In other words, Mateen who according to preliminary reports, had been on a terrorist watchlist, and who still managed to obtain weapons thanks to his various licenses and permits just last week, was employed by one of the world s largest security companies, where he may have had extensive clearances well above his pay grade, not to mention access to sophisticated military weapons and equipment.But where it gets more disturbing is that as Judicial Watch reported several days ago, in a post titled, DHS Quietly Moving, Releasing Vanloads Of Illegal Aliens Away From Border , border patrol sources said that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was quietly transporting illegal immigrants from the Mexican border to Phoenix and releasing them without proper processing or issuing court appearance documents. As a reminder, the government classifies them as Other Than Mexican (OTM) and this week around 35 were transferred 116 miles north from Tucson to a Phoenix bus station where they went their separate way. Judicial Watch was present when one of the white vans carrying a group of OTMs arrived at the Phoenix Greyhound station on Buckeye Road.And this is where the Mateen-G4S link emerges: as JW reported previously, a security company contracted by the U.S. government is driving the OTMs from the Border Patrol s Tucson Sector where they were in custody to Phoenix, sources said. The firm is the abovementioned G4S, the world s leading security solutions group with operations in more than 100 countries and 610,000 employees. G4S has more than 50,000 employees in the U.S. and its domestic headquarters is in Jupiter, Florida.Judicial Watch noted that it had filed a number of public records requests to get more information involving the arrangement between G4S and the government, specifically the transport of illegal immigrants from the Mexican border to other parts of the country. The photo below shows the uniformed G4S guard that transported the OTMs this week from Tucson to Phoenix.Outraged Border Patrol agents and supervisors on the front lines say illegal immigrants are being released in droves because there s no room to keep them in detention. They re telling us to put them on a bus and let them go, said one law enforcement official in Arizona. Just move those bodies across the country. Officially, DHS denies this is occurring and in fact earlier this year U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske blasted Border Patrol union officials for denouncing this dangerous catch-and-release policy. Kerlikowske s scolding came in response to the congressional testimony of Bandon Judd, chief of the National Border Patrol Council, the labor union that represents line agents. Judd told lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee that illegal immigrants without serious criminal convictions can be released immediately and disappear into the shadows. Kerlikowske shot back, telling a separate congressional committee: I would not stand by if the Border Patrol was releasing people without going through all of the formalities.Meanwhile, the Hill reported that Mateen s employment, and gun licenses, were untouched even though the FBI confirmed it had interviewed the 29-year-old three times before the shooting took place early Sunday morning. An official said that the FBI first became aware of the suspect, Omar Mateen, 29, in 2013 when he made inflammatory comments to coworkers alleging possible terrorist ties. In the course of that investigation, Mateen was interviewed twice, but the FBI was unable to verify the substance of his comments. Via: Zero HedgeShares in G4S have fallen heavily after the UK security services company said Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, was an employee.G4S said Mateen was an armed security officer and that it was trying to establish whether weapons used in the attack on the Pulse gay nightclub were related to his work. The company supplies its armed employees with guns in the US and does not allow them to use their own.G4S shares dropped by as much as 7.5% and were the biggest fallers among leading UK shares. The company employs 620,000 people in more than 110 countries and the US is one of its biggest markets.Jasper Lawler, an analyst at CMC Markets, a City spread betting firm, said it did not look good for G4S to have employed Mateen while he was being investigated by the FBI. G4S has more than 50,000 employees in the US, a large proportion of which are involved in government contracts. If the name of G4S starts getting dragged through the mud, US contracts may become harder to come by. Via: Guardian | 1real |
FED’S PREVENT ‘Mother of the Year’ From Boarding Plane To Join ISIS, Planning To Leave Two Daughters Behind In Philadelphia | There are just way too many wannabe male and female jihadists in our homeland right now. The truth is, we have no way of knowing how many of them are planning to do harm to their fellow Americans. Congress needs to stop the State Dept. sponsored Refugee Resettlement program. It s obvious we have a problem with Muslim Americans and Muslim immigrants living in America who want to join ISIS. It s up to Congress to take meaningful action to stop this insanity. <strong>THE YOUNG LIONESS</strong>A Philadelphia mother of two, who goes by the name of YoungLioness on Twitter, was arrested by federal officials Friday and charged with trying to support ISIS with money and resources.Keonna Thomas, 30, appeared in court in full black dress with only her eyes showing, just hours after her arrest. According to the criminal complaint filed by the U.S. attorney s office, she wanted to join, fight with and die for ISIS.The only reason she didn t get on a plane last Sunday to put her plan into action, was because federal agents spooked her two days before the flight when they raided her home, federal prosecutors argued, saying Thomas was a flight risk and should be detained.The North Philly woman, who neighbors said lived quietly with her two daughters and grandmother, posted statements on Twitter accounts which led officials to believe she was intent on not only supporting the terrorist organization, but looked forward to martyrdom, federal officials allege. Read more:NBC | 1real |
Investment Strategist Forecasts Collapse Timeline: ‘The Last Gasp Will Come In 2018’ | Home » Headlines » Finance News » Investment Strategist Forecasts Collapse Timeline: ‘The Last Gasp Will Come In 2018’
You have about a year to get ready for the next leg of the collapse…
From Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan :
It is no longer a question of whether or not financial markets and the U.S. economy will collapse. That, according to a host of experts, both mainstream and alternative, is a given.
The only question now is “when” that moment will come.
According to Christine Hughes, chief investment strategist at Otterwood Capital, it will be very soon. Basing her assessment on historically dead-on yield curve analysis, Hughes says in her latest update to clients that we’re looking at a maximum breaking point of 2020, but that some time in the next 12 – 15 months is the more likely scenario, which pegs the next crisis right at the beginning of 2018 .
First, the chart, which has been near perfect in its accuracy thus far and shows just how rapidly the yield curve has collapsed in the last 12 months:
Hughes explains what it means for you and why you can expect 2018 to be the year of reckoning:
As the bond market sees a recession slower growth means lower interest rates and it [the yield curve] collapses. So let’s assume we’re like every other time in history and that happens. Then it moves forward to 2018…
So, 2018, according to the yield curve, is pretty much the last gasp we have for this economic cycle. We’re closing in on 2016 now… we basically have a year… maybe a year to 15 months before we have the next crisis on our hands.
So if you are levered personally or corporately… if a lot of your assets are in illiquid stuff… the Canadian housing market comes to mind… You might want to think about existing and liquefying yourself.
Watch the video report:
Wolf Richter of Wolf Street explains why the Treasury Yield Curve is so important:
Since early July, the 30-year US Treasury Bond Price Index has plunged 8.3%. It’s now called “the rout” in longer-dated government bonds. One of the specters is rising inflation at a time of ultra-low yields.
What has become the number one predictor of a bear market in stocks over the past many decades? The US Treasury yield curve. It drives bank lending – which can strangle the economy. But this time, the risks are much higher, and the potential economic consequences steeper.
We know it is only a matter of time at this point.
Greg Mannarino of Traders Choice has made similar warnings, noting that the bond markets are signaling a massive crash ahead. And when that crash finally takes place the fall out after the debt bubble bursts, according to Mannarino, could lead to extremely serious consequences:
So, when the debt bubble bursts we’re going to get a correction in population. It’s a mathematical certainty.
Millions upon millions of people are going to die on a world-wide scale when the debt bubble bursts. And I’m saying when not if…
…
When resources become more and more scarce we’re going to see countries at war with each other. People will be scrambling… in a worst case scenario… doing everything that they can to survive… to provide for their family and for themselves.
There’s no way out of it.
Source: Analyst: “Millions Upon Millions of People Are Going to Die on a World-Wide Scale When the Debt Bubble Bursts”
If Mannarino and Hughes are right, you have about a year to get ready for the next leg of the collapse .
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Watch What Happens When a Muslim Woman Shows Up At A Donald Trump Rally (VIDEO) | Donald Trump has managed to attract the most racist and Islamophobic of American voters. That was all on display in Rock Hill, South Carolina, at a Friday night campaign rally when a Muslim woman, 56-year-old Rose Hamid, was thrown out by Trump security.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK0Otof0wow]Rose, dressed in traditional Islamic dress and a t-shirt that read I come in Peace, was sitting in the stands directly behind Trump when Trump supporters, at the urging of his campaign staff, began to chant Trump s name after Rose stood up when Trump suggested that Syrian refugees were affiliated with ISIS. Rose simply stood up and stayed silent when she began to be heckled, which eventually led to her removal by Trump s security.Hamid later said that she came to the rally to let Trump supporters see what a Muslim looks like so I figured that I d give them the opportunity to meet one. She said that many were shouting epithets at her. She said that one man yelled, You have a bomb, you have a bomb. Trump made an ironic comment at her, making the victim of the night the victimizer. Trump said: There is hatred against us that is unbelievable. It s their hatred, it s not our hatred. Major Steven Thompson of the Rock Hill Police Department said that Hamid was removed from the rally because the campaign advised him before the event that anybody who made any kind of disturbance should be immediately ejected.However, it s clear from the video that Hamid was not making a disturbance. It s become commonplace for Trump supporters to remove and sometimes beat individuals who challenge his stance on racist and anti-Islamic dogma which has attracted followers from across the country.This is Trump s America, and as can clearly be seen from the video, if this person gets to power, we are all in trouble.Featured image via YouTube Screenshot. | 1real |
BLACK WOMAN ATTACKS Man, His Car, Boat With Hammer…Spits In Wife’s Face: “I’m sick of fancy white people” [VIDEO] | A black New Jersey woman who said she s sick of fancy white people allegedly attacked a man with a hammer and smashed his Porsche and boat at a Virginia gas station was arrested Wednesday, according to authorities and reports.Angela Jones, 26, of Newark is accused of beating the man from Massachusetts Tuesday as he fueled up his car at an Exxon gas station on I-95, the Essex County Sheriff s Office said.The victim, identified by WTVR.com only as Bob, had stopped at the station on his way home from Florida with his wife Katherine when he was allegedly approached by a screaming Jones. This lady was a couple pumps over and talking to me and yelling at somebody about having a message for her. I had no idea what she was talking about, Bob told WTVR.com. I was coming around the side of the car and next thing I know a car blocks me in. She comes out of her car gets in my face and yelling at me about some sort of message I got for her, he said.The victim said that Jones eventually threatened to put a hole in his fancy boat. Jones then allegedly busted up the victim s Porsche and his boat with the tool and spat in the face of the victim s wife, according to Sheriff Armando Fontoura of the Essex County Sheriff s Office. You ve gotta love how the authorities say they re investigating a possible hate crime Possible hate crime leaves man bloodied at gas pump https://t.co/sS5c44rjBf pic.twitter.com/vQI8F4zqRe WTVR CBS 6 Richmond (@CBS6) April 4, 2017A sheriff from the Carolina County Sheriff s Office in Virginia told the news outlet, She actually took a hammer and she hit his vehicle and the boat She actually clawed him. He took her down to the ground to prevent her from doing any more damage. Jones, who is black, reportedly said she was sick of fancy white people, during the attack, the couple told WVTR.com. I have no idea why she started going after us, but I guess she thought we were some rich people, Bob said.The Carolina County Sheriff s Office said it is investigating whether the case is a hate crime, according to the news station.Via: NYP | 1real |
U.S. to expel nearly two-thirds of Cuban embassy staff: U.S. sources | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration will order nearly two-thirds of Cuba’s diplomatic personnel to leave the United States after months of mysterious “attacks” that have damaged the health of American embassy staff in Havana, according to a congressional source and a person familiar with the plan. The U.S. State Department is expected to announce the expulsion on Tuesday, the sources said on Monday. The decision follows an announcement on Friday that the United States was cutting its diplomatic presence in Cuba by more than half as it warned U.S. citizens not to visit because of unexplained incidents that have caused hearing loss, dizziness and fatigue in U.S. embassy personnel. The latest plan was first reported by the Miami Herald, which cited a source as saying the expulsion of Cuban personnel was in “reciprocity” for the U.S. drawdown from Havana. The steps being taken by President Donald Trump’s administration mark a further blow to his predecessor Barack Obama’s policy of rapprochement between Washington and Havana, former Cold War foes. The State Department declined to comment on an expulsion plan, except to say that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “continues to evaluate steps that the Department can take to ensure the Cuban government is accountable to its responsibility to protect diplomats.” Several Cuban-American Republican lawmakers, including U.S Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, had urged that Cuban diplomats be expelled in retaliation for the Cuban government’s failure to get to the bottom of the attacks. Trump administration officials planned to brief lawmakers on their Cuba policy on Tuesday, another congressional aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The State Department announced on Friday that in addition to drawing down staff in Havana to essential personnel, the embassy was halting regular visa operations for Cubans seeking to visit the United States and would offer only emergency services to U.S. citizens. At least 21 U.S. embassy employees in Cuba have been injured and reported symptoms such as hearing loss, dizziness, headache, fatigue, cognitive issues, and difficulty sleeping, the State Department said on Friday. Cuba’s Foreign Ministry Chief for U.S. Affairs Josefina Vidal said last week that the U.S. decision to reduce staff at its Havana embassy was hasty and will affect bilateral relations, Cuba, the United States and Canada have investigated the attacks, but the probe has not yielded any answers about how they were carried out or who was responsible for them. Cuba has denied involvement in the attacks. The State Department has not directly blamed Havana for them but asked two Cuban diplomats to leave Washington in May. The U.S. measures will stop short of breaking off relations or closing the two countries’embassies, which reopened in 2015 following more than five decades of hostility. But the bizarre case has brought simmering U.S.-Cuba tensions since Trump took office to a boil. Trump, who in June vowed to partially roll back the detente with Cuba agreed by his Democratic predecessor Obama, called the Cuban government “corrupt and destabilizing” in his address to the United Nations General Assembly last month. He said he would not lift the U.S. trade embargo on the Caribbean island until it made “fundamental reforms.” Cuba described his comments as “unacceptable and meddling.” | 0fake |
MUELLER TOP PROSECUTOR Praised DOJ Official for Defying Trump Travel Ban [Video] | THANK GOODNESS FOR JUDICIAL WATCH! They pushed for emails from the DOJ and got a treasure trove of incriminating evidence of anti-Trump bias. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said it best when he said the email is an astonishing and disturbing find A top prosecutor who is now a deputy for Special Counsel Robert Mueller s Russia probe praised then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates (see more on Yates below) after she was fired in January by President Trump for refusing to defend his controversial travel ban.The email, obtained by Judicial Watch through a federal lawsuit, shows that on the night of Jan. 30, Andrew Weissmann wrote to Yates under the subject line, I am so proud. He continued, And in awe. Thank you so much. All my deepest respects. The disclosure follows confirmation that another Mueller investigator, FBI official Peter Strzok, was fired over the summer after allegedly sending anti-Trump texts to an FBI lawyer with whom he was romantically involved.His alleged actions revived concerns about the objectivity of the FBI probes of both Hillary Clinton s email setup and Russia election meddling.Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton called the new Weissmann document an astonishing and disturbing find. Andrew Weisman, a key prosecutor on Robert Mueller s team, praised Obama DOJ holdover Sally Yates after she lawlessly thwarted President Trump, he said in a statement. How much more evidence do we need that the Mueller operation has been irredeemably compromised by anti-Trump partisans? CATHERINE HERRIDGE:DOJ POLITICAL HACK SALLY YATES YOU RE FIRED! The acting Attorney General, Sally Yates, has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States. This order was approved as to form and legality by the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel.Ms. Yates is an Obama Administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration.It is time to get serious about protecting our country. Calling for tougher vetting for individuals travelling from seven dangerous places is not extreme. It is reasonable and necessary to protect our country.Tonight, President Trump relieved Ms. Yates of her duties and subsequently named Dana Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, to serve as Acting Attorney General until Senator Jeff Sessions is finally confirmed by the Senate, where he is being wrongly held up by Democrat senators for strictly political reasons. I am honored to serve President Trump in this role until Senator Sessions is confirmed. I will defend and enforce the laws of our country to ensure that our people and our nation are protected, said Dana Boente, Acting Attorney General. | 1real |
Germany: Children in one school required to chant ‘Allahu Akbar’; in another, Christian events eliminated | Print
[Ed. – Coming soon to a — oh, wait. It’s already here .]
Pupils at a primary school were forced to chant “Allahu Akhbar” and “there is no God but Allah”, an appalled father has claimed.
The father of the pupil at the girl’s primary school in German ski resort Garmisch-Partenkirchen discovered that his daughter had been forced to learn the Islamic prayer when he discovered a handout she had been given.
He claimed she had been “forced” by teachers to memorise the Islamic chants and forwarded the handout to Austrian news service unsertirol24.
The handout read: “Oh Allah, how perfect you are and praise be to you. Blessed is your name, and exalted is your majesty. There is no God but you.” …
The incident comes just weeks after parents complained to German newspaper Hessian Niedersächsische Allgemeine (HNA) that their children’s nursery was refusing to acknowledge “Christmas rituals” to accommodate the “diverse cultures” of other pupils. | 1real |
House Republicans Just Introduced Bill To Slash Social Security | The Republican effort to let Social Security whither on the vine and die just became reality as Donald Trump prepares to take office and become their puppet.Last month, House Speaker Paul Ryan made it clear that he wants to privatize Medicare and phase it out. That means anybody who is on Medicare or hoped to be on it soon are shit out of luck because Ryan s plan gives Medicare to private insurance companies, which means higher costs to get insurance and paying more for healthcare, even if the government offers pathetic vouchers to help pay for it.But now Republicans have unveiled their plan to cut Social Security as well.On Thursday, GOP Rep. Sam Johnson of Texas introduced the Social Security Reform Act of 2016 or H.R. 6489.The bill claims to be saving Social Security even though it is fully solvent through 2034 and could be infinitely solvent by applying the payroll tax to all income over $100,000. Republicans, however, like to complicate things and punish Americans at the same time.The most important part of the Republican plan is that they intend to raise retirement age from 67 to 69 for anyone who is 49 or younger. The GOP cites longer life expectancy as their reason for this change. In fact, life expectancy actually dropped in this country for the first time since 1993.So this is really all about screwing Americans out of their Social Security longer by making them work longer. Let s call it the GOP s work till you drop dead plan.The Republican plan will also slow the growth of benefits by basically changing the inflation metric so that benefits do not keep up with inflation, which means the cost of living will go up, but Social Security benefits won t.Furthermore, Republicans want to eliminate taxes on income after retirement, which would only take away from Social Security revenues.And that doesn t mean Republicans have given up the idea of privatizing Social Security. After all, President Bush wanted to do exactly that. He didn t get to, but had he been successful Social Security would have been wiped out by the Great Recession in 2008.Donald Trump promised his supporters that Social Security and Medicare would not be touched if he was elected. But apparently they got duped again just like he has been duping them about everything else, and they are about to pay a hefty price for it. Republicans DO NOT care about the American people. They only care about themselves and destroying the government and any program designed to help people.Featured Image: Mark Wilson/Getty Image | 1real |
WATCH: CNN Panel EXPLODES After Rick Santorum Gives DISGUSTING Defense Of Trump’s Racism | There s one thing that Trump s surrogates all share, and that s a ridiculously blind loyalty to Trump. They can t see his evils, and their minds automatically twist any evil he says or does into something good.Such was the case on CNN, where Rick Santorum spoke up on Trump s trashing of civil rights icon John Lewis, who is also a Democratic representative from Georgia, and who said Trump is an illegitimate president.Trump has taken a lot of flak, especially given that he did it so close to Martin Luther King, Jr. s birthday. Former presidential adviser David Gergen was talking about why Trump was wrong to go after Lewis the way he did: This was an attack on [Lewis ] life, what he stands for, what he did for this country and marching across that bridge. Then former Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter weighed in with: When will the person who will be president act like a grownup and serious person, not always take the bait? Show some restraint, show some dignity. There is no bottom to the depth that he will go to argue with anyone, and cause disdain. Donald Trump was wrong. John Lewis is an icon. He can say whatever he wants. When Santorum got a chance to speak, he said he and most other people in politics would have handled Lewis comments much differently. Then he put forth this obscene gem: Donald Trump is the president because he did things like this. Which just speaks to how low Trump s voters really are. If anyone can defend Trump s pettiness that way, or in any way, they are just as ridiculous as he is.Watch the fireworks below:Featured image via screen capture from embedded video | 1real |
Trump to keep Obama rule curbing corporate tax inversion deals | (This October 4 story fixes comment by Organization for International Investment as referring to historically foreign-based companies in paragraph 13.) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration will keep for now an Obama-era rule that helped halt a wave of U.S. corporations moving abroad via tax-driven corporate inversion deals, it said on Wednesday, but added that it expected tax reform to obviate the rule. President Donald Trump ordered a review almost six months ago of tax rules from the final months of the Obama administration, including ones to discourage companies from redomiciling abroad for tax reasons. “Treasury plans to retain the distribution requirements under Section 385 pending enactment of tax reform,” the department said in a statement, adding “these regulations are necessary to safeguard against earnings stripping.” It also said it planned to revoke and streamline some related documentation rules. A 2011-2015 wave of inversion deals prompted Treasury to take a series of actions that culminated in an April 2016 rule release and the collapse of a $160-billion deal between U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and Ireland’s Allergan Plc (AGN.N), which would have been the largest inversion ever. Tax inversions occur when a U.S. company is acquired by a smaller foreign business from a low-tax country and adopts its domicile to reduce the combined firm’s overall U.S. tax burden. The Section 385 rule was part of Obama’s anti-inversion effort and was finalized a year ago. It was meant to combat a corporate tax-reduction technique known as earnings stripping. Earnings stripping occurs when the U.S. subsidiary of a newly inverted company loads up on debt and avoids taxes on its domestic profits by sending them overseas to the foreign parent in the form of tax-deductible interest payments. The Obama rule reclassified some forms of debt as equity, changing tax-exempt interest payments into taxable dividends and making earnings stripping strategies more difficult to pursue. The Organization for International Investment (OFII), a Washington lobbying group for foreign-based companies with U.S. operations, praised the documentation portion of Treasury’s latest move and criticized the retention of the rest of the Section 385 rule. “Unfortunately, in perpetuating an unsubstantiated premise of the Obama administration, Treasury has decided to keep part of these discriminatory regulations,” the group said. Companies with historic foreign headquarters that have expanded into the United States, OFII said in a statement, “are not overleveraged, their debt levels have remained largely flat and their interest expense has declined while their investments into America’s economy have grown.” The Treasury Department said it expected a Republican proposal to overhaul the tax code would eliminate the need for anti-inversion rules. The proposal would sharply cut the corporate tax rate and end taxation of multinationals’ foreign profits. | 0fake |
Ted Cruz Threatens Voters: ‘Every Vote For Donald Trump Is A Vote For Hillary Clinton’ (AUDIO) | Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz must really be getting nervous about his chances of snatching the GOP nomination from front runner Donald Trump because he s warning conservative voters that if they don t switch over to team Cruz, they re basically handing the election to Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton.Cruz made these comments during a radio interview on WPHT-AM Wednesday. In speaking to host Chris Stigall, Cruz suggested that if voters were going to be stupid enough to nominate Trump to run against Clinton, they might as well just hand her the White House on a silver platter. Cruz said: We have got to win and if Donald Trump is the nominee, it elects Hillary Clinton. Every vote for Donald Trump is a vote for Hillary Clinton. You might as well put a Hillary sticker on your car because Hillary wins by double-digits against Donald Trump. Cruz is absolutely right about one thing and that s the fact that Clinton would sweep the debate floor with Trump, and right now she s destroying him in the polls. There is no way the disgraced candidate and business mogul would even stand a chance against her. But then Cruz begins to add some good old conservative wishful thinking to his rant, and reveals that HE is a good enough candidate to beat the former Secretary of State (even though he s currently losing to Trump). Cruz said: I beat Hillary in the election and that s why Republicans are coming together and are uniting behind a positive, optimistic, conservative message to bring back jobs and economic growth, to defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights and to keep America safe and defeat radical Islamic terrorists. Of course the Republican party is uniting under Cruz they know how dangerous Trump is for the GOP and will do anything to stop him at this point. But unfortunately, they still haven t come to terms with the fact that the Democrats are going to have this election whether they like it or not. At this point, conservatives are desperate and they re grasping at straws.You can listen to Cruz s threats in the interview below:Both Trump and Cruz are no match for Clinton or Sanders, and they ve spent most of this campaign cycle making each other look like fools. They only have themselves to blame, and the GOP will have earned this loss. Featured image via Darren Hauck / Getty Images | 1real |
Links 11/12/16 | What Does Trump’s Victory Mean For NATO? NPR. Charles flags the close, which is an unusually pointed admission of the basis of our imperialist project.
Brexit
Turkey is swiftly heading towards a regime of terror Bangkok Post (furzy)
Trump Transition. I am trying, and hope you will help in comments, in pulling the noise out of the signal regarding what Trump will actually do when he becomes President and whether it will succeed, “success” consisting first of it being implemented and second, making him and his Administration appear to be legitimate (as in keeping campaign promises, delivering tangible benefits to voters or powerful interest groups he needs on board). Despite all the changes in messaging over the course of his campaign, Trump was consistent on immigration, trade and lack of infrastructure investment, and depicted all three as ways to improve conditions for workers. And political scientist Tom Ferguson says that the data shows that the propensity to vote for Trump was highly correlated with voters giving negative answers to questions like whether the economy or the job situation had gotten better.
Trump and Sanders found power lying in the street by virtue of both parities abandoning high employment levels and wage growth as major policy goals. But if Trump is to deliver on his promise of delivering on those goals, he is at odds with much of his own party, which is keen to keep workers weak and preserve free trade (the corporate Republicans, particularly ones whose constituents include globalized businesses like autos, for the obvious patronage reasons; libertarians, out of ideology). Given that trade policy and immigration enforcement are areas in which the President has considerable latitude, whether and how he engages in these fights will be early tests of whether he intends to and is able to execute.
Finally bear in mind that Trump not only has a thin bench staff wise, but also intellectually. Many of his sources of advice are ideologues who like the Brexiters in the UK, may cheerily recommend changes which might sound ducky (to them) without having the foggiest clue that the operational implications are nightmarish. For instance, I’m told the Trump transition team on policy is apparently planning on recommending that the US exit Nafta and the WTO on the first day of the Trump presidency. Pray tell, have they looked into what this means for US customs, and for US exporters dealing with foreign customs?
In other words, the right wing think tank types that the Trump team is relying on runs the risk of being as clueless about issues of organizational capacity as the Greeks were who thought they had a trump card (pun intended) in a Grexit (for those new to Naked Capitalism, we had an extensive series of posts on this topic, see here , here and here for some examples).
So for instance, see this BBC story:
Trump likes main Obamacare provisions ‘very much’ , specifically, covering pre-existing conditions and letting children up to age 26. The story describes how the Republicans might oppose Trump:
Complicating the matter is that a “revise and reform” effort may not fly with Mr Trump’s ardent supporters and the cadre of arch-conservative politicians in Congress, who want to tear up the law “root and branch”.
Mr Trump often broke with Republican orthodoxy while campaigning and didn’t pay a political price. He may learn that as president he won’t get far without his party establishment’s help.
In WSJ Interview, Trump Says He Is Willing to Keep Parts of Health Law Wall Street Journal. Note the heavy emphasis on job creation. This had been the Democratic party lode star through the Carter era. He also defines Pence’s job, which is to help on health care and sell Trump policies to Congress. This is similar to the role Joe Biden played. And he rejected the Administration “find those moderate Syrians” strategy. | 1real |
Bahrain accuses Qatar of seizing three boats: agency | DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain accused Qatar on Monday of illegally seizing three boats with 16 sailors on board, state news agency BNA reported, worsening an already deeply troubled diplomatic situation in the region. Coast Guard Commander Commodore Alaa Siyadi told BNA the boats were seized over the past three days. The report gave no details on the boats or where they were seized. Qatar confirmed it detained fishing boats after they entered its territorial waters illegally, and said the sailors will be released soon. Siyadi said the seizure raised to 15 the number of boats seized, and the number of sailors in Qatari custody to 20, adding that some of the boat seizures date back to 2009, BNA reported. All unauthorized fishing boats receive a warning to leave Qatari waters, and if they are non-compliant, they are referred to the competent authorities, a source at Qatar s Interior Ministry said. The crew will be released within three days, while the ships will be detained until the court makes a decision. Bahrain, together with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, imposed diplomatic, trade and travel sanctions on Qatar in June, accusing it of supporting terrorism, which Doha denies. | 0fake |
Three Quarters Of Americans Oppose Gun Control | Record numbers say no to proposed handgun ban
Steve
A new poll released by Gallup has found that a record amount of Americans are opposed to gun control measures .
The survey found that 76 percent of respondents, over three quarters, believe that a ban on civilian ownership of handguns should not be made law.
The findings represent a four-point increase on the same survey from last year, in addition to an all-time high for the past three decades.
The poll also found that almost two thirds, 61 percent, are “against” a ban on semi-automatic rifles, or “assault weapons”as the corporate media refers to them.
That figure represents a full ten-point increase on previous findings, and is an all time record high since polling began on the issue 20 years ago.
Just 27 percent, less than a third, say they support a ban on handgun ownership, while only 36 percent, support a semi-automatic ban. an eight-point decline on previous findings.
In addition, gun sales have been hitting record highs for months on end.
In a summary of the new poll, Gallup seemed surprised, by the findings, describing waning support for a gun ban as a “paradox”:
Perhaps paradoxically, opposition toward a ban has increased against a backdrop of multiple mass shootings and terrorist attacks in which the perpetrators used assault rifles. These guns were used in high-profile incidents, including the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, California, and Orlando, and the mass shootings in Aurora, Colorado, and Newtown, Connecticut.
The findings reveal just how out of step Hillary Clinton’s position on gun control is with the majority of Americans.
Hillary is a staunch gun control proponent. Wikileaks releases have revealed that Hillary plans to implement strict gun control measures by executive order.
Clinton purportedly plans to open gun manufacturers to lawsuits by crime victims, a move that critics say would do nothing to reduce crime, but would bankrupt–and eventually end–gun manufacturing in the United States. This article was posted: Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 10:30 am Share this article | 1real |
An Eight Point Brief for Voting to Avoid Corporate Evil | 22 Shares
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The anarchist political observer Noam Chomsky has over the years espoused a strategy of voting for the Democrat in swing states. Recently Chomsky, with John Halle, propounded " An Eight Point Brief for LEV (Lesser Evil Voting) ."
Chomsky questions the ethical/moral principle rejecting LEV since lesser evil voting is designed to minimize evil. As futile as lesser evilism is, it is also futile to discuss there being a lesser evilism between the two utterly dominant rightist political parties in the United States. LEV, in fact, is an equally contemptible or greater evil.
Chomsky, though, sensibly cautions that challenges to the political-business duopoly needs to be contemplated with a full awareness of their possible consequences. What are the possible consequences? Chomsky suggests, "A Trump presidency, should it materialize, will undermine the burgeoning movement centered around the Sanders campaign, particularly if it is perceived as having minimized the dangers posed by the far right." However, another consequence is equally possible: a horrendous slide to the right would spur progressives to coalesce among a leftist Democrat, and/or it might finally cause former or potential Democrats to reject the chicanery of the business-dominated Democrats and embrace the progressivist platform of the Green Party.
This cost/benefit strategic accounting seriously pushes for progressivist change.
Focusing on the electoral system, however, must not be the end-all and be-all for bringing about progressivism in the US. Grassroots organizing and activism must continue to inform, oppose poverty and impoverishment, oppose war and violence, and push for human rights and equal opportunity for all people — during electoral periods and between election cycles.
MORE... 9/11 and the Zionist Question: Is Noam Chomsky a Disinfo Agent for Israel? - Part 9 9/11 and the Zionist Question: Is Noam Chomsky a Disinfo Agent for Israel? - Part 7 9/11 and the Zionist Question: Is Noam Chomsky a Disinfo Agent for Israel? - Part 3 9/11 and the Zionist Question: Is Noam Chomsky a Disinfo Agent for Israel? - Part 2 I examine Halle and Chomsky's Eight Point Brief for LEV.
1) Voting should not be viewed as a form of personal self-expression or moral judgement directed in retaliation towards major party candidates who fail to reflect our values, or of a corrupt system designed to limit choices to those acceptable to corporate elites.
No argument with this.
2) The exclusive consequence of the act of voting in 2016 will be (if in a contested "swing state") to marginally increase or decrease the chance of one of the major party candidates winning.
This is true of the individual act of voting. The individual in solitude has little sway over the electoral result; that is an obvious given. However, when a consciousness sweeps across a multitude of like-minded individuals then enormous potentials emerge. This desire for a change from the effete status quo is, arguably, what occurred with the almost breakthrough candidacy of Bernie Saunders, and it is also what happened, in a dissimilar manner, with the candidacy of Donald Trump. Chomsky has framed the exclusive consequence of the act of voting as the result of an individualistic action, and it is. But individuals can and do, at times, form a wider consciousness, measurable by statistically rigorous polling results, that has potential ramifications on a much greater scale that mere margins. An example of this would be the expression of voter disgust in the Canadian federal election of 1993. Following two successive majority governments led by the Brian Mulroney Tories, a voting tsunami washed away all but two Tory seats in the 295-seat Parliament. The conservatives had been around since 1867, but the electoral demolition led to the eventual dissolution of the Tories.
3) One of these candidates, Trump, denies the existence of global warming, calls for increasing use of fossil fuels, dismantling of environmental regulations and refuses assistance to India and other developing nations as called for in the Paris agreement, the combination of which could, in four years, take us to a catastrophic tipping point. Trump has also pledged to deport 11 million Mexican immigrants, offered to provide for the defense of supporters who have assaulted African American protestors at his rallies, stated his "openness to using nuclear weapons", supports a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. and regards "the police in this country as absolutely mistreated and misunderstood" while having "done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order." Trump has also pledged to increase military spending while cutting taxes on the rich, hence shredding what remains of the social welfare "safety net" despite pretenses.
Much of what Trump stands for is anathema. True. There is no need to defend this man. However, Trump stakes out important positions diametrical to Hillary Clinton; for example, Clinton's advocacy of a no-fly zone over Syria, her saber rattling with Russia, her corporate-friendly policy toward so-called free trade deals.
Chomsky cleverly anticipated such an objection, writing:
... with respect to point 3) which some will challenge by citing the claim that Clinton's foreign policy could pose a more serious menace than that of Trump.
In any case, while conceding as an outside possibility that Trump's foreign policy is preferable, most of us not already convinced that that is so will need more evidence than can be aired in a discussion involving this statement. Furthermore, insofar as this is the fact of the matter, following the logic through seems to require a vote for Trump, though it's a bit hard to know whether those making this suggestion are intending it seriously.
First, Chomsky concedes "an outside possibility that Trump's foreign policy is preferable..." In other words, Chomsky posits an inside possibility (one assumes that Chomsky is saying that there is the strongest likelihood) that Clinton's foreign policy is preferable without any substantiation of why this would be so. Second, he raises an unreasonable demand for "evidence" that Trump will follow a less menacing foreign policy than Clinton. Given that Trump has never held political office no such evidence exists. What does exist is plenty of evidence that Clinton will pursue a menacing foreign policy. There is no reason to assume Clinton would reduce the number of American military bases overseas or curtail military spending. In fact, it is likelier that she would increase military spending. She will also likeliest resort to a US military attack to bring about "regime change" in Syria, pushing the US closer to military confrontation with Russia. Trump's detractors compare his bombastic rhetoric unfavorably to Clinton's rhetoric. But toward Putin or Assad, Clinton's undiplomatic utterances are on record.
Moreover, following Chomsky's logic, while the more preferable policies of Trump lack evidence, by the same token, the more objectionable policies of Trump also lack evidence for the same reason: Trump has no political track record upon which to judge what he would do if in the Oval Office. Thus, following this Chomskyian logic one could not pass judgement on hardly of Trump's pronouncements. Would he really build a wall on the Mexico-US border? Where is the evidence for this? Would Trump really ban Muslims from entering the US? Where is the evidence for this?
By effectively undermining Trump's peacemongering vis-à-vis Clinton's warmongering, Chomsky, by the same logic, undermines criticisms of the regressivist political utterances by Trump. Thus, following Chomsky's logic through it seems a bit hard to know whether his suggestion is intended seriously.
4) The suffering which these and other similarly extremist policies and attitudes will impose on marginalized and already oppressed populations has a high probability of being significantly greater than that which will result from a Clinton presidency.
One assumes that Chomsky refers to the domestic population here. Trump's policies — if he is true to his word to protect jobs for American workers and punish offshoring of American jobs along with his opposition to the TPP — would be a political reversal for neoliberalization. Clintonomics would be decidedly worse for marginalized and oppressed peoples at home and abroad. The economic plight of students, the poor, and ill, however, would be much better under a Jill Stein presidency .
The economic plight of students, the poor, and ill would be much better under a Jill Stein presidency.
If Chomsky is referring to the preponderant violence of US foreign policy and its oppressive and genocidal on populations, then I agree with his "basic moral principle": "not only must we take responsibility for our actions, but the consequences of our actions for others are a far more important consideration than feeling good about ourselves." Under the Democratic administration hundreds of thousands have died, millions of people have been displaced, and terrorist organizations have proliferated. This is the evidence from Clinton's time in political office. Thus a vote for Clinton is predictably a vote that will lead to a continuation, perhaps even a ramping up, of the suffering of others. Basic morality suggests to this writer to steer clear of casting such an oppression-enabling vote.
5) Should constitute sufficient basis to voting for Clinton where a vote is potentially consequential-namely, in a contested, "swing" state.
I contend that Chomsky's basis for 5) is false or questionable. First, Chomsky has staunchly argued that "we" should concentrate foremost on the wrongful actions and crimes of our own state because they are something we can have an influence over. But it seems that Chomsky believes that Trump will supersede Clinton's record of killing in Iraq, Libya, and Syria. Clinton is not going to close US military abroad. Trump has called these bases into question. And if one concentrates on the domestic population, at least the rhetoric of Trump against so-called free trade agreements and offshoring US factories abroad bodes well for the American worker.
6) However, the left should also recognize that, should Trump win based on its failure to support Clinton, it will repeatedly face the accusation (based in fact), that it lacks concern for those sure to be most victimized by a Trump administration.
This criticism is anti-democratic; furthermore, the criticism applies conversely. Chomsky's citing the accusation gives it a veneer of credence. Effectively it leads to the perpetuation of the business-party duopoly. The records of the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama administrations demonstrate the futility of such a proffered rationale. Clinton deregulated the finance sector, exposed American workers to the vagaries of "free trade," implemented regressive welfare policies, and continued aggressive US militarism abroad. Obama? Bailing out the banks; attempts to cut back social security; warring in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, and Syria; drone strikes; confrontation with Russia and China; TPP; and the lingering incarceration at Guantanamo Bay. It is important to note that Democrats, arguably, have a freer hand to implement rightist policy than Republicans have since many supporters of Democrats will mute their opposition to avoid providing succor to the Republicans. George Bush was stymied from tinkering with social security. Notably, Obama has done an about-face on social security and proposed an expansion, picking up on the popularity for such a measure from the Bernie Saunders candidacy.
7) Often this charge will emanate from establishment operatives who will use it as a bad faith justification for defeating challenges to corporate hegemony either in the Democratic Party or outside of it. They will ensure that it will be widely circulated in mainstream media channels with the result that many of those who would otherwise be sympathetic to a left challenge will find it a convincing reason to maintain their ties with the political establishment rather than breaking with it, as they must.
It is true that establishment operatives will use LEV as a bad faith justification for defeating challenges to corporate hegemony either in the Democratic Party or outside of it. That was the case when Ralph Nader ran. It is the case when Cynthia McKinney ran and it is when Jill Stein runs. The corporate media and even many so-called progressives will trot out this time-worn argument with each election cycle. As long as enough people buy into the premise, then the status quo will persist. The result is that a right-wing government always assumes office in Washington. This bodes ill for the poor and working class. It bodes poorly for nation states designated as enemy states by the US.
8) Conclusion: by dismissing a "lesser evil" electoral logic and thereby increasing the potential for Clinton's defeat the left will undermine what should be at the core of what it claims to be attempting to achieve.
Conclusion: by buying into a "lesser evil" electoral logic the corporate-political duopoly will remain in power to continue policies that primarily benefit the 1% and their goals for further enrichment; to unfetter finance, to pursue a belligerent foreign policy — a policy that seeks to placate the military-industrial establishment; and to further entrench corporate domination of the electoral system. All of this is at cross-hairs with what should be at the core of what progressives claim to be attempting to achieve.
Final Comments
The tragedy of opting for lesser evilism is that the people get evil.
Some leftist commentators argue that there is no evilism . I found that to be preposterous. Barack Obama was the so-called lesser evil the previous two election cycles. Obama is not a lesser evilist; he is the man who enables evil. ... The cycles of US-backed violence and killing in places such as Gaza, Syria, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia underscore the utter futility of pandering to a perceived lesser evilism. If one votes for a degree of evil, then one should not be surprised when evil results.
Progressivism demands that social justice activists repudiate evil. Morality dictates that people should not live in fear of being killed. A genuine peacemongering US president is needed to stop the killing and save lives. Consequently, both Democrats and Republicans are anathema. Given the present candidates, if people vote, then the only conscionable vote is for someone not of the business party factions.
Only a propeace "third" party will set the US on a new path . Outside of a revolution, the election of a propeace "third" party is the only moral direction on the horizon for Americans truly interested in steering their country toward peace and rehabilitating the ensanguined US reputation. Such a "third party" vote, however, may well augur the birth of a revolution on many promising fronts. | 1real |
EU leaders want to 'responsibly' cut Turkey pre-accession aid: Merkel | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The human rights situation in Turkey is unacceptable, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters on Thursday, adding European Union leaders had asked their executive arm to look at cutting pre-accession aid to Ankara in a responsible way . Merkel urged her fellow leaders on Thursday to cut European Union funds to Turkey that are linked to Ankara s bid to join the bloc. She was supported by Belgium and the Netherlands. But speaking to journalists after the a dinner at which leaders discussed relations with Turkey, Merkel said she wanted a common EU position on the accession talks and said dialogue with Turkey had to continue. She also said she did not foresee talks with Ankara on expanding a customs union with the EU. | 0fake |
Why Is the Foreign Policy Establishment Spoiling for More War? Look at Their Donors. - ICH | Why Is the Foreign Policy Establishment Spoiling for More War? Look at Their Donors. By Dennis Kucinich
The Nation " - W ashington, DC, may be the only place in the world where people openly flaunt their pseudo-intellectuality by banding together, declaring themselves think tanks, and raising money from external interests, including foreign governments, to compile reports that advance policies inimical to the real-life concerns of the American people.
As a former member of the House of Representatives, I remember 16 years of congressional hearings where pedigreed experts came to advocate wars in testimony based on circular, rococo thinking devoid of depth, reality, and truth. I remember other hearings where the Pentagon was unable to reconcile over $1 trillion in accounts, lost track of $12 billion in cash sent to Iraq, and rigged a missile-defense test so that an interceptor could easily home in on a target. War is first and foremost a profitable racket.
How else to explain that in the past 15 years this citys so called bipartisan foreign policy elite has promoted wars in Iraq and Libya, and interventions in Syria and Yemen, which have opened Pandoras box to a trusting world, to the tune of trillions of dollars, a windfall for military contractors. DCs think tanks should rightly be included in the taxonomy of armored war vehicles and not as gathering places for refugees from academia.
According to the front page of this past Fridays Washington Post , the bipartisan foreign-policy elite recommends the next president show less restraint than President Obama. Acting at the urging of liberal hawks brandishing humanitarian intervention, read war, the Obama administration attacked Libya along with allied powers working through NATO.
The think tankers fell in line with the Iraq invasion. Not being in the tank, I did my own analysis of the call for war in October of 2002, based on readily accessible information, and easily concluded that there was no justification for war. I distributed it widely in Congress and led 125 Democrats in voting against the Iraq war resolution. There was no money to be made from a conclusion that war was uncalled for, so, against millions protesting in the United States and worldwide, our government launched into an abyss, with a lot of armchair generals waving combat pennants. The marching band and chowder society of DC think tanks learned nothing from the Iraq and Libya experience.
The only winners were arms dealers, oil companies, and jihadists. Immediately after the fall of Libya, the black flag of Al Qaeda was raised over a municipal building in Benghazi, Gadhafis murder was soon to follow, with Secretary Clinton quipping with a laugh, We came, we saw, he died. President Obama apparently learned from this misadventure, but not the Washington policy establishment, which is spoiling for more war.
The self-identified liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) is now calling for Syria to be bombed, and estimates Americas current military adventures will be tidied up by 2025, a tardy twist on mission accomplished. CAP, according to a report in The Nation , has received funding from war contractors Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who make the bombers that CAP wants to rain hellfire on Syria.
The Brookings Institute has taken tens of millions from foreign governments , notably Qatar, a key player in the military campaign to oust Assad. Retired four-star Marine general John Allen is now a Brookings senior fellow . Charles Lister is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute , which has received funding from Saudi Arabia , the major financial force providing billions in arms to upend Assad and install a Sunni caliphate stretching across Iraq and Syria. Foreign-government money is driving our foreign policy.
As the drumbeat for an expanded war gets louder, Allen and Lister jointly signed an op-ed in the Sunday Washington Post , calling for an attack on Syria. The Brookings Institute, in a report to Congress , admitted it received $250,000 from the US Central Command, Centcom, where General Allen shared leadership duties with General David Petraeus. Pentagon money to think tanks that endorse war? This is academic integrity, DC-style.
And why is Central Command, as well as the Food and Drug Administration, the US Department of transportation, and the US Department of Health and Human Services giving money to Brookings ?
Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who famously told Colin Powell , Whats the point of having this superb military youre always talking about if we cant use it, predictably says of this current moment , We do think there needs to be more American action. A former Bush administration top adviser is also calling for the United States to launch a cruise missile attack on Syria.
The American people are fed up with war, but a concerted effort is being made through fearmongering, propaganda, and lies to prepare our country for a dangerous confrontation, with Russia in Syria.
The demonization of Russia is a calculated plan to resurrect a r aison dętre for stone-cold warriors trying to escape from the dustbin of history by evoking the specter of Russian world domination.
Its infectious. Earlier this year the BBC broadcast a fictional show that contemplated WWIII, beginning with a Russian invasion of Latvia (where 26 percent of the population is ethnic Russian and 34 percent of Latvians speak Russian at home).
The imaginary WWIII scenario conjures Russias targeting London for a nuclear strike. No wonder that by the summer of 2016 a poll showed two-thirds of UK citizens approved the new British PMs launching a nuclear strike in retaliation. So much for learning the lessons detailed in the Chilcot report.
As this years presidential election comes to a conclusion, the Washington ideologues are regurgitating the same bipartisan consensus that has kept America at war since 9/11 and made the world a decidedly more dangerous place.
The DC think tanks provide cover for the political establishment, a political safety net, with a fictive analytical framework providing a moral rationale for intervention, capitol casuistry. Im fed up with the DC policy elite who cash in on war while presenting themselves as experts, at the cost of other peoples lives, our national fortune, and the sacred honor of our country.
Any report advocating war that comes from any alleged think tank ought to be accompanied by a list of the think tanks sponsors and donors and a statement of the lobbying connections of the reports authors.
It is our patriotic duty to expose why the DC foreign-policy establishment and its sponsors have not learned from their failures and instead are repeating them, with the acquiescence of the political class and sleepwalkers with press passes.
It is also time for a new peace movement in America, one that includes progressives and libertarians alike, both in and out of Congress, to organize on campuses, in cities, and towns across America, to serve as an effective counterbalance to the Demuplican war party, its think tanks, and its media cheerleaders. The work begins now, not after the Inauguration. We must not accept war as inevitable, and those leaders who would lead us in that direction, whether in Congress or the White House, must face visible opposition.
Dennis Kucinich, a former Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, represented Ohio's 10th District from 1997 to 2013. You can visit his website here . | 1real |
PARIS NIGHTMARE: MUSLIM MAN Scales Wall Of Apartment…Stabs Jewish Woman…What He Does Next Is Unthinkable! [VIDEO] | An elderly Jewish woman living in Paris was not even safe in her own apartment from a Muslim man who scaled the wall of her apartment and violently murdered her. While the authorities have not yet named the motive, it s highly likely the Muslim man who killed the Orthodox Jewish woman while yelling, Alluha Akbar may have been motivated to commit such a hateful crime by the religion of peace In a violent attack causing trepidation amongst Paris Jewish community, a 66-year-old Orthodox woman, Sarah Halimi, was murdered to the cry of Allahu Akbar early Tuesday morning, pushed from the window of her top-floor apartment in Paris 11th arrondissement.The accused, a 27-year-old of Muslim origin known to police for a string of offenses, had broken into the apartment of his victim reportedly scaling the exterior wall from the floor below where he lived with his parents to stab his victim before throwing her to her death.The lifeless body of Ms. Halimi was found on the ground beneath her apartment, having been pushed to her death from her third story window during the attack which took place at approximately 4:30am.Three armed police were on the scene prior to the murder, according to neighbors, who also reported hearing the cry of Allahu Akbar at the moment of the crime. Unconfirmed reports circulating on social media also suggest that Ms. Halimi had previously been harassed by a relative of the accused, and that she had been subjected to verbal abuse in the days leading up to the incident. Neighbors claim that the accused had been radicalized and that police were waiting for an anti-terrorist unit to deal with the situation.French media have been covering the event with limited reference to the background of either the victim or the accused, instead characterizing the crime as the act of an unhinged individual. Further details of the incident have been emerging in the local Jewish media, with the story now gaining traction in Israel.Whilst the motives behind this crime are not yet 100% clear, it represents a growing phenomenon of criminal acts being preceded by cries of Allahu Akbar ( Our God is Greater ) consistently explained by French media as the acts of d s quilibr s , the unbalanced a word fast entering the lexicon for such circumstances. Gateway Pundit | 1real |
U.S. Strategy to Hobble North Korea Was Hidden in Plain Sight - The New York Times | Washington usually cloaks its most critical defense programs in secrecy. But in the case of using cyberstrikes, electronic warfare and other exotic forms of sabotage to redefine antimissile defense for the United States, many officials and officers have been talking openly, often to persuade Congress to fund the secretive efforts. The public conversation about the new antimissile approach, known as “left of launch,” has been careful. Typically, military leaders and contractors have spoken vaguely about technologies and targets. But at moments they have also declared that it is all about North Korea and Iran, at least for now. The idea is to strike an enemy missile before liftoff or during the first seconds of flight. The old approach waited until much later — after swarms of warheads had been released, had traveled thousands of miles and were racing toward targets at speeds in excess of four miles a second. Officials have praised strikes as a novel way of knocking out enemy missiles at a tiny fraction of the usual cost. In presentations and congressional testimony, senior officials have described the method as a potentially revolutionary way to strengthen the defenses of the United States. The public unveiling began in late 2013 when Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s military officer, warned of falling budgets and rising missile threats. That dilemma, he wrote in a policy guidance document for American troops, called for the development of unconventional defenses that would be far cheaper than traditional rocket interceptors. In 2014, Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr. vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, told the Atlantic Council that strikes would, by definition, remain a novel adjunct to wider antimissile efforts. “While we would still obviously prefer to take a threat missile out while it’s still on the ground,” he said, “we won’t always have the luxury of doing so. ” The result, he added, would be the continuing need for “solid capability” — in other words, the traditional methods. In 2015, top antimissile experts gathered at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. Archer M. Macy Jr. a retired Navy rear admiral, said the Defense Department was developing ways not only of preventing successful missile launches but of interfering in their flights and navigation. Kenneth E. Todorov, a retired Air Force brigadier general, raised the question of how to authorize what would amount to war — of attacking first to gain a strategic advantage. “Are we, as a military and a nation,” he asked, prepared to “go after potential targets in advance?” No consensus emerged. Raytheon, the nation’s top antimissile contractor, went wide rather than deep. In a conference presentation, it disclosed that the new developments included not just cyber and electronic strikes but the targeting of enemy factories, hinting at industrial sabotage. The glossy presentation included a lineup of “sophisticated adversaries,” including Kim the North Korean leader. Last year, the Pentagon’s budget request for 2017 said an antimissile program known as Nimble Fire had advanced General Dempsey’s goals by exploring “electronic attack” and “offensive cyber operations. ” The details, it said, were classified secret. In April, a number of budget hearings in the House and Senate focused on programs. Some of the most revealing testimony came before Senator Jeff Sessions, then chairman of the Strategic Forces subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee and now attorney general. Vice Adm. James D. Syring of the Navy, director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, described strikes and other unorthodox approaches as “game changing” because they reduced the need to “rely exclusively on expensive interceptors. ” Brian P. McKeon, then the Pentagon’s under secretary of defense for policy, said the Defense Department sought new and old antimissile arms “to deal with the threat of missiles from either North Korea or Iran. ” Of all the nations that might threaten the United States, he noted in his testimony, those two countries “are driving our investments. ” At a House hearing, Adm. William E. Gortney, then head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which has the responsibility for firing the nation’s antimissile weapons in time of war, was asked what Congress should do “to ensure our military forces” can execute strikes. Admiral Gortney said that in the committee’s secret session he could discuss the development of classified technologies where “investments are absolutely critical. ” | 0fake |
Fed's Yellen says Puerto Rico faces economic crisis, matter for Congress | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday said Puerto Rico faces a fiscal crisis but that a solution should come from the White House or Congress. “This is really something that I’m not an expert on,” she told a meeting of the House Financial Services Committee. “What the appropriate programs are for Puerto Rico to deal with its longstanding problems - I think that’s squarely a matter for Congress and the administration to consider.” | 0fake |
Republican vows 'all hands on deck' in Georgia congressional runoff | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A political newcomer who thrilled Democrats with a strong finish in a Georgia congressional race - despite attacks by President Donald Trump - will face an experienced Republican candidate in a June runoff election for a district long dominated by the party. Democrat Jon Ossoff drew 48.1 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s special election, just shy of the 50 percent needed to win the most closely watched U.S. congressional race since Trump took office in January. Some saw the election, held to replace new Health Secretary Tom Price, as a test of the Republican president’s political strength. Ossoff, 30, was the top vote getter in a field of 18 candidates, 11 of them Republicans, in a suburban Atlanta district that has sent Republicans to Congress since the 1970s. Republican Karen Handel, 55, a former Georgia secretary of state, won 19.8 percent, and will face Ossoff in the June 20 runoff. The runoff presents a stiffer challenge. If Ossoff gets the support of the other Democratic candidates, he would have 49 percent, said Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez. However, Perez said the party would target up to 35,000 Democrats who voted in November’s presidential election but not on Tuesday. “We have an army of volunteers,” he told CNN. Handel, who said Trump called to congratulate her on Wednesday morning, dismissed Ossoff as a well-funded novice who would flounder as Republicans consolidated support behind a single candidate. “We know that this is an important race, and it’s going to stay in the hands of a Republican,” Handel told CNN. “It is all Republicans, all hands on deck.” Demographic changes have made Georgia’s affluent 6th Congressional District more competitive for Democrats. Trump won the district by only 1.5 percentage points in November against Democrat Hillary Clinton, who drew support from its many college graduates. Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the race showed how the South was changing. “This should be a wake-up call for the Republican Party in the South,” he told NBC’s “Today” show. Ossoff, a former congressional staffer and documentary filmmaker, ran on a pledge to “Make Trump Furious.” Trump jumped into the race in its final days with attacks on Twitter poking fun at Ossoff for not living in his own district and for attracting support from Hollywood celebrities. The president weighed in again on Wednesday with a tweet saying, “It is now Hollywood vs. Georgia on June 20th.” In response, Ossoff portrayed Trump, a New York businessman who had never held public office, as the Washington insider. “Folks in Washington tend to overstate their influence in local races like this,” he told MSNBC. “This comes down to grassroots intensity.” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump would campaign in Georgia for Handel “if needed” but dismissed the race as overhyped. “The Democrats went all-in on this race,” Spicer told reporters. “They lost.” | 0fake |
Connecticut’s highest court approves forced chemotherapy for teen | A Connecticut teenager who tried to reject life-saving chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s lymphoma can be forced to undergo the treatment anyway, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The court unanimously affirmed a trial court judgment, which found that state officials could intervene and take over the care for the girl — identified as “Cassandra C.”
“This court agrees with the trial court that, even assuming that the mature minor doctrine applies in this state, the respondents have failed to meet their burden of proving under any standard that Cassandra was a mature minor and capable of acting independently concerning her life threatening medical condition,” Thursday’s order reads.
The teen’s mother has said that her daughter “knows the long-term effects of having chemo” and doesn’t want to put “poison” in her body.
“She may not be able to have children after this, because it affects everything in your body,” her mother, Jackie Fortin, said in a video posted on the Hartford Courant’s Web site. “It not only kills cancer, it kills everything in your body. She knows this.
“This is her human rights — her human constitutional rights — to not put poison in her body. Her rights have been taken away. She has been forced to put chemo in her body right now, as we speak. These are her rights that have been taken away. She does not want to [put] poison in her body.”
The teen is now receiving treatment at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, and a lawyer representing the state told the court that she is “doing well,” the Courant reported.
“Under this circumstance — when there is medical consensus that action must be taken or the child will die — the Department has a clear and urgent responsibility to save the life of this child,” Connecticut Department of Children and Families told CNN in a statement earlier this week.
According to the Courant:
The court Thursday heard arguments from lawyers for Cassandra and her mother, Jackie Fortin, who supports her daughter’s decision to reject chemotherapy treatments. The justices clearly struggled to find ground for overruling the lower court and sending the case back for another hearing, as requested by Cassandra and her mother. Assistant Public Defender Joshua Michtom, representing Cassandra, said the question was whether, despite an encouraging prognosis, “a smart and knowledgeable 17-year-old (can) make the same choice, for better or worse, than she would be able to make without state interference nine months from now, when she turns 18.”
Michtom did not immediately return a phone message from The Washington Post left on Thursday afternoon. | 0fake |
Just Back From A Golfing Vacay, Trump Says He’s Done More Than Any President Ever | Donald Trump just got back from binge-golfing over a span of five days and he s on track to triple the time former President Barack Obama spent on the golf course in his first year in office even though he repeatedly disparaged his predecessor for golfing. There are at least 27 tweets which Trump unleashed about Obama golfing, and on the campaign trail, he continued that. If I were in the White House I don t think I d ever see any of the places that I [own], Trump said during the campaign just last year, citing one of his golf courses in Florida. I just want to stay in the White House and work my ass off, make great deals. Right? Who s going to leave? Who s going to leave? Mark Knoller of CBS News keeps detailed statistics of presidencies.By my count, Pres Trump has spent all or part of 87 days at one of his golf clubs plus one in Japan. More often than not, WH won't say when he plays golf. Compares at same point in presidencies:Obama 24 rounds of golfGeorge W Bush 7 rounds. Mark Knoller (@markknoller) November 26, 2017Trump golfed for 5 days straight.Last day of his Florida holiday, Pres Trump back at one of his eponymous golf clubs. 5th day in a row. No photo op for the press pool, dropped off across-the-street at public library. Mark Knoller (@markknoller) November 26, 2017Sunday night, the Vacationer-in-Chief expressed his concern over the Russia scandal being brought up by wait for it bringing it up, then went on to tell how much he s done in 10 months, more than any president ever. Since the first day I took office, all you hear is the phony Democrat excuse for losing the election, Russia, Russia, Russia, he tweeted. Despite this I have the economy booming and have possibly done more than any 10 month President. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Since the first day I took office, all you hear is the phony Democrat excuse for losing the election, Russia, Russia,Russia. Despite this I have the economy booming and have possibly done more than any 10 month President. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2017To be clear, Trump is saying that he s accomplished more than George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt even though he s the least popular president in the history of polling and has not passed any major legislation. You know who isn t taking vacations right now? Robert Mueller, that s who.Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images. | 1real |
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