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Go Ahead, Sue the Government | Trump’s Gettysburg Address against the New World Order ‹ › Professor and Attorney Rahul Manchanda worked for one of the largest law firms in Manhattan where he focused on asbestos litigation. At the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (“UNCITRAL”) in Vienna, Austria, Mr. Manchanda was exposed to international trade law, arbitration, alternative dispute resolution, and comparisons of the American common law with European civil law. He later worked for one of the largest multi-national law firms in Paris France, Coudert Frères, where he focused primarily on international arbitration, arbitration agreements, the enforcement of foreign arbitration awards against multinational parent corporations, piercing the corporate veil, arbitration venue choice, and foreign policy. In Paris, Mr. Manchanda analyzed and compared the American legal system with its British, French, Russian, German, and Chinese counterparts. Mr. Manchanda also has extensive technical experience in Federal Patent Prosecution and Intellectual Property issues working for Milde Hoffberg & Macklin LLP and Moses & Singer LLP, and has contributed to the issuing of patents in the areas of biotechnology, organic chemistry, biopharmaceuticals, electrical and mechanical engineering, computer software and technology, and internet business methods. He was recently the Keynote Address Speaker for Hamline University School of International Law on the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, as well as a Chief Speaker for the Civil Rights Litigation Update Seminar on Balancing Inalienable Civil Rights and National Security in the Post-911 Era. Professor Manchanda is also a Faculty Member for LawLine.com, an online Continuing Legal Education (“CLE”) program designed to educate Attorneys all across the country on cutting edge issues of Immigration Law and Deportation and Removal Defense Litigation as well as a second CLE on the Foundations of International Law, as well as 5 different Immigration Law/Deportation Defense Seminars for Rossdale CLE. Click here to watch a portion of his 2 hour lecture on Immigration and Deportation and Removal Defense Litigation or The Foundations of International Law. You can also watch some of his many appearances on FoxNews, CNN, CourtTV, NBC, and other major media networks on some of the most notable cases in global history, here. He has also given multiple lectures as one of the first pioneering immigration law practitioners who merged Criminal Defense Law and Immigration/Deportation Defense Law in such lectures with other immigration law luminaries in LexisNexis Presents a Complimentary Webinar: Criminal Law and Immigration Intersection 101 and Immigration Reform and the Workplace: An Overview of Legal and Legislative Developments. At Boston University, Mr. Manchanda received a Bachelors degree in Biology, where he distinguished himself in the chemical and biological sciences, doing extensive research in organic chemistry, in both field and laboratory work relating to organic synthesis and isolation, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, structure determination, and production of synthetic bio-active natural products. At BU, Mr. Manchanda also was on the BU Shotokan Karate Team as well as a Lead Tenor with the Marsh Chapel Choir, also finding time to be a Teaching Fellow in Molecular Cell Biology, Organic Chemistry, and a private tutor in Calculus based Physics and Organic Chemistry. He also attended Yale University where he studied Molecular Cell and Evolutionary Biology. He served on the Pace University School of Law’s Mentor Program where he received his Juris Doctor degree. Attorney Manchanda graduated from the Wooster Prep School in Danbury Connecticut where he was a Varsity Letterman in Soccer, Wrestling, Tennis, and Lacrosse, as well as Lead in the Drama Program. For more than 14 years, his internationally recognized law firm has a formidable presence in Federal and State Criminal, Civil, International, and Immigration Courts throughout the United States pertaining to Master, Individual, and Final Hearings, Naturalization Interviews, Writs of Habeas Corpus, Writs of Corum Nobis, Marriage Cases, U.S. Embassy and Consular Processing, American Citizen Services, United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of State liaison, 440 Motions to Vacate, Amend, or Expunge Criminal Convictions, Aggravated Felonies, Drug Smuggling Cases, Stokes Hearings, Political Asylum, Taxation, Hardship, Removal of Condition Hearings, National Security, and Adjustment of Status Interviews. He served as an American Immigration Lawyer Association (“AILA“) Committee Member for the Congressional/Advocacy Committee, the Department of Labor (“DOL“) Committee, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (“EOIR“)/District Counsel/Political Asylum Committee. Attorney Manchanda also proudly served on the New York State Bar Association Empire State Counsel Program, which is a small group of Attorneys who serve the poor without charge, helping people who otherwise could not afford legal counsel to achieve justice. Attorney Manchanda also proudly serves as a Member of the American Bar Association Advisory Panel, a group of Attorneys that informs the ABA’s priorities and decisions by providing opinions about the direction of the ABA and issues facing the profession. Attorney Rahul Manchanda of Manchanda Law Office PLLC has also traveled extensively throughout the world where he has fought for peace and mutual understanding by and between the United States and different countries overseas. His work, observations, and travels have been published and been received to make foreign policy decisions by the International Atomic Energy Agency (“IAEA”), the US RAHUL MANCHANDA IN TEHRAN IRANCongress, US Senate, US Executive Branch, as well as countless other think-tanks, foreign and domestic governmental agencies, NGOs, foreign and domestic policy institutions, such as can be found here. Attorney Rahul Manchanda’s ceaseless and tireless work advocating peace, universal human and civil rights, and the avoidance of war and conflict has truly transformed the world, perhaps even helping to stop World War 3, for which he has been viciously attacked online and personally by warmongers, enemies of global peace, and religious extremists. In addition to Mr. Manchanda’s extensive international litigation practice in Federal and State Criminal Defense Law, Immigration Law, Deportation and Removal Defense Litigation, Family Law, International Law, and Civil Litigation, he has advised on, been consulted on, prepared, and filed tens of thousands of Arraignments, Trials, Hearings, Non-Immigrant and Immigrant Visa Petitions including, but not limited to: H-1B1, B, C, D, E, L, O, P, H-3, J, K, M, R, S, T, and U Visas, as well as I-130 and I-140 Immigrant Petitions with accompanying Adjustment of Status (I-485), Extraordinary Ability Petitions, EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, EB-5, Investment Based Visas, PERM, RIR, and Regular Labor Certification Applications with the Department of Labor, Political Asylum, Marriage Cases, Stokes Interviews, Naturalization/Citizenship, Agricultural, 245(I), CSS/Lulac/Zambrano, LIFE Act, Removal of Conditions, Criminal and Overstay Waivers, and Aggravated Felony and CMT Defense. Attorney Manchanda has succeeded for his Clients in Deportation and Removal Proceedings, Asylum, Employment Based Visa Petitions including PERM/Labor Certification, Business Immigration Visas, and Family Based Immigration Petitions, for tens of thousands of people, for more than 14 years. He taught Immigration Law at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice for the City University of New York located in Manhattan New York. He has also successfully advised on and appeared in Criminal Court throughout New York for many different types of State and Federal Criminal Defense Matters. He was sworn in and admitted to practice in the highest courts in New York State as well as in the Federal United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Federal United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the Federal United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, the United States District Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the United States District Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the United States District Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He has been an active member of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers Association, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Phi Alpha Delta International, the Global Interdependence Center (“GIC”), the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Network 20/20, and the Asia Society. He regularly participated in conferences with the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, Capitol Hill, the Center For Strategic and International Studies (“CSIS”), and the Council on Foreign Relations (“CFR”) in Washington, D.C. pertaining to counter-terrorism and foreign policy in South Asia, as well as completing counter-terrorism training with Security Solutions International (“SSI”). He served on a New York Committee on State Regulation of Immigration Law in front of the New York State Senate. He served on the Board of Directors and Sponsor of the US-India Institute (“USINI”), a non-partisan foreign policy advisory board and think tank located in Washington, D.C. focusing on critical geo-strategic issues of national security, defense and economic relations between the U.S. and India, informing and educating key policy makers in the U.S. and India on issues of common interest, and advocating the importance of achieving and maintaining peace through Rahul Manchanda Attorneystrength and economic freedom. He served as the U.S.-India Political Action Committee (“USINPAC“) Co-Chairman for New York where he impacted U.S. Foreign Policy on issues of concern to the Indian American community in the United States, providing bipartisan support to candidates for Federal, State and Local office who supported the issues that were important to the Indian American community, including research, support, and advocacy towards the successful passage of the United States-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Non-Proliferation Enhancement Act, signed into law on October 8, 2008 after more than three years of contentious bi-partisan and bi-lateral negotiations. Recently Attorney Manchanda was awarded the prestigious Hind Rattan Award for his outstanding services, achievements, and contributions in his field for “keeping the flag of India high” as an NRI/PIO by the NRI Welfare Society of India, an award bestowed on only 30 “eminent” NRIs/PIOs around the globe every year, and for making contributions in strengthening India’s economy. Attorney Manchanda was also Knighted by the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Justice of London England, given the appellation and nobility of Sir Rahul Manchanda. Attorney Manchanda also served on the Paris Conference Presidential Desk of the European Association of Lawyers (“AEA“), a highly selective network of international law firms with a presence in most of the world’s countries. He is also a member of the Indian American Lawyers Association of Manhattan New York as well as the Manhattan Committee on Foreign Relations, which is a private organization that promotes foreign policy and international affairs dialogue between policy makers, researchers, and other high level analysts and the Committee’s membership. Attorney Manchanda is also on the Advisory Council for the Republican National Lawyers Association. Attorney Rahul Manchanda is also a Member of the Queens District Attorney’s Office Defense Attorney Database for new cases assigned to Assistant District Attorneys and a Member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce. Additionally Rahul Manchanda is the founder of the India Anti-Defamation Committee Ltd which is a premier civil rights organization dedicated to fighting and eradicating racism, discrimination, and hatred directed towards people from the Indian subcontinent. Rahul Manchanda is also a Freemason. Mr. Manchanda has appeared as International Law Expert regularly on major media television program channels such as Fox News, CNN, Court TV, and NBC on such television programs as Dayside, Studio B with Shephard Smith, Fox and Friends, Heartland with John Kasich, Live from CNN with Kyra Phillips, the Live Desk with Martha McCallum, Anderson Cooper 360°, the O’Reilly Factor, Nancy Grace, Banfield & Ford Courtside, Best Defense with Jami Floyd, Justice with Jeanine Pirro, and the Catherine Crier Show on the most publicized and globally newsworthy of international legal issues and cases. You can watch many of these appearances here. He is also featured in Newsweek Magazine‘s Top Attorneys in the United States of America in 2013, and Top Immigration Lawyers in the United States of America in 2012 Showcases. His in depth expertise in International Affairs, State and Federal Criminal Defense Litigation, Consular Processing Issues, Immigration Law, Foreign Affairs, Customs Law, and High-Level Scientific Training has enabled Attorney Manchanda to secure solutions for his Clients in a quick, efficient, and accurate manner for more than 13 years. Mr. Manchanda is fluent in French, English, Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi. He has also studied Russian, Latin, and Hebrew. His hobbies include Politics, International Affairs, and Soccer. In his spare time, he enjoys Chess and Classical Music. | 1real |
CBD-Infused Cannabis Milk Soothes Anxiety And Is Hitting Stores Soon | By Amanda Froelich For a long time, green juice and green smoothies were considered to be the ‘peak’ of what one seeking to nourish their body could consume. While both offer numerous benefits,... | 1real |
30 WORKERS FIRED For Skipping Work To Protest On Behalf Of Illegal Immigrants…Calls Employer Who Fired Them A “Racist” [VIDEO] | The owner of a masonry business in Colorado is speaking out about his decision to fire more than 30 employees who did not show up for work in support of last week s Day Without Immigrants protest.Jim Serowski, the owner of JVS Masonry, told CNN in an interview on Sunday he did nothing wrong and said he warned his employees about the consequences of joining in the protest movement before they actually took the day off.Serowski said he told his employees, If you re going to stand up for what you believe in you have to be willing to pay the price. On Saturday, Serowski also spoke to his local CBS News affiliate in Denver after one employee made an allegation that his termination felt like racism. Serowski denied the decision to terminate the workers was in any way racially motivated and said he made the decision because the employees violated the company s policy about not showing up to work. He said the decision put his company in a real bind because he had to shutdown two job sites on Thursday due to the protest and he is now risks missing an important construction deadline. They were told, if you no-call-no-show, you don t have a job, Serowski told the news station. It s that simple. | 1real |
Fox News Is Imploding As Greta Van Susteren Leaves Network In Wake Of Settlement With Gretchen Carlson | An aging audience combined with a devastating sexual harassment lawsuit and the exodus of several high-profile hosts and the resignation of Roger Ailes has all but crippled the conservative propaganda machine in recent months.Fox News has settled with former host Gretchen Carlson for $20 million after she revealed that Ailes had been sexually harassing her for years. Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy was also named by Carlson as a perpetrator but there has been no word as yet on whether he will also get the boot or resign. He probably wouldn t be able to get another job in the media anyway if he did.But soon after Carlson s allegations, Andrea Tantaros slapped the network with a sexual harassment lawsuit of her own, not only naming Ailes but also Bill O Reilly, who allegedly made sexual advances toward Tantaros.That might make it easier for Fox to choose between keeping Megyn Kelly or the longtime host of The O Reilly Factor if reports that the network might have to choose one or the other are true.And now, just after announcing the settlement, longtime host Greta Van Susteren has departed Fox News as well and will be replaced by obnoxious sexist Brit Hume, who once complained that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie can t act like a real man because of feminists and creepily complimented Megyn Kelly by marveling about how smart she is despite being pretty.Way to go, Fox. You had a chance to replace Van Susteren with another woman or at least with a male anchor who isn t a misogynist and you failed spectacularly. Replacing her with Hume must mean you didn t learn a damn thing from all the sexual harassment lawsuits being filed against you. We are grateful for Greta s many contributions over the years and wish her continued success, Fox News said in a brief statement that also included a public apology to Carlson.This is the biggest staff shakeup within Fox News to occur in many years. The sexual harassment bombshell has shattered a working environment that the network cultured for decades and now it is biting them HARD. If Bill O Reilly or Megyn Kelly or both end up jumping ship for calmer waters next year when their contracts expire it could throw the network into even worse chaos.Again, Fox News may have a large audience but their audience is older and that means big trouble for a network that has largely refused to appeal to a millennial audience. Losing Kelly would not help.But considering how many female hosts have left Fox recently and the fact that Fox chose Brit Hume of all people to replace Van Susteren, it appears Kelly could very well decide to leave the toxic anti-women atmosphere of Fox News, which Tantaros described as a media company that masquerades as a defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency and misogyny. Featured Image: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images | 1real |
Democrats must overhaul party, attack big business, Sanders says | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Sunday urged a major overhaul of his party, calling for more aggressive efforts to court working-class voters and fight big businesses from Wall Street to the pharmaceutical sector. Sanders, who spoke a day after Democrats chose Tom Perez, a veteran of former President Barack Obama’s administration, as their new party chairman, said it was also crucial for progressives to do more to mobilize grassroots supporters to take on Republican President Donald Trump. “We need a total transformation,” the 75-year-old U.S. senator from Vermont said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We need to open up the party to working people, to young people and make it crystal clear that the Democratic Party is going to take on Wall Street, it’s going to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry, it’s going to take on corporate America that is shutting down plants in this country and moving our jobs abroad,” he added. Democrats are struggling to recover from an electoral rout in November in which they lost not only the White House, but both chambers of the U.S. Congress. Republicans won the governor’s office in 33 states, up from 31, and increased their dominance in state legislatures. The unexpectedly strong challenge from Sanders, a Democratic socialist, to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary laid bare the fissures within the party. Sanders’ calls to rein in big businesses echoed a campaign theme that energized his supporters during the Democratic primary. Sanders had backed U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, a liberal from Minnesota, to lead the Democrats but threw his support behind Perez after Saturday’s vote. Perez promptly made Ellison his deputy after the election. Trump seized on the result to reprise a favorite phrase from the presidential campaign, calling the race for Democratic National Committee chairman “totally rigged.” “Bernie’s guy, like Bernie himself, never had a chance. Clinton demanded Perez!” he said in a Twitter post on Sunday. Perez, who was labor secretary under Obama, promised to rebuild the Democratic Party and redefine its mission from the grassroots up. “That’s what we have to do as Democrats, help elect people in statehouses, presidency, local government and everywhere in between,” Perez said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Democrats did not invest enough in their party infrastructure and grassroots organizing and ignored large swathes of rural America, Perez said in a round of television appearances. Trump swept those areas and the Rust Belt region in the Midwest with his talk of bringing jobs back to America and renegotiating the trade deals many blamed for their loss. Perez cited the angry town halls some Republican lawmakers have faced recently and said it was important for Democrats to harness that energy into the ballot booth. | 0fake |
Rick Scott Kills Babies By Eliminating Medical Standards After $200K Bribe From Hospital | Rick Scott is an absolutely horrible governor and literally gives zero f*cks about the people of Florida even babies. Governor Scott is being accused of eliminating health standards for children s heart surgery after a hospital donated $200,000 to Republicans, including his own political action committee.In 2015, CNN revealed that St. Mary s Medical Center in West Palm Beach had an extremely high mortality rate in their pediatric cardiology program. Between 2011 and 2013, the hospital had a 12.5 percent death rate for open heart surgeries on babies and children; by comparison, the national average was 3.3 percent. So many children were dying at the hospital that in 2014 five independent pediatric heart doctors arrived at the hospital to review the program. The doctors were horrified by what they found, and recommended that the hospital stop performing surgery on babies under six months old and not perform any complicated procedures on older children.The hospital ignored their advice and more children and babies died. The state of Florida was warned by multiple highly respected cardiologists that the hospital had problems, but the state did nothing. Actually, that s not true, they did something far worse than nothing.Two moths after CNN s investigation was published, the state eliminated standards that have been in place for nearly forty years to protect pediatric heart patients. Why? Because during the same period of time that all of the children were dying in St. Mary s, the owners of the hospital, Tenet Healthcare, donated $200,000 to Rick Scott s PAC and the Republican Party of Florida.David Nykanen, co-director of the Heart Center at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, called the move to eliminate the standards AFTER the donations too much of a coincidence: The coincidence is just a little too much. It s just a little hard to swallow. Tenet s Shelly Weiss Friedberg told CNN that they had nothing to do with the state s decision: At no time have we discussed the pediatric cardiac standards with the governor or his office, or with any elected official or anyone on their staff. Our opinion was not sought on the standards nor have we expressed a position on the possible repeal of the standards or the role of the Cardiac Technical Advisory Panel. Nyakanen was not convinced, saying, If someone is contributing at that level, obviously they have to have some influence. If Tenet Healthcare contributed so much money, you d think they have the ear of the governor and the politicians. Last month Administrative Law Judge John Van Laningham agreed that the state should do away with the standards, claiming that suggesting the quality of healthcare would diminish is a little insulting to the health care professionals who personally deliver those services. But at St. Mary s the quality was never there to begin with and if anything the state should have stepped in and prevented the hospital from ever operating on tiny humans again. Of course, this is Rick Scott s Florida that we are talking about and he cares little about the people of the state he was elected to serve.This is not the first time Rick Scott has screwed over the people of Florida when it comes to healthcare. The former hospital CEO/Medicare thief and House Republicans brought the government to a grinding halt when they refused to expand Medicaid to nearly a million of the state s working poor. Now that they have done this, it is absolutely crystal clear that Florida s GOP-led government will stop at nothing to help their donors even if that means killing your children.Featured image via Facebook | 1real |
Paul Ryan: If Trump Tries To Ban Muslims, We’ll Sue Him (VIDEO) | Despite the fact that House Speaker Paul Ryan continues to insist that he s still backing Trump, it couldn t be clearer that he is extremely uncomfortable with the prospect of a President Trump. The two disagree on many things, including Trump s ridiculous idea that he could, without the help of Congress, ban Muslims from the United States. Since the shooting in Orlando, Trump has doubled down on that insanity, and it s clear that Speaker Ryan has had enough.Ryan sat down on Thursday with The Huffington Post, and when asked about what he d do if Trump tried to pull that sh*t once he was elected, Ryan said: I would sue any president that exceeds his or her powers. He went on to make sure people understood that his endorsing Trump did not mean that he had given the orange one a blank check to do as he pleases.Think about that. The Speaker of the House of Representatives the guy who is presiding over the GOP convention just floated the idea of suing his own nominee. This is the GOP imploding right before our eyes, folks. For real. Ryan went on to say: That s a legal question that there s a good debate about. On the broader question, are we going to exert our Article I powers and reclaim this Article I power no matter who the president is? Absolutely. After effectively saying that he d sue Trump if it came down to it, Ryan turned right around and reminded everyone what a spineless weasel he is, and insisted that Trump is still his man: I am going to keep being who I am, I am going to keep speaking out on things where I think it s needed, where our principles need to be defended, and I am going to keep doing that, I hope it s not necessary. But the last thing I want to see is a another Democrat in the White House. So, despite the fact that Trump continues to demonstrate how bashit insane not to mention grossly unqualified he is, Paul Ryan still would rather see Trump burn the world down than have to deal with another Democratic president. Not surprising, really.Watch the full interview below:Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images | 1real |
Hillary Clinton Says Half Her Cabinet Will Be Women If Elected President | Women make up over 50 percent of this country, but are grossly underrepresented in just about everything. In the United States Congress, more than 80 percent of those representing the people are men 80 percent in the Senate, 81 percent in the House.On the Supreme Court, only three of the nine Justices are women.And yes, even in the progressive Obama Administration, only 13 out of the 47 individuals who have served in his cabinet have been women 28 percent.It is no secret that Washington D.C. is still a hard place for a woman to find her voice. Even though it s been proven statistically that when women take charge of the operations and debates in D.C., stuff gets done quicker in a more bipartisan manner. Still, women aren t taken seriously.But Hillary Clinton, while shattering that glass ceiling herself, wants to shatter it in all aspects of D.C., starting with her cabinet, should she win the presidency.In an MSNBC town hall Monday night, Clinton told viewers that she intends to have her cabinet reflect the demographics of America:Well, I am going to have a Cabinet that looks like America, and 50 percent of America is women. Whether it s in a vice president or members of a Cabinet or in the White House staff, I want as broad a set of experiences that I can possibly draw together, because I m someone who likes to listen to people who come at problems from different perspectives.While Donald Trump accuses her of playing the woman card, Clinton is setting in motion a push to make women more equally represented in American society, something Trump would never consider.Should Clinton win, she not only is responsible for her cabinet, but also her appointments to the Supreme Court, which could produce two vacancies in the next four years.But it s this particular election that could be a driving force for women in Congress. Democrats have the opportunity to get out and elect women, from California to Maryland, from New York to Florida.If women are fifty percent of our population, then they deserve equal representation at every level, and Clinton seems to definitely be on board with making sure that happens if she were to become president.Featured image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | 1real |
German Social Democrats say election race still open despite weak polls | BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s Social Democrats (SPD) on Thursday insisted they were still in with a chance of ousting Chancellor Angela Merkel in a Sept. 24 election after media reports said a senior party member seemed to have given up hope. The SPD, which surged in the polls early this year after nominating former European Parliament President Martin Schulz as its election candidate, was on 23 percent in the latest opinion poll - far behind Merkel s conservatives on 37 percent. Some German media reported that foreign minister and former SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel no longer believed his party could win the election after he told German magazine Der Spiegel on Wednesday: A grand coalition doesn t make sense because that would mean the SPD could not come up with the chancellor. The SPD is currently the junior partner in a grand coalition - generally a last resort alliance - with Merkel s conservatives. Gabriel contradicted those media that suggested he thought there was no prospect of an SPD victory, saying in a statement released on Thursday: Whoever says anything like that is talking nonsense. He said the race between Merkel and her SPD challenger remained completely open and pointed to a survey by pollster Allensbach last week that showed almost 50 percent of voters had yet to decide who they would choose. Schulz told Germany s RND network of newspapers: Sigmar Gabriel said he doesn t want to continue the grand coalition. I don t want that either. Where s the drama? Schulz said his aim was still to become chancellor of Germany with the SPD as the strongest party, adding that he would use a television debate between him and Merkel on Sunday to highlight the differences between their parties. | 0fake |
Modest to Majestic: A Look at Hillary and Bill Clinton’s Homes Over the Years - The New York Times | Hillary and Bill Clinton’s shift over the years from middle class to multimillionaires has been perhaps most pronounced in the places they have called home. For 18 consecutive years, the Clintons lived in housing, from the Arkansas governor’s mansion to the White House. Should Mrs. Clinton win the presidency in November, they would become the first “first couple” to swap roles and return to the White House. Here’s a look at the Clintons’ homes over the years: When They Were There: What They Paid For It: $17, 200 What Was Going On in Their Lives: On Oct. 11, 1975, Bill and Hillary, then both law professors, were married in the living room of this Tudor revival home. The building, now a museum, is one of the four stops on the “Billgrimage” tour of Mr. Clinton’s House life. _____ When They Were There: What Was Going On in Their Lives: Mrs. Clinton had a hard time adjusting to life in Little Rock, which was more conservative than the college town of Fayetteville. The home where they lived while Mr. Clinton was attorney general was a pit stop on the way to the governor’s mansion. _____ When They Were There: What They Paid For It: $112, 000 What Was Going On in Their Lives: Mrs. Clinton partly used the proceeds from her investments and her savings to put a $60, 000 down payment on the home, in the city’s Hillcrest district, purchased in the dark days after Mr. Clinton lost his bid for governor. She built wooden bookshelves in a sunny office (which locals joke was the first Clinton Library) and converted the attic into a room for Chelsea, who celebrated her first birthday and learned to walk there. _____ When They Were There: 1999 to present What They Paid For It: $1. 7 million What Was Going On in Their Lives: Laden with debt from legal bills while they were in the White House, the Clintons initially accepted help from their friend and Terry McAuliffe to secure the mortgage on the home, but turned down the offer amid criticism. The Dutch colonial in a wooded New York suburb in Westchester County gave Mrs. Clinton a perch from which she could run for a Senate seat from New York. The Clintons spend most of their downtime here, “The Good Wife” and “Downton Abbey” and hosting Thanksgiving meals with Chelsea and her friends. _____ When They Were There: 2000 to present What They Paid For It: $2. 85 million What Was Going On in Their Lives: With Mrs. Clinton set to represent New York in the Senate, the Clintons needed a home in Washington. The home, in an area known as “Embassy Row,” takes up a third of an acre on a lot, and has seven bedrooms, a den, a pool and a terrace. The relatively secure location makes it a favorite place for the Clintons to entertain and hold meetings away from prying reporters’ eyes. _____ When They Were There: 2004 to present, on and off What Was Going On in Their Lives: Perched atop the Clinton library (which locals joke looks like a glass trailer park) is a tastefully decorated private residence where the Clintons stay when they’re in Little Rock. The apartment has a sprawling terrace overlooking the Arkansas River and the aptly named Clinton Presidential Park Bridge. Mr. Clinton, famously a night owl, is known to tap into the archives to frequently redecorate with memorabilia from his presidency. | 0fake |
Trump calls for charges against Clinton after FBI interview in email investigation | Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump called for charges to be filed against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton Saturday after the former secretary of state met with the FBI regarding the agency’s investigation into her use of a private email server for official correspondence.
"It is impossible for the FBI not to recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton," Trump tweeted Saturday afternoon. "What she did was wrong! What Bill did was stupid!"
The Clinton campaign said the voluntary meeting lasted about three-and-a-half hours and took place at FBI headquarters in Washington.
Clinton “is pleased to have had the opportunity to assist the Department of Justice in bringing this review to a conclusion” campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement. He also said Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, would have no further comment about the interview.
The campaign issued the statement Saturday shortly before 12:30 p.m. ET, practically minutes after Clinton returned to her Washington home, then departed again about 30 minutes later.
“Hillary Clinton has just taken the unprecedented step of becoming the first major party presidential candidate to be interviewed by the FBI as part of a criminal investigation surrounding her reckless conduct,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. "We must ask ourselves if this is the kind of leadership we want in the White House.”
There was no immediate comment from the FBI or Justice Department Saturday.
Clinton’s use of a private server and email address -- and whether classified information was mishandled as a result of that setup -- has cast a shadow over her campaign from the start.
The FBI investigation is purportedly coming to a close, and the Clinton interview is considered among the final steps in the case.
Trump has seized on the email issue and repeatedly said the probe undermines Clinton's fitness for office. Trump has called his opponent "Crooked Hillary" and said she cannot be trusted in the White House.
The former first lady and New York senator has argued that she is more trustworthy than Trump on handling the issues that matter to most Americans: foreign policy, national security and running the economy.
But the email investigation has lingered throughout her campaign, and Trump has asserted that Clinton will receive leniency from a Democratic administration.
Earlier this week, the entire, ongoing email scandal grew when Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, initiated an impromptu meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on her airplane in Phoenix.
"The American people need to have confidence that the Obama Justice Department is conducting a fair and impartial investigation, but when the attorney general meets secretly with Bill Clinton just days before Hillary’s interrogation is conducted discreetly over a holiday weekend, it raises serious concerns about specialtreatment,” Priebus also said.
There was already speculation about whether an agency under the Obama administration could conduct an unbiased probe, which only intensified after Clinton met with Lynch, a President Obama appointee who decides whether to bring charges in the case.
Lynch says she will accept whatever recommendations she receives from the agency's career prosecutors and lawyers.
Clinton has said relying on a private server was a mistake but that other secretaries of state had also used a personal email address. The matter was referred for investigation last July by the inspectors general for the State Department and intelligence community following the discovery of emails that they said contained classified information.
The State Department's inspector general, the agency's internal watchdog, said in a blistering audit in May that Clinton and her team ignored clear warnings from State Department officials that her email setup violated federal standards and could leave sensitive material vulnerable to hackers. Clinton declined to talk to the inspector general, but the audit reported that Clinton feared "the personal being accessible" if she used a government email account.
Agents have already interviewed top Clinton aides including her former State Department chief of staff Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin, a longtime aide who is currently the vice chairwoman of Clinton's campaign.
The staffer who set up the server, Bryan Pagliano, was granted limited immunity from prosecution by the Justice Department last fall in exchange for his cooperation. The FBI as a matter of course seeks to interview individuals central to an investigation before concluding its work.
The emails were routed through a server located in the basement of Clinton's New York home during her tenure as the nation's top diplomat from 2009 to 2013.
Dozens of the emails sent or received by Clinton through her private server were later determined to contain classified material.
Clinton has repeatedly said that none of the emails were marked classified at the time they were sent or received. As part of the probe, she has turned over the hard drive from her email server to the FBI.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
| 0fake |
There’s wildly conflicting information about what FBI actually found in renewed Clinton email probe | There’s no clear consensus as of yet whether the emails were sent by Clinton herself, to Clinton, whether they were from her private server, or even whether any of the emails were new.
Here’s a breakdown of what has been reported thus far: Los Angeles Times : “The emails were not to or from Clinton, and contained information that appeared to be more of what agents had already uncovered, the official said, but in an abundance of caution, they felt they needed to further scrutinize them.” The Washington Post : “The correspondence included emails between Abedin and Clinton, according to a law enforcement official.” CNN : “The emails in question were sent or received by Abedin, according to a law enforcement official.” The New York Times : “Senior law enforcement officials said that it was unclear if any of the emails were from Mrs. Clinton’s private server.” ABC News : “These emails were not sent by Hillary Clinton, and the FBI has no evidence of wrongdoing by her, according to a source familiar with the investigation.” | 1real |
Alec Baldwin Didn’t Even Wait For Trump To Whine About SNL Before Smacking Him Around (VIDEO) | Alec Baldwin didn t even wait to taste Trump s salty yet delicious tears after his brilliant Saturday Night Live smackdown of the 2016 nominee. Baldwin perfectly captured the disaster that was Trump s performance during the second presidential debate, but the true magic happened on Twitter no, we re not talking about the actor nonchalantly retweeting Trump s tantrum. We re talking about how he perfectly anticipated the meltdown and left a response before the show was even filmed.After the show aired, The Donald had a full-blown meltdown on Twitter (because where else?) one Baldwin retweeted to make sure the world saw what a mess Trump is.While the world recognized how badass this was Baldwin essentially firing a rocket launcher at Trump s stupid plane and walking away without so much as looking at the explosion what many are missing is that he didn t even need to say a word. He already did that on Friday in anticipation of the 2016 GOP nominee s oh-so-predictable meltdown. Before Trump said a word, Baldwin had a response prepared: Fuck your feelings. He even used a photo of one of The Donald s deplorables to do it.It s disheartening that the GOP can t field someone who won t be baited into a full-blown tantrum by someone making a few jokes about him. But this is where we re at. Be sure to vote BLUE on November 8 (not November 28 as Trump told his Deplorables at a rally recently). This is probably the first time we ve had the literal life or death of our nation riding on an election.Featured image via Getty Images/Paul Hawthorn | 1real |
White House Sources: Reports of Gorka Leaving White House Are ‘Incorrect’ - Breitbart | Multiple White House sources confirmed to Breitbart News on Sunday evening that reports earlier on Sunday that Sebastian Gorka, a deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, is somehow leaving the White House are incorrect. [“Incorrect,” one source told Breitbart News when asked about reports from the Washington Examiner and CNN that Gorka was leaving the White House. A second White House source with direct knowledge of these matters confirmed to Breitbart News that the reports are wrong. The Washington Examiner’s Sarah Westwood reported on Sunday that Gorka, an News national security editor, was leaving the White House for another federal agency. “Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to President Trump, will soon accept a position outside the White House, two sources told the Washington Examiner on Sunday,” Westwood wrote: Gorka’s new role will deal with the “war of ideas” involved in countering radical Islamic extremism, a senior administration official said, and will entail an appointment to a federal agency. Gorka has served for months on the Strategic Initiatives Group, an internal organization within the White House, and as a national security adviser. His exit from the White House comes amid increased speculation that a reported lack of a security clearance prevented him from fully performing in his job. But a source told the Washington Examiner that Gorka’s role in SIG was always meant to be temporary, and suggested he had been placed there while administration officials created a position for him elsewhere in the government. An official said Gorka has been in a “holding pattern” while he waited for the position, which will not be at the State Department, to be established. A spokesman for the National Security Council said he did not “personally know” the details about Gorka’s move. A White House source said Gorka’s role has always been unclear and said Gorka never had national security issues in his portfolio. “This guy has always been a big mystery to me,” the source said of Gorka’s contributions to the staff. It turns out that these sources had inaccurate information. So did “administration officials” who talked anonymously to CNN, which published a similar report. “Sebastian Gorka, a controversial national security aide in the White House, is expected to leave his job, several administration officials confirm to CNN,” CNN’s Jim Acosta and Eric Bradner wrote on Sunday. “One senior administration official said Gorka is expected to find an opportunity outside the White House soon. Another said it’s possible he would take another job in the administration, but added it’s more likely he will leave altogether. That official said Gorka was simply generating too much controversy for the White House. ” Gorka has been under constant assault from the left, including many media attacks that falsely claimed he has ties. But a BuzzFeed report from Mitch Prothero in Hungary found that Gorka actually has no or Nazi ties, despite scores of inaccurate reports and claims from organizations that he did. | 0fake |
Even Republicans Didn’t Want Trump to Tweet During Comey Hearing | It really says something when Republican leaders tell Trump not to tweet during an important event.When Former FBI Director James Comey s hearing was hours away, Republicans were rightfully anxious.Sean Spicer may have told the world that Trump s tweets are official statements, but we all know it s a circus and Spicer s trying to be the ringmaster. The Republicans are finally beginning to realize that. Oh, I wish he d do something else. It s not going to change the testimony, said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, who chaired the Comey hearing. (Source)It was no secret that Comey would speak unfavorably about Trump thanks to Comey s opening statement released on Wednesday.Naturally, this meant there was a high chance of Trump tweeting and saying how sad and wrong Comey is if Trump s track record is anything to go by.It s clear Trump needs someone to hold his hand through his time in office but whether he ll take the hand is up in the air. What I would do is go do my job, let them have their hearing and not give the impression that you re trying to influence it, said Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma before the Comey hearing.Republican lawmakers are hoping that, if Trump can continue to lay low, the commotion of Trump s circus will die down a little. Then they will be able to focus on Trump s agenda again.To everyone s surprise, Trump didn t tweet during the hearing. Or at least, not the Trump we were all expecting. Instead, we got Trump Jr. throwing a tantrum on Twitter.I guess next time, Republicans should be specific on which Trump should not tweet during important events since they can t figure it out for themselves. Honestly it would be in everyone s best interest if Trump and his family didn t tweet at all.Featured image via Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images | 1real |
Trump's defeat raises questions about his jetsetting campaign | DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump’s surprise defeat in Iowa at the hands of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz reflected shortcomings in his get-out-the-vote operations and an over reliance on his celebrity status in a state where voters prefer the personal touch. The New York billionaire and former TV reality star generated much enthusiasm for his anti-establishment message, but in the end he was out muscled by Cruz’ more traditional ground game and saw some late-deciding voters side with U.S. Senator Marco Rubio. All signs had pointed to a Trump victory in the first nominating contest in the race for the White House, with the Des Moines Register’s influential poll giving Trump the lead on the weekend before Iowans went to caucus on Monday. The loss, while not by a large margin, raised questions about Trump’s ability to perform as well in voting contests as he does in polls. Prior to Monday, Trump had repeatedly boasted that he would easily win Iowa, and he has been the front runner in most national polls since last summer. Sensing victory, Trump had mocked Cruz’s ground game in the hours before voters went to their caucus sites. “I hear they all have these great ground games, they’ve got people pouring in on buses and trucks,” Trump said at a campaign rally. “They are spending all the money they have from special interests. For our country, I want the person who is going to spend the least amount and get the best results.” Trump had relied on what Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann told Reuters was a “stealth” ground effort. For some though, the specifics of Trump’s plan for turning out his supporters on Monday were questionable. Instead of aggressively trying to convert any and all Republicans to his cause as Cruz did, Trump relied mostly on signing up supporters from among those who attended his rallies. The challenge Trump faced was trying to persuade these people, many of whom had never participated in a caucus before, to show up. Tana Goertz, Trump’s Iowa campaign chair, was frequently an introductory speaker at Trump events and would encourage attendees to make sure they knew where to go to caucus. Leaflets were passed out reassuring voters that the ballot is secret and, “most caucuses take less than 1 hour.” “It’s new to a lot of these people who were supporting him,” said David McNeer, of Newton, Iowa, who steered his precinct into overwhelmingly voting for Trump. “It may be at the end that some of them didn’t come out like they thought were going to come out.” Trump’s bombastic style and flair for the dramatic may in the end have not helped as much as he would have hoped. As Cruz and Rubio went the more traditional route of talking to small groups of people at pizza parlors and hotel conference rooms, Trump would make a dramatic entrance in his private jet, emblazoned with his name, and tear into his rivals at rallies attended by thousands. He made pandering comments like wanting to buy a farm in Iowa and hoping his pregnant daughter would deliver her baby in the state. He did few small events. Gary Updegraff, an enthusiastic Trump backer and precinct chairman in Des Moines, said he believed Trump would adjust his style. “He’s a very smart man, he’s going to analyze this with his people, he’ll talk to his family probably about it. I think the genuineness of Donald Trump needs to come out a little bit more,” Updegraff said. Trump took some initial steps in this direction in the final days before the caucus. He appeared with evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr., who asked Trump friendly questions that played up the candidate’s contributions to charitable causes and pointed out he served cheeseburgers, not caviar, on his plane. At least some of his supporters think Trump might have performed better if he had participated in a Fox News debate last week instead of boycotting in opposition to anchor Megyn Kelly and a Fox news release he felt had a biting tone. “I think a lot of things caught up to him here in the last couple of weeks,” said Trump supporter Brett Ridge of Des Moines, speaking shortly after Trump’s concession speech. “When it comes down to it, he should have been at the debate last week.” Trump noted in his concession speech that some had argued he would never do well in the state. “Iowa, we love you,” Trump said in defeat. “You are very special. I think we might come back here and buy a farm.” (Additional reporting by Ginger Gibson, editing by Paul Thomasch and Ross Colvin) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency. | 0fake |
White Trump Supporter EXPLODES In Store After Black Employees Offer Her A Bag (VIDEO) | A Trump-loving white shopper had a racist meltdown of #babyTrump proportions last week, all because she was asked to purchase a $1 reusable bag to make carrying all her items easier.The woman had been shopping at arts and crafts store Michael s in Chicago on Thanksgiving Eve, when the offer to buy the bag apparently put her over the edge. Claiming that she was being discriminated against because she was white, the unidentified shopper exploded with rage and began shouting: I voted for Trump so there. You want to kick me out for that? And look who won. Her rant continued as she started to attack the African American employees which prompted Jessie Grady, another customer, to pull out her cell phone and start recording the verbal abuse. Grady said the Trump-loving woman went into a 30-minute racist rant complete with yelling and cursing and repeated references to the fact that both employees were African-American. Eventually, the enraged shopper realized she was being recorded and also became confrontational with Grady. She got closer to Grady and said:Then, the woman accused Grady s baby of stealing before returning to her original plan, attacking the store s black employees. She yelled: You re a liar, I don t care, because I m a consumer. I m a customer. This is ten minutes of the shopper s meltdown, and an absolute sorry excuse for an American. See for yourself:Since this video has been uploaded to YouTube, it has gone viral. Grady said the reason she recorded the video was protect the store s employees and keep them from getting in trouble for no reason because the customer is always right. Grady was so disgusted by this shopper s actions that she started a GoFundMe campaign to help the store manager who suffered most of the attack by this racist. She said: I d like to do something to try to make it up to the employee who was the main target of this racist attack. I d like to show her that many people are horrified by how this woman treated her, and that we stand with her and appreciate her hard work. She inspired me because despite the hateful words that were being hurled in her direction, she stood in that entrance way calm and unmoving to protect her staff and customers In the current climate I believe it s very important that we go out of our way to treat each other with dignity, kindness and politeness, and that we stand up for each other when we see people being mistreated. The GoFundMe account has already reached a few thousand dollars, but there is no amount of money that can erase abuse and racism. These attacks are becoming more and more common, as we re seeing Trump supporters embracing their white privilege and feeling less inhibited to express blatant racism. The Trump effect is ruining our country, and quickly.Featured image via screenshots | 1real |
NEW EMAIL LEAKS Show How Colin Powell Really Felt About “Friend” Hillary: “Greedy, Not transformational…With A Husband Who’s Still D#*king Bimbos At Home” | Colin Powell really doesn t disclose anything we didn t know about how dishonest and corrupt Crooked Hillary and her perverted husband in these emails. There is a certain amount of joy however, that can be obtained by seeing a confession by the former Republican turncoat Colin Powell, that his trusted Democrat friends are nothing more than a couple of dumb and immoral grifters Former Secretary of State Colin Powell ripped into Hillary Clinton in several personal emails over the years, according to a document dump of hacked emails on the website DCLeaks.com.The document batch, which included emails from June of 2014 to August of 2016, gave a revealing look into the former secretary s thoughts on the 2016 election.In one 2015 email, Powell commented on Clinton s use of a private email server during her tenure at the State Department and charged that everything HRC touches she kind of screws up. In another message from 2014, Powell said of a still-potential Clinton presidential run: I would rather not have to vote for her. A spokesperson for Powell confirmed to CBS News that his email had been hacked.CBS News waded through the documents and picked out some of the most interesting emails blasting the Democratic presidential nominee.Here are a few of his revealing emails:In this stunning 2014 email with Democratic donor Jeffrey Leeds, Powell had this to say of Clinton:In this email to Leeds on Aug. 18, 2015, Powell discusses his own use of private emails for State Department business:In a recent email dated Aug. 23, 2016, Powell called Clinton s excuse for using an email server a dumb one: | 1real |
MASSIVE Global Bond Write-Down Coming on Back of Financial Reset — Jim Willie | A massive global debt write-down of sovereign bond is coming, on the back end of the Global Financial RESET. Think paradigm shift of the most disruptive type while power shifts eastward. By Jim Willie
The Western central bank franchise system is totally broken, totally insolvent, and totally corrupt. It invites the Gold Standard return. The entire financial system is built upon a debt-based monetary system. The debt saturation process has run its full course. The central bank heads have been covering the sovereign debt for the last five years, having rendered their balance sheets as ruined.
Debt is at obscene levels, like $19.7 trillion for the USGovt. No debt limits are in place anymore, a signal that most likely it has already defaulted. A hidden game is underway, with control lost to the creditors, even as they attempt to salvage their debt holdings. The major central banks continue to manage badly the great game, where money is fake phony and a farce.
A titanic battle is underway, where the Eastern nations are discarding their USTreasury Bonds, and doing so in tremendous volume while they set up the many platforms and pieces to the Gold Standard.
The US Federal Reserve monetary policy of hyper-inflation has failed to revive the USEconomy, failed to legitimize the debt securities, failed to halt the financial corruption, and failed to stem capital destruction. The official monetary policy has only succeeded in preventing the failures of almost all big Western banks.
They are all insolvent, mostly supported by narco money laundering in the hundreds of $billions. The Eastern super-powers are leading a campaign to put aside the US$-based financial system, isolate it to the sidelines, while arranging a new system. The Gold-based system will be complete with its currency, sovereign debt securities, transfer systems, global offices, and debt rating agencies, maybe even debit cards. The East strives to install the Gold Standard as the remedy to the ongoing global financial crisis. The West has made exactly no movement toward solution, remedy, or enforcement against bond.
Four graphs display the broken unfixable bizarre situation: Graph 1 – BALANCE SHEET DESTRUCTION Central bank balance sheets could take decades to normalize, so the conventional thinking goes. Their balance sheets will never return to normal. Most assets of toxic paper are far more worthless than junk bonds. A normalization process would require at least 50 years of more financial repression and deep corruption.
A massive global debt write-down of sovereign bond is coming, on the back end of the Global Financial RESET. Think paradigm shift of the most disruptive type while power shifts eastward. The risk of war rises.
The big Western banks find themselves in an impossible Catch-22 situation. The markets are addicted to QE and its destructive money hyper inflation. Federal Reserve policymakers have acknowledged that their $4 trillion balance sheet will not shrink any time soon. Also, Bank of England officials talk of crisis fighting tools as semi-permanent fixtures. In Asia, the Bank of Japan has developed a new monetary policy framework that features admitted infinite QE. The financial crisis the balance sheet volume to GDP ratios for the Bank of England and USFed have peaked at around 25%, the highest level ever recorded. Uncharted territory has been entered.
The USFed balance sheet ratio to GDP previously reached 23% in 1940 during World War II. The Bank of England ratio approached 20% in the 1730s during the South Sea Bubble scheme, 1816/17 during the Great Re-coinage, the 1830s/1840s following other wars, and in the immediate aftermath of WW2. In every scenario above, the central banks managed to unwind their balance sheets. But then the great unwinding took decades, up to 60 years in some cases. This time is different. No economic growth is anywhere remotely on the current horizon, nothing sufficient to unwind the tremendous debt burden.
This is where the conventional analyst turns stupid, even locked in fantasy. They assume the GDP growth has been around 3% in recent years, when it has been closer to minus 4% or minus 5% each year since 2008 in a fierce recession with strong feedback loops. We are not on the verge of economic expansion, which can relieve the balance sheet toxicity, but rather a financial reform to sweep away the USDollar and to render its USTreasury Bonds as near worthless paper. The next chapter will be centered upon the Gold Standard, first in trade payment, next in bank reserves, finally in currencies.
The installation of the Gold Standard will render almost all US$-based debt securities as toxic paper, much like African Govt Bonds. QE might have bought time for the big US banks, but it guaranteed the kill of the USEconomy as host, and the default of the USGovt debt. No semblance of return to normalcy can come. This is why war is being vigorously pursued, to retain power.
Graph 2 – CONCENTRATION OF CENTRAL BANK ASSETS Big Central Bank assets have jumped the fastest in five years to $21 trillion. The toxic sovereign bond bubble is the largest bubble in history. Four major central banks control 75% of all central bank assets. Any currency reform must come from a major nation and its lead. The majority of the world’s central bank assets are controlled by four sites: China, the United States, Japan, and the European Union. The next six each account for an average of 2.5%, namely the central banks of Brazil, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, India, and Russia. The major nations control toxic vats of deeply impaired debt paper which nobody wants.
The big four central banks are often called the major central banks. They are from the so-called industrialized nations, when in fact they are from former industrial states with a strong leaning toward New Third World status. They control the global financial structure and rig markets in order to keep it stable. If any changes are to come to the USDollar and the King Dollar reign of terror, the reform will be done by a major central banks with support from an alliance of other nations. Do not expect reform. Instead expect a revolution from the East, as it installs the Gold Standard in certain key spots. The best one can expect is a dual financial universe, where the USDollar is gradually phased out.
Graph 3 – Dumping of USTreasury Bonds in Worldwide Trend A truly massive international dumping of USDollars has entered a second powerful phase. The Saudis and China recently dumped huge blocks of USTreasury Bonds. Foreign central banks liquidated a record $346 billion in USGovt debt securities in the last 12 months, the trend having accelerated. Numerous factors contribute to the dumping, which manifests the fading global confidence in the USDollar. Amplified Quantitative Easing (QE) volume soaks up the large volumes dumped on the bond market, further eroding the faith in fiat currency.
One month ago, a troublesome sharp decline was seen in the USTreasurys held in custody, which is the formal way to describe central bank holdings kept at the USFed computer banks. The amount fell by over $27.5 billion in a single week, the biggest weekly drop since January 2015. One month later the trend continues with powerful force, enough to capture global attention. The custody volume fell sharply again by another $22.3 billion in the past week, pushing the total amount to $2.805 trillion, another fresh post-2012 low.
The foreign central banks have continued their relentless liquidation of US debt securities held in the USFed’s official custody account. History is being made, as global sentiment and conditions are changing in fierce mode. The King Dollar throne is having its legs removed, kicked out, and cut off. Most financial analysts refuse to put the factors in such stark terms, but the Jackass does so naturally and without hesitation. Three dynamics can be identified as the principal proximal factors, detailed in the Hat Trick Letter for the October edition in the reports.
A month ago was observed a massive $343 billion in USTreasury sales by foreign central banks in the period July 1st 2015 to July 1st 2016, something truly unprecedented in size. Fast forward to the latest monthly update, which was posted as July data. All have gone worse. The running latest 12 months (LTM) in foreign central bank sales shot up to a new all time high $346.4 billion. Thus over one third of a $trillion in USTreasurys were sold in the past 12 months. Recall that in three months late in 2015, the Chinese sold $250 billion in USTBonds, which forced the IMF inclusion of the RMB into their formal basket of currencies. The dumping has been global, massive, and without precedent. China is the major seller, while the Saudis are the newest sellers. The broken Outhouse of Saud requires the funds to offset the collapse of the Petro-Dollar, and to backstop the country’s soaring budget deficit made worse by the obscene Yemen War.
The official story is told that private investors, both foreign and domestic, are soaking up hundreds of $billions in central bank holdings being sold on the bond market. The other dubious story is that bond yields are rising slightly, given the newfound concerns the USFed, the Bank of Japan, and maybe even the EuroCB will soon taper their purchases.
The bigger factor (surely not private investors) is the USFed ramping up hidden QE volume in a huge way, buying the massive bond dumpings, all kept secret and quiet so as not to disturb the pristine AAA rating of the USTBond toxic paper. Expect continued debt monetization of theUSGovt deficit, of which perhaps 75% is supported by the African style printing press. The USEconomy cannot grow its way out of the debt. They will monetize it until it default on the global stage.
The QE process cannot take in all the dumped USTBonds without psychological damage. The USDollar confidence is eroding globally. Faith in the USDollar is eroding very quickly. The nation is moving along in the US isolation process, identified as rogue nation on the financial front, terrorism front, laced vaccine front, and war front. Just the Jackass opinion.
Graph 4 – Evidence of USTBond Bubble (versus Diamonds) The USTreasury Bond bubble is the second biggest asset bubble is history, behind the residential real estate bubble in the last decade. The USTBonds are a massive sanctioned Ponzi Scheme, signifying the default of the USGovt debt and failure of its sovereign bond. The Elite controllers talk of a flight to safe haven, when in reality it is a leap into a black hole and toxic vat. Motive is to keep USGovt borrowing costs to minimal levels while the debt soars toward the $20 trillion mark. The gigantic black hole attracts legitimate capital from around the world. All will be subject to heavy losses. The USTreasury Bond asset bubble is supported by three major forces: the USFed monetary hyper inflation , the Interest Rate Swap derivative contract , the bond carry trade managed by Wall Street banks . More details are provided in the Hat Trick Letter for October.
The relation between top tier assets should remain stable, such as diamonds, special gemstones, classic art works & sculptures, special jewelry items, icon properties, and more. However, the bond price for USGovt debt has gone haywire, rising far beyond anything reasonable. Check out an unusual chart above, for the bond value versus the standard benchmark diamond price. This is a clear visible nasty bond bubble, which will burst just like the US housing market bubble that nobody in the mainstream moronic arenas expected. The Jackass correctly forecasted the housing market bust one year before it occurred. No longer are diamonds a girl’s best friend. It is USTBonds.
GOLD TRADE NOTE INTRODUCTION The Gold Trade Notes for trade payment might be coming into view, initially with commodity transfers, later swap contracts, and finally gold-backed short-term notes which supplant the USTBill. One might think of used newspapers on the floor, or of the dodo bird.
The trade might be made in exchange for either goods delivered or USTBills held. Detect a growing connection to finished goods being withheld from delivery. This is probably another sign of refusal of USTBills as payment.
As footnote, be sure to know that the preliminary steps to the Global Currency RESET will not be laid out in full disclosure for public benefit. It represents a tremendous investment opportunity for the elite, which they never tend to share.
In fact, the RESET might be well along before it is even recognized. End to EuroRaj main thoughts and open analysis, for which much gratitude is given. The Jackass believes a few critical elements to the RESET are in place. More details on DIP Financing feature is included in the September Hat Trick Letter report.
***A major hitch obstacle can be inferred. Payment in USD terms might be the clot in the artery. Demands might be for hard asset swaps, and the contract security from large scale commitment of commodities, facilities, and property. The swap trade is coming into view, a presage of the Gold Trade Note.***
The Jackass concludes the USD rejection could be lifting its head within a gathering storm, without clear identification. It is indeed difficult to identify all the elements when hidden deals at the highest level are underway, and friction is omnipresent. The Bobcat Corp rejection of USTBills at Pacific ports is a clear story. For every one story recounted, there are 10 to 20 not yet heard.
My firm belief is that in Asian banking systems, they do not want the USTBills anymore. The banks in Asia are trying to dump them in heavy volume, not accumulate more worthless toilet paper. Finally the sharp blowback from printing QE money has hit. The USFed monetary policy saves the big insolvent banks, but kills capital. The result has finally seen manifested in USD global rejection, or at least hints toward the same. Asian banks still hold vast sums of USTBonds. They are not going to announce the rejection, but instead fight behind the walls for better terms of payment, even as they pursue the Gold Trade Note for payment at ports. It is coming, like daybreak follows the long night.
NEW SCHEISS DOLLAR & GOLD TRADE STANDARD In time, expect an eventual refusal by Eastern producing nations to accept USTreasury Bills in payment for trade. The IMF reversal decision assures this USTBill blockade in time, and might accelerate the timetable. The United States Govt cannot continue on five glaring fronts of gross negligence and major violations. These violations have prompted the BRICS & Alliance nations to hasten their development of diverse non-USD platforms toward the goal of displacing the USDollar while at the same time take steps toward the return of the Gold Standard.
The New Scheiss Dollar will arrive in order to assure continued import supply to the USEconomy. It will be given a 30% devaluation out of the gate, then many more devaluations of similar variety. The New Dollar will fail all foreign and Eastern scrutiny. The USGovt will be forced to react to USTBill rejection at the ports.
The US must accommodate with the New Scheiss Dollar in order to assure import supply, and to alleviate the many stalemates to come. The United States finds itself on the slippery slope that leads to the Third World, a Jackass forecast that has been presented since Lehman fell (better described as killed by JPM and GSax).
The only apparent alternative is for the United States Govt to lease a large amount of gold bullion (like 10,000 tons) from China in order to properly launch a gold-backed currency. Doing so would open the gates for a generation of commercial colonization, but actual progress in returning capitalism to the United States. The cost would be supply shortages to the USEconomy, a result of enormous export increases to China.
The colonization has already begun, with secret deals galore. It is very unclear what deals are being struck in order to arrange for the USGovt to have a proper gold reserve hoard, for backing a new legitimate USDollar. Meetings at very high level are in progress, with little if any popular representation, only elite members present. Failure to produce a legitimate bonafide gold-backed currency would mean the United States must proceed with the New Scheiss Dollar, an illegitimate fake phony farce of a currency.
It would be subjected to a series of devaluations. The result would be heavy powerful painful price inflation from the import front. The effect would be to reverse a generation of exported inflation by the United States. The entire USEconomy would go into a downward spiral with higher prices, supply shortages, and social disorder. However, the rising prices would come from the currency crisis, and not so much from the hyper monetary inflation. That flood of $trillions has been effectively firewalled off.
Source: Jim Willie — Golden Jackass
Via: Silver Doctors
| 1real |
After Barring Girls for Leggings, United Airlines Defends Decision - The New York Times | United Airlines barred two teenage girls from boarding a flight on Sunday morning and required a child to change into a dress after a gate agent decided the leggings they were wearing were inappropriate. That set off waves of anger on social media, with users criticizing what they called an intrusive, sexist policy, but the airline maintained its support for the gate agent’s decision. The girls, who were about to board a flight to Minneapolis, were turned away at the gate at Denver International Airport, the company said on Sunday. United doubled down on that decision, defending it in a series of tweets on Sunday. The incident was first reported on Twitter by Shannon Watts, a passenger at the airport who was waiting to board a flight to Mexico. In a telephone interview from Mexico on Sunday afternoon, Ms. Watts said she noticed two visibly upset teenage girls leaving the gate next to hers. Both were wearing leggings. Ms. Watts went over to the neighboring gate and saw a “frantic” family with two young girls, one of whom was also wearing leggings, engaged in a tense exchange with a gate agent who told them, “I don’t make the rules, I just enforce them. ” Ms. Watts said the girl’s mother told her the two teenagers had just been turned away because the gate agent said their pants were not appropriate travel attire. The woman had a dress in her bag that the child was able to pull on over her pants, and the family boarded the flight. “The girl pulled a dress on,” Ms. Watts said. “But please keep in mind that the dad had on shorts that did not hit his knee — they stopped maybe two or three inches above his knee — and there was no issue with that. ” Ms. Watts judged that the two girls who were barred from boarding were in their “young teens” and the girl who changed into a dress was 10 or 11. Ms. Watts described the situation in a series of tweets before her flight to Mexico took off. By the time she landed her tweets had been shared widely, often accompanied by sharp criticism directed at the airline. Jonathan Guerin, a spokesman for United, confirmed that two teenage girls were told they could not board a flight from Denver to Minneapolis because their leggings violated the company’s dress code policy for “pass travelers,” a company benefit that allows United employees and their dependents to travel for free on a standby basis. Mr. Guerin said pass travelers are “representing” the company and as such are not allowed to wear Lycra and spandex leggings, tattered or ripped jeans, midriff shirts, or any article of clothing that shows their undergarments. “It’s not that we want our standby travelers to come in wearing a suit and tie or that sort of thing,” he said. “We want people to be comfortable when they travel as long as it’s neat and in good taste for that environment. ” He said both teenage girls stayed behind in Denver, “made an adjustment” to their outfits and waited for the next flight to Minneapolis. Mr. Guerin did not know if they had successfully boarded or not, and also had no information about the girl Ms. Watts said she saw change into a dress at the gate. The company largely confirmed Ms. Watts’s account earlier in the day in a response to her on Twitter that did little to mollify the concerns of its critics. In a series of dozens of tweets, the company said the incident was not simply the result of an overzealous gate agent. Instead, it said United Airlines reserved the right to deny service to anyone its employees deemed to be inappropriately dressed. It also referred to the dress code applied to pass travelers. “In our Contract of Carriage, Rule 21, we do have the right to refuse transport for passengers who are barefoot or not properly clothed,” the company tweeted. It added, “There is a dress code for pass travelers as they are representing UA when they fly. ” Few critics appeared to be satisfied by that explanation, which also did little to a perilous public relations situation for the company. United was the target of scores of angry and mocking tweets on Sunday, including from social celebrities like the model Chrissy Teigen and the actor LeVar Burton. By Sunday afternoon, the company’s Twitter account was engaged in a tense back and forth with the Academy actress Patricia Arquette, who posted dozens of angry tweets about the situation. Employees running United’s Twitter account spent the day walking a public relations tightrope: explaining to angry social media users why the company was not wrong to bar the young women from boarding, while reassuring potential customers that they would not also be barred if they showed up in leggings. People like to be comfortable when they fly, Ms. Watts said, and leggings and yoga pants have become standard casual attire for women. “I’m pretty sure yoga pants are a thing,” Ms. Watts said. “They’re part of modern America. They’re a staple, a clothing item. ” Mr. Guerin said the company was aware of the criticism leveled at its social media team, but said they were “working as hard as they can. ” “We could have stopped to immediately ask the right questions,” he said. “We are always engaging with our customers as quickly as possible. Now we are going back. All day we’ve been going back since that earlier tweet. Now we’re going back and telling people what is actually going on. ” | 0fake |
The Wahabi Vote: Poll Shows 68 percent of Saudis prefer Hillary Clinton | 21st Century Wire says Another key swing state has gone to Hillary. The feudal theocratic dictatorship who is funding and supporting ISIS and al Qaeda terrorists groups groups globally has chosen their candidate According to one WikiLeaks email, Clinton herself discussed how Gulf monarchies Saudi Arabia and Qatar are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL [Islamic State, IS, ISIS] and other radical Sunni groups. While this military/para-military operation is moving forward, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region, Clinton wrote. This effort will be enhanced by the stepped up commitment in the [Kurdish Regional Government]. The Qataris and Saudis will be put in a position of balancing policy between their ongoing competition to dominate the Sunni world and the consequences of serious U.S. pressure. So the Clinton Foundation has been knowingly accepting millions of dollars in donations from the very same Gulf states that both Secretary Clinton and President Obama knew were funding ISIS, Al Nusra Front (al Qaeda in Syria) and many other known takfiri terrorist fighting organizations currently infesting Syria and Iraq.No wonder Clinton plays so well with Saudi Arabia Al Arabiya An opinion poll by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Washington and that included nine Arab countries revealed that 68 percent of the Saudis prefer that Hillary Clinton wins the presidential elections while 46 percent thought Donald Trump was bad.The nine countries included Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco, Jordan, Palestine (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip), Saudi Arabia and Tunisia and an average of 400 people from each country participated in the questionnaire.Asked which of the candidates will positively influence the US policy towards the Arab region, 65 percent of the Saudis said Clinton s victory will positively impact the Arab region.The Arab public opinion prefers Clinton s win by 66 percent while 11 percent prefer Trump s victory. The highest percentage in support of Clinton winning the presidency was in Morocco and Tunisia while the least percentage in favor of Clinton s victory was in Palestine and Iraq. Meanwhile, the highest percentage in favor of Trump winning was in Iraq and Egypt Continue this story at Al ArabiyaREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2o16 FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
WATTERS’ WORLD BENGHAZI EDITION: Voters Get Dumb And Dumber [Video] | This video will either make you laugh or make you sad. These people vote! I like go to CNN I can tell | 1real |
Honduras vote count shows president Hernandez edging ahead | TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez on Wednesday edged ahead of his TV star rival in a contentious vote count that has dragged on for three days. With 81.77 percent of the ballot boxes counted, the election tribunal said both Hernandez and opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla had won 42.17 percent of the vote, though the incumbent had an advantage of 40 votes. | 0fake |
Clinton's health continues to spur controversy and conspiracy | A two-page letter from Hillary Clinton's doctor a year ago, declaring the former first lady, senator and secretary of state "fit to serve" as president has done little to quell doubts about her health amid a gruelling campaign.
Photos of the Democratic presidential nominee being helped up stairs, frequent coughing bouts on the campaign trail and rumors that a 2012 concussion was worse than revealed have made the 68-year old's fitness a campaign issue.
“Hillary Clinton lacks the judgement, the temperament and the moral character to lead this nation," Donald Trump said in a recent foreign policy speech. "Importantly, she also lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS, and all the many adversaries we face – not only in terrorism, but in trade and every other challenge we must confront to turn this country around.”
Clinton’s health has been a matter of scrutiny since the concussion she suffered while serving as secretary of state. While being evaluated at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, doctors discovered a blood clot inside a vein in her head and prescribed blood thinners, she told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer in 2014.
In part to quash speculation about Clinton’s health, the campaign released a summary of her medical records last summer.
In the July 28, 2015 letter, Dr. Lisa Bardack, an internist in Mount Kisco, N.Y., described Clinton “as a healthy 67-year-old female whose current medical conditions include hypothyroidism and seasonal pollen allergies.”
Unlike 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain who invited reporters to review the full 1,173 pages of his medical records, Clinton released only a summary of her past issues, including an elbow fracture in 2009 and several episodes of deep vein thrombosis.
Clinton’s chief strategist Joel Benenson said the campaign has no plans to release more detailed records, but his position is at odds with many Americans.
A new Rasmussen Reports survey found that 59 percent of voters believe all major presidential candidates should release at least their most recent medical records to the public. That figure is up from 38 percent of Americans in May 2014, when questions about Clinton's health were first being raised.
Thirty percent don’t think candidates should have to release their recent medical records and 11 percent were undecided.
The people may want to see more medical records, but the Clinton campaign just sees right-wing conspiracy. A campaign spokeswoman blamed the health controversy on Roger Stone, a longtime conservative policeal operative who had a formal role as a Trump adviser until he was fired a year ago. Still an unabashed supporter of Trump, Stone is still working to get him elected, say critics.
“Donald Trump is simply parroting lies based on fabricated documents promoted by Roger Stone and his right-wing allies," said campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri. "Hillary Clinton has released a detailed medical record showing her to be in excellent health plus her personal tax returns since 1977, while Trump has failed to provide the public with the most basic financial information disclosed by every major candidate in the last 40 years.”
Requests for comment from the Clinton and Trump campaigns were not answered. Bardack’s office declined to comment.
“I think the questions being raised are legitimate given that it impacts who leads our nation," said Dr. Jan Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. "As a physician, you cannot help but to ask questions. But given that our information is limited, it would be wrong for any physician to diagnose someone without seeing them themselves.”
Orient said she has received both positive and negative responses to her recent column on the Association’s blog which asked whether Clinton is “medically unfit” to serve as president.
Television personality Dr. Drew Pinsky told KABC radio this week that he was concerned about the “1950s level of care” that Clinton was receiving and not as much about her actual health.
“It just seems like she’s getting care from somebody that she met in Arkansas when she was a kid,” he added.
While agreeing that a candidate’s health is a serious issue for voters to consider, one Trump advisor warned against either side diagnosing the physical or mental health of the candidates.
“I would be very cautious and would recommend the doctors for professional reasons to be very cautious when deciding you are going to analyze people,” said former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on Fox & Friends. | 0fake |
Met Picasso Belonged to Family That Fled Nazis, Suit Says - The New York Times | The estate of a German Jewish businessman sued the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Friday in an effort to claim one of its most valuable Picassos, “The Actor,” asserting in court papers that the museum does not hold good title to the painting because the businessman was forced to sell it at a low price after fleeing the Nazis. According to the filing in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the former owner, Paul Leffmann, had to sell his home and businesses in Cologne, Germany, before he fled with his wife, Alice, to Italy in 1937, as conditions in Europe worsened. Before they left Italy for Switzerland, and finally fled to Brazil, he sold the painting in 1938, the lawsuit says. The sale was made under duress to the Paris art dealers Hugo Perls, a collector of Picasso’s work, and Paul Rosenberg, Picasso’s dealer, for $13, 200, the suit says. In 1941, Thelma Chrysler Foy bought the painting through New York’s Knoedler Gallery for $22, 500, a price the estate says is evidence that the 1938 sale had been at a discount. She donated it to the Met in 1952, where it has been continuously displayed since. The oil on canvas shows an attenuated male figure gesturing with his hands. The Met curators describe it as a “simple yet haunting” work that marked the beginning of Picasso’s interest in “the theatrical world of acrobats and saltimbanques. ” The lawyers for the estate — who estimate a value of more than $100 million for the painting — said in the court filing that the museum “did not disclose or should have known that the painting had been owned by a Jewish refugee, Paul Leffmann, who had disposed of the work only because of Nazi and Fascist persecution. ” The lawyers said they had negotiated with the Met for several years, while the Met investigated the claim, but they had never been able to reach a settlement. “The Leffmanns would not have disposed of this seminal work at that time, but for the Nazi and Fascist persecution to which they had been, and without doubt would continue to be, subjected,” Lawrence M. Kaye of the law firm Herrick, Feinstein said in court papers. In a statement, the Met strenuously denied there were grounds for the claim, asserting that the 1938 sale had been for fair market value and had not been made under duress. The amount the Leffmanns received was, the museum said, “a higher price than any other early Picasso sold by a collector to a dealer during the 1930s. ” The Met said its ownership had never been questioned until Laurel Zuckerman, administrator of the Leffmann estate and of Paul and Alice Leffmann, approached the museum more than 10 years ago. The museum also said the Leffmanns had made no claim on the painting after the war, when they did try to reclaim property they had been forced to sell. Lawyers for the Leffmann estate criticized the Met, saying that for many years it had given an erroneous provenance for the painting, indicating that subsequent to Mr. Leffmann it had been owned by an unnamed German private collector until 1938, and that the Met corrected this only in 2011. The Met said the provenance was not erroneous but was based on the recollection of the buyer Hugo Perls. It reflected the fact that the painting was owned by a German in Switzerland and was updated when more information became available, it said. | 0fake |
BREAKING: VIOLENCE ERUPTS (AGAIN) IN FERGUSON…TWO PEOPLE SHOT [Video] | FERGUSON PART II: Police are having a difficult time investigating because of the rocks being thrown at them. Baltimore and Ferguson are one in the same. They re organized by radical leftist groups, funded by radical leftist organizations andAt least two people were shot in separate incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, on late Tuesday and early Wednesday as hundreds of demonstrators gathered in support of protests in Baltimore.More gunshots. pic.twitter.com/qpqmVatFM5 Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) April 29, 2015 Police are having a difficult time investigating because of the rocks being thrown at them, said Jeff Small, a spokesman for the city of Ferguson. At this point police are not sure if the (shootings are) linked to the protest or not. St. Louis Alderman Antonio French posted video on his Twitter account. Multiple gunshots can be heard as people flee in panic. Via: CNN Happening now in #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/GXHUXyyY2L Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) April 29, 2015 | 1real |
Claire McCaskill Accuses Marco Rubio Of Shirking Principles On Immigration | Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) knocked Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Sunday for backing away from his push for comprehensive immigration reform, saying on ABC's "This Week" that he had "folded like a cheap shotgun."
Rubio, who announced his bid for president last week, has gotten heat from some conservatives for co-authoring an immigration reform bill that would allow some undocumented immigrants to eventually become citizens, along with ramping up border security and enforcement measures.
He then said in February that he'd since learned a comprehensive approach was the wrong one, and that border security should be done separately and before other reform.
McCaskill said, "He took a principled, courageous stand on immigration reform" while helping to draft the bipartisan bill that passed the Senate in 2013 -- but then dropped those principles.
"Then the minute his party's base starting chewing on about it, the minute Rush Limbaugh criticized him, he folded like a cheap shotgun," she said. "That's old politics. That's not what we need right now. That is the stalest trick in the book. That is shirking on your principles because of the political necessities of your party."
Rubio said on CBS's "Face the Nation" in an interview that aired on Sunday that it was wrong to say he "walked away from" immigration reform.
"Well that's not an accurate assessment," he said. "What I'm saying to people is we can't do it in a massive piece of legislation, and I know because I tried. We understand that we have to deal with 12 million human beings that are in this country, that have been here longer than a decade. We know we have to deal with this. We are not prepared to deal with it until first you can prove to us that this will never happen again."
"Well that's a hypothetical that will never happen," Rubio said, reiterating he would first ask for border security and enforcement bills.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is considering a run for president and is another author of the 2013 immigration bill, also referred to Rubio's shift on immigration Sunday in an interview with "Fox News Sunday." When he was asked to give his thoughts on Rubio, he threw in a slight dig while praising the senator.
"He embraced immigration reform," he said. "He seems to have backed off -- I'll let him explain why. I think comprehensive immigration reform, securing our border and dealing rationally with the 11 million [undocumented immigrants], is the only way you're going to solve this problem." | 0fake |
Obama Says He Would Have Defeated Trump for a Third Term - The New York Times | HONOLULU — President Obama expressed confidence that, if he had run for a third term, he would have defeated Donald J. Trump, according to an interview released Monday with David Axelrod, his friend and former adviser. “I’m confident that if I — if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could’ve mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it,” Mr. Obama said on Mr. Axelrod’s podcast, “The Axe Files,” referring to his message of inclusion and helping Americans. “I know that in conversations that I’ve had with people around the country, even some people who disagreed with me, they would say the vision, the direction that you point towards is the right one,” he said. Several hours after the interview was posted, Mr. Trump responded on Twitter. “President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me,” Mr. Trump said. “He should say that but I say NO WAY! — jobs leaving, ISIS, OCare, etc. ” The discussion in the interview was pure political conjecture, because the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution limits a president to two terms. Mr. Obama praised the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, saying that she performed well under difficult circumstances and that there “was a double standard with her. ” “For whatever reason, there’s been a longstanding difficulty in her relationship with the press that meant her flaws were wildly amplified,” he said. But Mr. Obama also said she campaigned too cautiously. “If you think you’re winning, then you have a tendency, just like in sports, maybe to play it safer,” Mr. Obama said. He added: “And the economy has been improving. There is a sense, obviously, that some communities have been left behind from the recovery and people feeling anxious about that. ” It was “nonsense,” Mr. Obama said, that Democrats had abandoned white Americans, who rallied to Mr. Trump. “Look, the Affordable Care Act benefits a huge number of Trump voters,” Mr. Obama said. “There are a lot of folks in places like West Virginia or Kentucky who didn’t vote for Hillary, didn’t vote for me, but are being helped by this. ” The problem, Mr. Obama said, was that Democratic politicians were not communicating to these people “that we understand why they’re frustrated. ” “We’re not there on the ground communicating not only the dry policy aspects of this, but that we care about these communities, that we’re bleeding for these communities,” Mr. Obama said. “There’s an emotional connection, and part of what we have to do to rebuild is to be there,” he said. “And that means organizing, that means caring about state parties, it means caring about local races, state boards or school boards and city councils and state legislative races, and not thinking that somehow, just a great set of progressive policies that we present to the New York Times editorial board will win the day. ” In a telephone interview on Monday, Mr. Axelrod, now a commentator on CNN, said it was his sense that Mr. Obama was “frustrated” that his presidency is ending when his party has sustained such a dramatic loss. “He believes the momentum is still on his side in the long term,” Mr. Axelrod said. “He’s always been a guy who thinks long term and has an amazing ability to do that. ” | 0fake |
BREAKING: VIOLENCE ERUPTS (AGAIN) IN FERGUSON…TWO PEOPLE SHOT [Video] | FERGUSON PART II: Police are having a difficult time investigating because of the rocks being thrown at them. Baltimore and Ferguson are one in the same. They re organized by radical leftist groups, funded by radical leftist organizations andAt least two people were shot in separate incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, on late Tuesday and early Wednesday as hundreds of demonstrators gathered in support of protests in Baltimore.More gunshots. pic.twitter.com/qpqmVatFM5 Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) April 29, 2015 Police are having a difficult time investigating because of the rocks being thrown at them, said Jeff Small, a spokesman for the city of Ferguson. At this point police are not sure if the (shootings are) linked to the protest or not. St. Louis Alderman Antonio French posted video on his Twitter account. Multiple gunshots can be heard as people flee in panic. Via: CNN Happening now in #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/GXHUXyyY2L Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) April 29, 2015 | 1real |
Portland Antifa Throw Fireworks at Police During Patriot Prayer Rally [Video] | Antifa threw fireworks at police during the Patriot Prayer rally at Waterfront Park in Portland, Oregon. The Patriot Prayer rally had to be cancelled because of the Antifa violence. The Patriot Prayer rally and group are not in any way a white supremacist group but Antifa attacked them and the police anyway. The police told the crowd to disperse and that s when things got ugly.MIKE BIVINS: Antifa throw fireworks at police during Patriot Prayer rally at Waterfront Park in Portland, Oregon pic.twitter.com/4Nd1hR8N1q Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) September 10, 2017 THE POLICE DID A GREAT JOB AND DID NOT STAND DOWN THIS IS WHAT LAW AND ORDER LOOKS LIKE:People yelling at police right now for their treatment of protestors. Something went off. People running away from state troopers now @OPB pic.twitter.com/C9QeZHSGnK Ericka Cruz Guevarra (@erkagvra) September 10, 2017 The violent Left is attacking police and the press in Portland.The violent Left is attacking police and the press in Portland. #Antifa is hurling rocks, bottles and explosives. https://t.co/nAi2zJYZZt Brendon Peck (@PeckPolitics) September 10, 2017 The Riot Police Is anyone else fed up with the Antifa violence? The police did a great job of controlling the crowd:Go go go https://t.co/Lqv1RjEF7q Mike Bivins (@itsmikebivins) September 10, 2017 ANTIFA ASSAULTS ONE GUY WHO ISN T IN ALL BLACK:Antifa running this dude dressed as infantry; hit him with punches and kicked him. #vancouver #patriotprayer pic.twitter.com/s9Bv1Yiayd Mike Bivins (@itsmikebivins) September 10, 2017 These are the losers from Portland Antifa: | 1real |
Native American Tribal Leader Shuts Down Oregon’s Cry-Baby White Militia, And It’s Glorious (IMAGE/VIDEO) | It has been almost a week since over 20 armed gunmen occupied a federal building at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, demanding the land be returned to its rightful owners . The Chair of the areas Native American tribe had something to say about that, and it s a mic drop.When chair of Burns Paiute tribe heard protestors would return land to its rightful owners, she joked she started writing acceptance letter Salvador Hernandez (@SalHernandez) January 6, 2016One of the armed gunmen, Ryan Payne, spoke to the New York Times on Tuesday, claiming that: the federal government unconstitutionally laid claim to land within the United States, and people who use and love the land ranchers, miners, and loggers, among others deserve to have it back.The 5.2 million Native American and Alaska Native s identified by the 2010 U.S. Census might be a little more familiar with this problem that the ammosexual occupiers of the Oregon reserve.An interactive map put together by the science and humanities magazine Aeon shows details the land grab of 1776 to 1887, during which the United States seized over 1.5 billion acres from America s indigenous people by treaty and executive order.The short video below shows the near total transfer of land from Native American tribes to the United States over that time frame. On Wednesday of this week, the Burns Paiute Tribe, who s reservation is close to the armed occupation, called on the militia-men to leave. The Chairwoman of the Burns Paiute Tribe, Charlotte Rodrique, told Reuters that the occupation was desecrating one of our sacred sites, I don t give much credence to their cause, she continued. We never gave up our aboriginal rights to the territory, so we as a tribe actually view this as our land, no matter who is living on it, she said. We were here first and just want to set the facts straight. Her dignified message somewhat underscores the wanton belligerence of the Bundy militia, who the FBI confirm will face federal charges when their standoff comes to an end. If the federal government owes any group some land, it s certainly not this sad bunch of angry white ammosexuals. Featured Image via ScreenCapture/PL Blog | 1real |
OFFENDING THE GLOBALISTS: Teen Kicked Out Of UN Building For Wearing Bill Clinton “Rape” Shirt [VIDEO] | Freedom of speech is not a universally accepted right, which is just one more reason the U.S. has no business funding the globalist UN and their activities When you re visiting the UN Building in NYC, it might be a good idea not to offend the globalists or anyone in a leadership role with the globalists https://youtu.be/yvLrss1H4G8The Bill Clinton RAPE shirt can be purchased at InfoWars at this LINK. We are in no way affiliated or benefitting from the sale of this t-shirt. We just thought you might like to know where you can pick one up and spread the truth about the sexual predator husband Hillary has enabled for decades . | 1real |
KARMA: GAY PASTOR SUES WHOLE FOODS For “Anti-Gay Slur” On Cake…Didn’t Count On Baker Being Gay [VIDEO] | Too bad for the gay pastor that Whole Foods had him dead center on their surveillance cameras. Is it just my imagination or do gays seem to have it out for bakeries? On Tuesday, the Austin Statesman reported that Whole Foods filed a lawsuit against Jordan Brown, an openly gay pastor who claimed that an anti-gay slur was placed on a cake he ordered. The cake was supposed to read Love Wins, but Jordan claimed a slur was added to the cake s decoration.https://youtu.be/p972qntg1qMWhole Foods, however, said that surveillance video shows otherwise. Brown filed a lawsuit against Whole Foods, but the company fired back, accusing Brown of making a fraudulent claim.Look at labels. It's at bottom in hoax video. But look at how checker scans. It's on top. https://t.co/aiE0WVBokV pic.twitter.com/MbLU6jJsSJ Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) April 19, 2016Here s the surveillance video from Whole Foods. The gay pastor can be seen in the right corner in an orange (salmon) shirt: According to Whole Foods, Brown intentionally, knowingly and falsely accused Whole Foods and its employees of writing the homophobic slur on a custom made cake that he ordered from WFM s Lamar Store in Austin The company also said Brown acted with malice, and he has damaged the reputation and business of WFM. If you look closely, it appears the piping does not match:@Cernovich @mirriam71 @JenniL_KVUE Clearly not same icing tip used to create F-A-G as rest of letters. Much finer. Had to do double pass. Hillary for Prison (@HRC4Prison) April 18, 2016The company further said that a bakery team member wrote only Love Wins at the top of the cake according to Brown s request. This, Whole Foods added, was visible through the clear portion of the packaging. That s exactly how the cake was packaged and sold at the store, the company added. Whole Foods Market has a strict policy that prohibits team members from accepting or designing bakery orders that include language or images that are offensive. Worse yet, Whole Foods said the employee involved is a member of the local LGBTQ community. We stand behind our bakery team member, who is part of the LGBTQ community, and we appreciate the team members and shoppers who recognize that this claim is completely false and directly contradicts Whole Foods Market s inclusive culture, which celebrates diversity, the company said.The video also indicates that Brown removed and replaced the UPC label on the packaging. According to Whole Foods, the label was originally on top of the box. Brown s video, however, showed it on the bottom and the side of the box.Brown s lawsuit seeks a jury trial, damages and monetary relief for mental anguish he allegedly suffered, but it seems his anguish is just beginning. The company is seeking at least $100,000 in damages from Brown. Via: Examiner | 1real |
Sean Spicer EXPLODES At Anne Frank Center, Viciously Attacks Trump Critics (VIDEO) | Today, Donald Trump and his team pissed off the Anne Frank Center over his pathetically late condemnation of anti-Semitic crimes while visiting the National Museum of African American History.Earlier today, Trump tried to denounce hate crimes targeted against Jewish people, and the Anne Frank Center correctly pointed out that Trump should have denounced those attacks far sooner, especially since Trump and his administration s actions have perfectly reflected anti-Semitism. The Center said: His statement today is a pathetic asterisk of condescension after weeks in which he and his staff have committed grotesque acts and omissions reflecting anti-Semitism, yet day after day have refused to apologize and correct the record. Make no mistake: The Antisemitism coming out of this Administration is the worst we have ever seen from any Administration. It was a powerful statement, and it was 100% true. Unfortunately, the way Trump s team has chosen to handle that feedback is disgraceful. Later that day, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer threw a fit and complained that Trump was never good enough for human rights organizations like the Anne Frank Center. Spicer said: I saw the statement. I wish that they had praised the President for his leadership in this area. The president has made clear since the day he was elected, and frankly going back to the campaign, that he is someone who seeks to unite this country. He brings a diverse group of folks into his administration, both in terms of actual positions and people who he sought the advice of. And I think he has been very forceful with his denunciation of people who seek to attack people because of their hate, because of their religion, because of their gender, because of the color of their skin. And it s something he s going to continue to fight and make very, very clear that [it] has no place in this administration. But it s ironic that no matter how many times he talks about this, it s never good enough. Today, I think, was an unbelievably forceful comment by the President as far as his denunciation of the actions that are currently targeted towards Jewish community centers. But I think that he s been very clear previous to this. Spicer pretty much serves as Trump s little attack dog, jumping on anyone who criticizes him and calls it like it is. Here s a news flash, though people treat Trump as if he s not good enough because he s NOT good enough! He s incompetent, ignorant and has no idea what he s doing and it shows. For Spicer to go after the Anne Frank Center in defense of Trump is absolutely unforgivable. You can watch Spicer come unhinged below: Featured image via Win McNamee / Getty Images | 1real |
Канада и ЕС подпишут соглашение о свободной торговле | 0 комментариев 0 поделились источник Pravda.Ru
Как сообщается в Twitter представительства Словакии в ЕС, "(заседание комитета постоянных представителей ЕС закончилось с положительным результатом - пакет документов по CETA одобрен и достигнута договоренность по проведению письменной процедуры принятия Европейским советом до полуночи пятницы)". Как пишет RT, в настоящее время страна председательствует в интеграционном объединении.
Ранее сообщалось , что власти Бельгии и представители регионов и сообществ страны достигли договорённости по соглашению о свободной торговле между ЕС и Канадой, сняв тем самым последнее препятствие для подписания документа.
Вашингтонский Центр стратегических и международных исследований совместно с болгарским Центром исследований демократии ранее опубликовали доклад "Кремль. Руководство: Российское влияние в Восточной и Центральной Европе". В документе отмечается, что экономическое присутствие России в Болгарии "граничит с захватом государства".
Согласно докладу, Москва использует экономические рычаги воздействия, чтобы дискредитировать либерально-демократическую модель развития Болгарии. То же самое относится и к Венгрии, Латвии, Сербии и Словакии. "В некоторых странах российское влияние насколько всепроникающее и эндемическое, что угрожает национальной безопасности, как и западной ориентации стран и евроатлантической стабильности", - отмечают авторы доклада.
Названы четыре болгарские партии, которые, так или иначе, являются "проводниками российского империализма". Особое внимание уделено партии"Атака". "Российское влияние привело к созданию странной политической коалиции между партиями БСП, ДПС и АБВ, которые работают над созданием пророссийской коалиции, пытаясь свергнуть сегодняшнее правительство", - подчеркивают авторы доклада.
"Для поддержки российского экономического господства и во избежание подробных проверок бизнеса, Кремль использует сложные и теневые сети, охватывающие государственных служащих и бизнес общность. Требования о непрозрачности сделок создало порочный круг увеличения российского экономического влияния и ухудшения болгарских стандартов управления. Подобная практика применяется в управлении госкомпаниями, крупными энергетическими проектами, при заключении договоров по итогам тендеров, одобрении слияния и приобретения и использования "лазеек" в корпоративном управлении для блокировки политических инициатив, противоречащих российским бизнес и стратегическим интересам", - говорится в докладе.
"Приобретая значительное влияние над болгарской экономикой, Россия использует свою доминирующую позицию в стратегических секторах для усиления существующих связей и создания новых коррумпированных бизнесменов и местных олигархов. Со своей стороны эти бизнесмены связаны с известными политиками, на которых имеют значительное влияние. Политики заключают сделки в пользу этих бизнесменов и усиливают их власть в коррупционных сетях страны и в государственных учреждениях", - в таком духе выдержан доклад.
В этом свете особо уместно порекомендовать следующую статью: "НАТО уничтожает армию Болгарии". Однако чрезмерное влияние НАТО и Брюсселя на Болгарию никак не отражено в докладе.
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ARRESTED: MUSLIM US ARMY VET Charged With Plotting Terror Attack In US On Behalf Of ISIS | A U.S. Army veteran was recently arrested on charges that he plotted a coordinated terrorist attack on behalf of the Islamic State against civilian targets and military installations in Kansas City.Federal investigators believe Robert Hester wanted to murder his former military comrades and civilians through a series of bus and train attacks to be carried out on President s Day, the Washington Post reported Thursday.Hester was arrested following a months-long FBI investigation during which the 25-year-old met with undercover FBI agents who were posing as ISIS operatives and expressed his desire to reap mass casualties in the United States.Hester, a father of two, served a short stint in the Army beginning in 2012. He faced a series of disciplinary issues and received a general discharged in 2013.Three years later, Hester had converted to Islam, changed his name, and was posting anti-government messages to social media.The Army veteran was arrested last week and was charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.In late January, Hester met with one undercover FBI agent posing as an ISIS contact who asked the veteran to purchase a series of items that could be used to make bombs, including 9-volt batteries, duct tape, copper wire, and nails. Hester brought the bomb supplies to a later meeting and handed them over to the undercover agent.Hester s final meeting with the undercover agents was last week, where he brought a box of nails to be used as shrapnel for the bombs. He told agents on Friday that it felt good to help strike back at the true terrorist. First on social media, then during face-to-face meetings with an undercover FBI employee, this defendant repeatedly expressed his intent to engage in acts of violent jihad against the United States, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri Tammy Dickinson said in a statement. He believed he was part of an ISIS-sponsored terrorist attack that would result in the deaths and injuries of many innocent victims. WFB | 1real |
Magnitude 5.4 quake rumbles southern Mexico, no reports of damage | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A 5.4 magnitude quake struck southern Mexico on Friday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, but there were no immediate reports of damage. It was not immediately clear if the tremor was an aftershock from a powerful series of quakes last month that destroyed buildings in Mexico City and killed nearly 500 people. The epicenter of Friday s tremor was just off the coast of Oaxaca state, in Mexico s southwest, and it struck at a depth of 59.5 kilometers (37 miles), according to the USGS. An 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck Oaxaca on Sept. 7 near the town of Juchitan, flattening thousands of buildings in the humid market town. Fausto Lugo, Mexico City s emergency services chief, said on local television that Friday s earthquake was felt lightly in the capital, but there were no reports of damages. | 0fake |
Sanders campaign sues Ohio for not allowing youth votes in primary | (Reuters) - Bernie Sanders’ Democratic presidential campaign has sued Ohio’s secretary of state in federal court over what it calls an unconstitutional attempt to prevent young people from voting in the state’s March 15 primary election. “It is an outrage that the secretary of state in Ohio is going out of his way to keep young people – significantly African-American young people, Latino young people – from participating,” the U.S. senator from Vermont said in a statement released on Tuesday. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Columbus and joined by six Ohio 17-year-olds, alleged that a directive by Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted would “arbitrarily discriminate” against young voters. Citing U.S. Census figures, it said such voters were more likely to be black or Latino than older groups of voters. Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the Nov. 8 election, has attracted support from young voters but has lagged behind rival Hillary Clinton in winning votes among minorities. Ohio is one of more than 20 states where 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the time of the general election are allowed to vote in primaries, the campaign statement said. Husted ruled last December that those voters would not be allowed to participate in the presidential primary. He denied there had been any changes to voting rules. “We are following the same rules Ohio has operated under in past primaries, under both Democrat and Republican administrations. There is nothing new here,” Husted said on Twitter. “If you are going to be 18 by the November election, you can vote, just not on every issue.” He said that 17-year-olds were “not permitted to elect candidates, which is what voters are doing in a primary when they elect delegates to represent them at their political party’s national convention.” (Reporting by Eric Walsh in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney) 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 |
PLANNED PARENTHOOD GIVES AWARD To Colorado Abortion Clinic For Killing More Babies Than Previous Year | I wish I could say I was shocked, but the sad truth is pro-abortion voters are the major reason America has been crippled by Obama for 8 years, and potentially looking at a continuation of his radical policies with a Hillary presidency. To hell with our nation, the abortion industry must be kept alive, no matter the cost Maybe you ve seen those awards given to local businesses for having a certain number of accident free days or hitting certain regional or area sales quotas. here s an award that will take your breath away for a terribly and horrific reason.Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains gave its Aurua abortion clinic an award for increasing the number of babies killed in abortions. The award coincides with the abortion quotes the Planned Parenthood abortion business is implementing on all o its affiliates:From a blog post by Abby Johnson on the award:Ever since I left Planned Parenthood, I have been talking about the abortion quotas that are established inside abortion facilities. Many abortion supporters refused to believe it, citing that surely Planned Parenthood wants abortion to be safe, legal and RARE. If they want something to be RARE, they certainly wouldn t have quotas, right?We recently had a clinic worker leave the affiliate, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. This affiliate runs the 2nd largest Planned Parenthood facility in the U.S. At this clinic in Denver, they give out various awards to their satellite clinics and post these awards on a bulletin board for everyone to see.When our former worker saw this award on public display, it really started to change her thinking about Planned Parenthood s motivation. This award was given to their Aurora clinic for exceeding abortion visits first half of fiscal year 2012 compared to first half of fiscal year 2013. This means that the Aurora Planned Parenthood exceeded the abortion quota that was imposed on them. And THAT is award worthy according to Planned Parenthood.Via: LifeNews | 1real |
Larken Rose on the Immorality of Voting | Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Your vote is statistically meaningless and will not sway the (s)election. Your vote is strategically meaningless and decides nothing about the future of the country. Your vote is useless, as the (s)election is rigged anyway. But as Larken Rose of LarkenRose.com reminds us, what really matters is that voting is immoral, legitimizing a system of authoritarian control and empowering the oligarchs who created the system and control its results.
CLICK HERE for show notes and mp3 audio for this conversation | 1real |
World overlooks Ethiopia drought crisis that is leaving millions hungry | FENTALE, Ethiopia — Sitting in the blistering sun as she cradles her 2-month-old baby, Genet Tamisat is one of hundreds of mothers waiting to have their children checked for malnutrition, as Ethiopia faces its worst drought in decades.
“I have nothing to eat at home. I can’t even buy maize by myself,” said Tamisat, who also has a 4-year-old son. “People can look at us and think we’re OK, but we are in great danger. We have nothing.”
Despite the crisis confronting Tamisat and millions of other Ethiopians lacking food and drinking water, a world caught up in strife is paying insufficient attention to their plight, because it is distracted by other urgent needs.
The government and the United Nations are trying to raise $1.4 billion to feed 10.2 million Ethiopians, but only half has come through so far, as the wars in Syria and Yemen plus the migrant crisis dominate the news.
“Fundraising for this response has been very slow," said Chege Ngugi, national director of the charity ChildFund Ethiopia. "My priority is to support the efforts of the government of Ethiopia to save lives, but we’re not reaching everybody.”
A strong El Nino has blocked two consecutive rainy seasons that normally nourish crops that feed 85% of the country. The drought has forced the government to find additional food aid from the United States and other donors.
The U.S. Agency for International Development dispatched an response team to Ethiopia to provide emergency assistance that includes nearly $4 million in corn and wheat seeds for more than 200,000 families.
Here in the Oromia region, which includes central Ethiopia, the land is arid as far as the eye can see. Animal carcasses — some fresh, some old — are scattered across patches of dusty earth.
Humanitarian needs in this Horn of Africa country have tripled since the start of 2015 as the situation deteriorates.
Malnutrition rates in the worst-affected areas have surpassed 20% — higher than the World Health Organization’s emergency threshold of 15%, said Challiss McDonough, regional spokeswoman for the U.N.'s World Food Programme.
This year, the food program will help more than 2 million children, pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers suffering from moderate acute malnutrition.
The U.N.’s children’s fund, UNICEF, estimates that almost 500,000 children need treatment for severe acute malnutrition.
“Even with interventions, the situation is getting worse,” said Eyoel Lemma, who works at ChildFund Ethiopia in Fentale.
He said ChildFund, with help from the U.N., also provides supplementary food and malnutrition treatment to children under age 5. But that becomes a major difficulty as families migrate to different areas looking for water and pasture for their livestock, as well as to find jobs.
As a result, many people miss out on the food rationing programs.
One woman on the move is Haso Bultum, 27. After hours of walking in the sun across barren mountains, she reached a rural health care facility here in Fentale with her malnourished 9-month-old twins.
“It’s very hard. I’ve had no sleep, because we’re trying to find some food for our cattle,” she said. “To save ourselves we’re constantly moving.”
While Ethiopia has the fastest growing economy in the world and has lifted millions of citizens out of poverty, the reality is that 80% of Ethiopians are still dependent on agriculture.
McDonough from the World Fund Programme warned that her organization could run out of food within two months.
“We have been calling for urgent funding for months now, and still have only about a quarter of the resources that we need for the next six months. Unless we receive significant new funding very soon, we could start running out of food for relief assistance by May,” McDonough said.
Samuel Ferfu, manager of the Children’s and Family Charitable Organization in Fentale, said another major issue is the lack of access to water. Almost 6 million people need emergency water, according to UNICEF.
“There’s no water at all — the river is dry,” he said. “No water makes sanitation impossible, and as a result, the prevalence of disease will increase.”
For the time being, Ethiopians are praying that rain will reach the worst-affected areas, but flooding is a serious risk after a lengthy drought.
“Soon the rain will come, and people’s worries will be flooding. But they have nothing except their homes to lose. They’ve already lost all their animals and crops,” said Lemma from ChildFund Ethiopia.
For Tamisat, 27, and her young children, talk of rain in the coming months is a false hope.
“We have no water and no food," she said, wiping sweat off her forehead. "I don’t know what is coming for the future, but I have no hope about the rain.” | 0fake |
The Daily 202: Clinton and Trump cave to pressure | THE BIG IDEA: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each reluctantly backed down last night on major things that threatened to derail their campaigns.
The Clinton Foundation announced it will no longer accept donations from corporations or foreign entities if Hillary is elected president. Bill Clinton told foundation staff that the final meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative will be held next month, and he announced that he will stop giving paid speeches. “The former president, who turns 70 on Friday, said he will resign from the board, and the foundation will only accept contributions from U.S. citizens and independent charities,” according to the AP’s Ken Thomas, who broke the story.
Meanwhile, Trump expressed remorse for the first time since he got into the race 14 months ago. “Sometimes in the heat of debate, and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don't choose the right words or you say the wrong thing. I have done that," the Republican nominee, reading from a teleprompter, said during a rally in Charlotte. “And believe it or not, I regret it. I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain.”
-- Both candidates are extraordinarily reluctant to ever acknowledge wrongdoing, even tacitly, because they believe doing so projects weakness. This is why last night was so remarkable and may represent a true pivot point in the race.
Think about Clinton’s evolving explanations for her private email server through the 2016 cycle and her defense of her support for the Iraq War during the 2008 race (it took her until 2014 to say a 2002 vote was a mistake).
There are literally dozens of examples of Trump hurting himself by refusing to admit that he went too far. Think about his attacks on Gold Star parents Khizr and Ghazala Khan, John “not a war hero” McCain, Judge Gonzalo Curiel and Ted Cruz’s father Rafael (whom he claimed was with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before John F. Kennedy’s assassination). He also declined to express regret after mocking a reporter with a disability and calling Mexican immigrants rapists.
-- Hillary has now implicitly acknowledged that the Clinton Foundation is a major liability to her campaign, regardless of her campaign’s spin and inevitable denials. “The decision comes amid mounting criticism of how the foundation operated during her tenure as secretary of state, potentially allowing donors to seek special access through her government post,” Abby Phillip and Rosalind S. Helderman report.
Donald, a former donor to the group, often accuses Hillary of engaging in “pay-to-play” practices. In particular, he says the $25 million the foundation took from Saudi Arabia undercuts his opponent’s rhetoric on women’s rights.
But he’s inconsistent about his messaging. He also often levels unsubstantiated charges that overshadow any accurate lines of attack and make it easier for the war room in Brooklyn to push back by muddying the water.
A traditional GOP opponent, running a disciplined campaign and spending meaningful money on negative TV ads, could probably more effectively use the Clinton Foundation as a bludgeon to depict HRC as a shady shakedown artist who looks out more for her rich cronies and deep-pocketed foreigners than working-class Americans struggling to catch a break.
-- Message testing and focus groups, including those conducted by Democrats, have shown there are some particularly potent (and totally true) lines of attack. Among them:
-- “There is no evidence that Hillary Clinton or her top aides completed ethics training when they started at the State Department, as required by federal law,” McClatchy’s Anita Kumar reported yesterday. “State Department records show only three of nine top Clinton aides took the mandated training for new employees. Records also suggest that none of seven top aides required to take subsequent annual training completed it. No records indicate whether Clinton herself took any training. Many of the aides still work for Clinton.… Clinton’s campaign did not respond to questions…”
-- Clinton has been getting hammered in the court of elite opinion. The Post’s Editorial Board lamented “the porous ethical wall” between the Foundation and the State Department in a Sunday editorial: “As secretary, she pledged to keep her official world and her family’s foundation separate, and she failed to keep them separate enough. Such sloppiness would not be acceptable in the White House.” A Tuesday editorial in the Boston Globe that went further, calling for the Clinton Foundation to shut down altogether, went viral.
“It’d be impossible to keep the foundation open without at least the appearance of a problem,” former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, a close Clinton ally, told the New York Daily News last week.
-- Last night showed that Kellyanne Conway is now calling the shots. In covering this week’s shake-up, the 202 has primarily focused on Breitbart executive Stephen Bannon becoming the campaign’s chief executive and probably has given insufficient attention to Conway taking over as manager.
Conway is a pollster who specializes in helping conservative men reach out to women. In early July, she told our Danielle Paquette that she didn’t like Trump’s name-calling and said she really wants him to avoid criticizing people’s looks and mental capacity. “Maybe,” she said, “it’s just the mother in me.” (The full piece is worth rereading.)
We’ve written a lot about Bannon’s push to let Trump be Trump, but clearly Conway is trying to talk some political sense into the candidate and explaining how much his insult-laden approach has damaged his standing with the women who will decide this election.
-- But there are many reasons to doubt the sincerity of Trump’s 11th-hour conversion. He’s clearly desperate to turn around his sinking campaign, and he did not specify last night what he was apologizing for, or to whom. And just like the man who faux apologizes to his wife by saying “I’m sorry you’re mad,” Trump at one point couched his penchant for divisive rhetoric by saying, “Sometimes I can be too honest.” Was he being “too honest” when he laced into McCain, Curiel and the Khans? Trump has until very recently refused to express any regret for what he said about them. What changed?
-- It was the third time in the past four days that Trump read a speech off a teleprompter, a practice he once routinely mocked. He clearly did not write the words he uttered. The language and tone sounded nothing like him.
-- The humility he expressed last night is part of a broader and renewed effort to rebrand Trump as more “presidential,” Jose A. DelReal, Robert Costa and Jenna Johnson report. That effort will continue today with a trip to Louisiana to tour flooded areas.
-- Conway said on CNN yesterday that Trump will finally begin preparing for the first debate this weekend, evidence that the candidate recognizes he must deliver a command performance to keep his hopes alive.
-- How long can this last? We still believe that the 70-year-old is, at heart, fundamentally incapable of changing. It is hard to imagine him going on some kind of apology tour and becoming self-disciplined in a sustained way. He’s plainly happiest when he’s feuding with someone and putting down others.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:
-- Trump’s first TV ad of the general election, which will begin airing today, focuses on immigration. The campaign says it will spend $4.8 million to air the 30-second spot over the next 10 days in four states. “In Hillary Clinton’s America,” a narrator says, “the system stays rigged against Americans, Syrian refugees flood in, illegal immigrants convicted of committing crimes get to stay, collecting Social Security benefits, skipping the line. Our border open. It’s more of the same, but worse. Donald Trump’s America is secure. Terrorists and dangerous criminals: kept out, the border secured. our families safe. Change that makes America safe again.” (NBC breaks down the buy: $1.44 million in Florida, $716k in Ohio, $984k in Pennsylvania, and $838k in North Carolina. This pales in comparison to the $61 million spent so far by Clinton’s campaign.) Watch it here:
-- Mike Pence filed his personal financial disclosure with the FEC last night. “As Americans can clearly see, the Pence family has not enriched themselves from their public service,” spokesman Marc Lotter said, adding that “the Governor will release his tax returns in the near future.” (See the PFD here.)
LOCHTE EMBARRASSES ALL OF US:
-- Brazilian police said Ryan Lochte fabricated his story of being robbed at gunpoint alongside other U.S. swimmers, though authorities acknowledged that the foursome did have a gun pulled on them — by a security guard — after reportedly damaging property at a gas station in Rio. From Dave Sheinin, Dom Phillips and Joshua Partlow:
An official apology: Overnight, the U.S. Olympic Committee issued a statement that acknowledged a version of events that involved an argument spurred by "an act of vandalism" committed by "one of the athletes." The statement concluded by saying, "We apologize to our hosts in Rio and the people of Brazil for this distracting ordeal in the midst of what should rightly be a celebration of excellence."
An attorney for Jimmy Feigen said he will pay more than $10,000 to a Brazilian charity to leave the country. Under Brazilian law, his attorney said, a donation can be made to avoid criminal prosecution. He did not say what charge was potentially facing Feigen. (Matt Bonesteel)
Lochte remains in the U.S., having left Rio on Tuesday, and teammates Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger were cleared to leave last night.
-- What really happened? The incident appears to have stemmed from a drunken pit stop at a gas station bathroom around 6 a.m: "Surveillance footage ... appears to show at least one of the swimmers … pull off the metal door to the bathroom. In the video ... gas station employees observe the athletes, then escort them out of the bathroom. In another clip, from a different camera angle, the athletes quickly seat themselves on the ground and raise their hands, as if ordered by a person with a gun."
The police chief confirmed a guard had produced a firearm to “contain” the swimmers so they could not leave without paying damages. “The firearm was used in a situation in which they were contained. When they were contained the firearm was put away,” he said.
-- “Brazilians have reacted with anger and indignation at an apparently false crime report that only served to boost the perception of Rio de Janeiro as a lawless, chaotic city that was unprepared to host an Olympics.” The city police chief said Lochte and the others owed Rio an apology for having “stained” the city “for a fantasy.” “As the American swimmers left the police station Thursday evening, they were swarmed by a crowd of journalists amid shouts of ‘liars’ by some, in English.”
-- The Post’s Sally Jenkins eviscerates Lochte as “the dumbest bell that ever rang” in a spot-on column: “Two things are going on here: Lochte’s self-promoting prevarications and the sensitivity of Rio authorities, who have been portrayed as incapable of keeping athletes safe amid other Olympic breakdowns. There have been a lot of genuine robberies of Olympic athletes and officials. The police need to show that fears are overstated and these Games are secure — though they are not, particularly — and the stupid Americans offered them something with which to save face. Lochte’s conceit intersected with a delicate political issue, and it made a perfect storm. His claim to NBC that men posing as police pulled over the taxi and he heroically resisted the robbers with a gun pressed to his forehead was an especially ludicrous detail — and the very thing that drew the attention of authorities, who know full well that anyone who defies a bandit in Rio gets shot on the spot, and they don’t leave you with your cellphone. Lochte’s done as a public figure, of course. Which is probably the most effective form of justice for someone who apparently so craves attention. Oblivion is what he deserves.”
-- How it's playing in the tabloids:
-- One of the things that makes the Lochte mess so frustrating is that it overshadows the amazing performances by the upstanding Americans who keep crushing it on the field. The U.S. has now reached TRIPLE-DIGIT MEDAL STATUS. We’re officially at 100 – with 35 gold, 33 silver, and 32 bronze. China and Britain continue their battle for second place, with China squeezing out Britain with just a two-medal lead (58 to 56.) Check out the Post’s live medal count here.
-- The U.S. women’s 4x100 relay team got a second shot at advancing to the gold-medal round, after filing a protest over a dropped baton between sprinters Allyson Felix and English Gardner. Officials agreed that a Brazilian team had interfered with the handoff, The Americans got to rerun the race later – alone on the track – “an odd scene,” Des Bieler notes, but one that ultimately scored them the BEST time of the entire day.
-- Kerron Clement won gold for the U.S. in the men’s 400m hurdles. And Dalilah Muhammad did the same for the women’s team – becoming the first American female to ever win gold in the race. (Teammate Ashley Spencer also netted a third-place finish.)
-- Helen Maroulis became the first American woman to earn a wrestling gold medal, beating out a legendary three-time Olympic champion from Japan.
-- University of Virginia runner Robby Andrews qualified for the men’s 1500m finals – but was subsequently disqualified – after he stepped off the track.
-- USAIN BOLT soared to victory in his last individual race of the Rio Games, winning his third gold medal in the men’s 200m by a wide margin. He’ll now compete in the men’s 4x100m relay Friday, potentially earning him a “triple-triple” sweep and a tie with American Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi of Finland for the most career Olympic gold medals in track and field. (Mark Giannotto)
-- Ivanka Trump’s brother-in-law will NOT vote for Trump, according to a new Esquire profile: Through a spokesman, the magazine's Vicky Ward wrote, Josh Kushner "said that he loved his brother and did not want to say anything that might embarrass him. Nevertheless, the spokesman also said that Josh is a lifelong Democrat and will not be voting for Trump in November."
-- Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson, on live television, accused Clinton of a rare brain disease with which she has never been diagnosed: “What's new are the other reports of the observations of [Clinton's] behavior and mannerisms, specifically with what you just showed in those previous clips, as well as her dysphasia, the fact that she's fallen, she has had a concussion,” Pierson charged on MSNBC. (Dysphasia is defined as the "loss of or deficiency in the power to use or understand language as a result of injury to or disease of the brain.") Pierson’s accusations come after Clinton’s campaign has refuted the conspiracy theories, releasing multiple fact-checking articles and a statement from Clinton’s doctor saying she is in excellent health. "It's something that needs to be addressed," Pierson continued. "She's taken a lot of time off the campaign trail." (Aaron Blake)
-- Gov. Scott Walker pushed back on Trump ally Roger Stone’s allegations that he and “the Reince Priebus machine” rigged “as many as five elections” in Wisconsin, dishing out a rare moment of snark when asked about the longtime Trump confidante. “Apparently that’s what the long-term effect is of legalizing marijuana in the District of Columbia,” he quipped. (Wisconsin State Journal)
-- David A. Fahrenthold has the latest on Trump’s dubious claims of charitable giving – this time on his NBC show “The Apprentice”: “For Trump, ‘The Apprentice’ — and later, ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’ — helped reestablish him as a national figure, after his fall into debt and corporate bankruptcies in the 1990s. On-screen, Trump was a wise, tough businessman. And, at times, a kindhearted philanthropist — willing to give away thousands on a whim. On-air, Trump seemed to be explicit that this wasn’t TV fakery: The money he was giving was his own. ‘Out of my wallet,’ Trump said in one case. ‘Out of my own account,’ he said in another. But, when the cameras were off, the payments came from other people’s money.” The Post tracked all the “personal” gifts that Trump promised on the show but could not confirm a single case in which Trump actually sent a gift from his own pocket.
In 2012, Trump became more generous on the air – giving six $10,000 donations in a single episode, in one example. His gifts brought one insult comedian to tears. But a mystery remained: What happened in 2012 to make Trump so much more generous on the air? “In the tax records of the Trump Foundation … there is no record of a donation from Trump himself in 2012. But, in 2012, the Trump Foundation’s records show a large gift from NBC, the network that aired the show. That was more than enough to cover all the foundation’s gifts to ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ contestants’ charities, both before 2012 and since. For NBC, Trump’s ‘personal’ donations made for better TV … [giving] uplifting notes to the ‘firings’ and [burnishing] the reputation of Trump, the show’s star. Did NBC give Trump’s foundation money, so that Trump could appear to be more generous on-camera?”
-- Tom Hamburger, Dana Priest and Andrew Roth have the backstory on how Trump's campaign chairman revived his career – and his business fortunes – in Ukraine: “Manafort’s 2005 entry into Ukrainian politics and finances came when he signed on as an adviser to the steel magnate Rinat Akhmetov, one of Ukraine’s richest oligarchs and a key supporter of Yanukovych and the Party of Regions … Manafort’s first job was to burnish the local and international reputation of a company owned by Akhmetov based in the Russian-speaking industrial Donetsk region. Over time, Manafort’s role with the party expanded.”
“As Manafort built a political consulting practice in Ukraine, he also developed financial connections with wealthy figures in the region, some of whom face ongoing scrutiny from the Justice Department. … In 2008, he tried to develop an $850 million Manhattan luxury apartment project with Dmitry Firtash, a Ukrainian energy tycoon with a history of legal trouble. U.S. prosecutors charged Firtash in 2013 with money-laundering and bribery … In another business venture, Oleg Deripaska, a Russian aluminum magnate, accused Manafort in a court in the Cayman Islands of taking nearly $19 million intended for investments, then not accounting for the money.” Manafort insisted he had cut his ties with his Ukrainian client in 2014. But former colleagues however, say he continued to work for the party, and was seen in the country as recently as October.
-- "Ukraine Releases More Details on Payments for Trump Aide,” from the New York Times: “The Ukrainian authorities, under pressure to bolster their assertion that once-secret accounting documents show cash payments from a pro-Russian political party earmarked for Manafort, on Thursday released line-item entries, some for millions of dollars. The former party member, Vitaly A. Kalyuzhny, for a time chairman of the Ukraine Parliament’s International Relations Committee, had signed nine times for receipt of payments designated for ... Manafort, according to Serhiy A. Leshchenko, a member of Parliament who has studied the documents. The ledger covered payments from 2007 to 2012, when Mr. Manafort worked for the party and its leader, Viktor F. Yanukovych, Ukraine’s former president who was deposed.”
-- Trump advisers waged covert influence campaign,” by the AP's Jeff Horwitz and Chad Day: “A firm run by Trump's campaign chairman directly orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine's ruling political party, attempting to sway American public opinion in favor of the country's pro-Russian government. Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, never disclosed their work as foreign agents as required under federal law. The lobbying included attempts to gain positive press coverage of Ukrainian officials in [the NYT, WSJ, and the AP]. Another goal: undercutting American public sympathy for the imprisoned rival of Ukraine's then-president.
“The emails appear to contradict the assertion that the nonprofit's lobbying campaign operated independently from Manafort's firm. In papers filed in the U.S. Senate, Mercury and the Podesta Group listed the European nonprofit as an independent, nonpolitical client. The firms said the center stated in writing that it was not aligned with any foreign political entity. The emails show that Gates personally directed two Washington lobbying firms … to set up meetings between a top Ukrainian official and senators and congressmen on influential committees involving Ukrainian interests. Gates noted in the emails that … Ukraine's foreign minister, did not want to use his own embassy in the United States to help coordinate the visits. And Gates directed efforts to undercut sympathy for Yulia Tymoshenko, an imprisoned rival of then-President Viktor Yanukovych.”
MORE FALLOUT FROM THE BREITBART-IZATION OF THE GOP:
-- Former Breitbart News spokesman Kurt Bardella slammed Stephen Bannon for regularly disparaging minorities, women and immigrants – saying editorial meetings for the publication often sounded “like a white supremacist rally.” “This is someone who has a very low moral compass,” he said on ABC’s “Powerhouse Politics” podcast, “and the idea that this is the type of person that Donald Trump, as the Republican nominee, as president, would have closest to him is very disturbing.”
-- Bannon’s ascension to the post of Trump campaign CEO represents a dangerous seizure of the conservative movement by the alt-right, another ex-Breitbart employee, Ben Shapiro, writes in an op-ed for The Post. “It comes as a surprise — or at least it should — that the RNC appears ready to go along with the Bannon-Breitbart-Trump takeover over the party, even as the Trump campaign’s latest move means RNC Chairman Reince Priebus now sits, effectively, side by side with alt-right Trump fans. … Broad swaths of the alt-right, by contrast, believe in a creed-free, race-based nationalism, insisting, among other things, that birth on American soil confers superiority. The alt-right sees limited-government constitutionalism as passé; it holds that only nationalist populism on the basis of shared tribal identity can save the country. It’s a movement shot through with racism and anti-Semitism. [Now], it is this is the cast of characters, and their enablers, to whom Trump has turned. Bannon is … the guy who ushered along the twisted turn at Breitbart. If Republicans aren’t careful, he’ll inflict similar damage on their party now that he’s the top man running their standard-bearer’s campaign.”
-- Reacting to Trump bringing on Bannon, Stuart Stevens (Mitt Romney’s chief strategist in 2012) told Bloomberg: “This is the bunker scene in ‘Downfall,’ only the Trump crowd won’t tell Hitler the truth. It’s utter madness. Trump is a nut, and he likes to surround himself with nuts.”
-- Bannon is already making an imprint: The Trump campaign hired an ex-Sarah Palin aide, Pam Pryor, to oversee its “faith and Christian outreach," per the Wall Street Journal.
-- A secretive donor has more sway than ever over Trump’s orbit. The New York Times’ Nicholas Confessore reports on how his deep-pocketed family helped put the shake-up into motion and now has close allies in positions of authority: “[Bannon’s] ascension on Wednesday — urged on Mr. Trump by (Rebecca) Mercer, among others — shows how a cadre of strategists, ‘super PACs’ and political organizations quietly nurtured by her family have emerged to play a pivotal role in Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign. Over more than half a decade, Ms. Mercer’s father, the New York investor Robert Mercer, has carved an idiosyncratic path through conservative politics, spending tens of millions of dollars to outflank his own party’s consultant class and unnerve its established powers. His fortune has financed think tanks and insurgent candidates, super PACs and media watchdogs, lobbying groups and grass-roots organizations. Many of them are now connected, one way or another, to Mr. Trump’s presidential bid. Mr. Trump’s new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, is a veteran Republican pollster who previously oversaw a super PAC financed by the Mercers.” And Bannon oversees Breitbart, a company to which Mercer reportedly invested $10 million several years ago, and “likely still has a stake.”
WHEN IN DOUBT, BLAME THE MEDIA:
-- In Charlotte last night, Trump said the media created some of the controversies that have dogged him. “The establishment media doesn’t cover what really matters in this country, or what’s really going on in people’s lives,” he said. “They will take words of mine out of context and spend a week obsessing over every single syllable, and then pretend to discover some hidden meaning in what I said.”
-- In New Hampshire yesterday, Mike Pence said the press – not Trump – is to blame for the ticket’s slide in the polls. “Just about every day, the national media latches onto some issue about my running mate. It really does,” the Indiana governor said in Manchester. “I mean, the media is so busy parsing every word that Donald Trump said in the last 30 minutes, they don’t have time to cover what the Clintons have been up to for the last 30 years.” (Time)
BUT AT WHAT COST?
-- An important factor in the rise of Trump: Only 32 percent of Republicans trusted the media a “great deal” or a “fair amount” in Gallup polling from last year, which is one reason so many of the tough stories on Trump have been tuned out by his supporters.
-- “We’ve created this monster”: Business Insider’s Oliver Darcy posted the transcript of a thought-provoking interview he did with conservative Wisconsin radio host Charlie Sykes (a prominent critic of the GOP nominee) about how significant distrust of the media has been in both the rise and resilience of Trump. It’s worth reading in full:
“We’ve basically eliminated any of the referees, the gatekeepers,” Sykes said. There’s nobody. Let’s say that Donald Trump basically makes whatever you want to say, whatever claim he wants to make. And everybody knows it’s a falsehood. The big question of my audience, it is impossible for me to say that, ‘By the way, you know it’s false.’ And they’ll say, ‘Why? I saw it on Allen B. West.’ Or they’ll say, ‘I saw it on a Facebook page.’ And I’ll say, ‘The New York Times did a fact check.’ And they’ll say, ‘Oh, that’s The New York Times. That’s bull-[expletive.]’ There’s nobody – you can’t go to anybody and say ‘Look, here are the facts.’ And I have to say that’s one of the disorienting realities of this political year. You can be in this alternative media reality and there’s no way to break through it. And I swim [upstream] because if I don’t say these things from some of these websites, then suddenly I have sold out. Then they’ll ask what’s wrong with me for not repeating these stories that I know not to be true.”
“When this is all over, we have to go back. There’s got to be a reckoning on all this. We’ve created this monster,” Sykes added. “And look, I’m a conservative talk show host. All conservative hosts have basically established their brand as being contrasted to the mainstream media. So we have spent 20 years demonizing the liberal mainstream media. And by the way, a lot of it has been justifiable. There is a real bias. But, at a certain point you wake up and you realize you have destroyed the credibility of any credible outlet out there. And I am feeling, to a certain extent, that we are reaping a whirlwind at that. And I have to look in the mirror and ask myself, ‘To what extent did I contribute?’ I’ll be honest, the bias of the mainstream media has been a staple for every conservative talk show host, every conservative pundit for as long as I can remember. Going way back into the 1960s with William F. Buckley Jr.”
-- Clinton told FBI investigators that Colin Powell advised her to use a private email account: “The account is included in the notes the Federal Bureau of Investigation handed over to Congress on Tuesday” relaying details behind the FBI’s decision not to charge Clinton, the New York Times’s Amy Chozick reports. “Separately, in a 2009 email exchange that also emerged during the F.B.I. questioning, Mrs. Clinton, who had already decided to use private email, asked Mr. Powell about his email practices when he was the nation’s top diplomat under George W. Bush, according to a person with direct knowledge of Mr. Powell’s appearance in the documents.”
-- Clinton held a closed-door meeting with top law enforcement officers from around the country in New York, seeking to discuss policing and racial tensions that have been exposed by recent killings. John Wagner and Abby Phillip: "It's obvious that recent events — from Dallas and Baton Rouge to Milwaukee and across the country — underscore how difficult and important the work is ahead of us to repair the bonds of trust and respect between our police officers and our communities," Clinton said, before dismissing reporters. 'We have to be clear-eyed about the challenges we face. We can't ignore them, and certainly we must not inflame them.'"
Clinton has sought to toe a somewhat narrow line, expressing support for officers while sympathizing with the concerns of Black Lives Matter activists and others outraged by discriminatory conduct. Trump, meanwhile, has cast himself as the “law and order” candidate, blasting Clinton in rallies as someone who is “against the police.” “I’m on your side a thousand percent,” Trump said during the meeting with a Fraternal Order of Police chapter this week.
-- Awkward: Trump and Clinton have set up White House transition offices in the same building, Lisa Rein reports: “It’s the first time in history that two presidential campaigns have worked to set up their governments in miniature literally side-by-side, riding the same elevators to adjacent floors of the tony, marble-floored building as they plan to govern.” The two will get two floors of federally-funded office space in the modern digs, along with millions in GSA-provided computers and technical support.
-- Trump and Clinton are slated to appear on the same stage next month at a “commander-in-chief forum” hosted a veterans group and broadcast on NBC. The two will field questions from NBC hosts, John Wagner reports, as well as an audience comprised mainly of current and former service members.
-- Wired Magazine, taking a side in a presidential race for the first time, endorsed HRC: “For all the barbs aimed at Clinton—the whole calculating, tactical, Tracy Flick enchilada—she is the only candidate who can assess the data, consult with the people who need to be heard, and make decisions that she can logically defend,” editor in chief Scott Dadich writes. “Sure, she’s calculating. She’s tactical. There are worse things you can ask of a person with nuclear codes.”
-- Speaking of endorsements: Trump still has the vote of “Benghazi mom,” even though the guy who wrote her speech to the RNC wrote an op-ed saying that he may vote for Clinton. (People Magazine)
-- The Green Party candidates showed why they're not getting much traction during an awkward CNN appearance. Presidential nominee Jill Stein appeared alongside running-mate Ajamu Baraka for a live town hall event last nigh, Dave Weigel reports. "Stein used most of the airtime to repeat her campaign's themes, from the cancellation of student debt to the cancellation of much military spending. She told one [Bernie Sanders] voter that the senator had been ‘relegated to a very low-profile role’ at the Democratic convention — which was untrue — and told another that bankers' debt was ‘canceled’ by the Troubled Asset Relief Program.” The two also answered to several campaign gaffes – moderator Chris Cuomo pushed Baraka on why he had referred to Obama as an “Uncle Tom.” And Stein was also pressed on whether she was anti-vaccine, a charge she ultimately dismissed as “ridiculous.”
-- Bernie is slated to launch his new progressive organization, “Our Revolution,” next week: Sanders, who began fundraising for the group earlier this month, has said he hopes to “transform American society” by mobilizing young people, working people and progressives. (Burlington Free Press)
THE BATTLE FOR THE SENATE:
-- Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman who once seemed primed for an easy reelection campaign, is now in trouble. National Review's Alexis Levinson reports that the Republican incumbent has barely begun campaigning in the state and must share the ballot with TWO deeply unpopular Republicans. Besides Trump, Pat McCrory, who signed the state’s “bathroom bill” into law, is very likely to lose reelection.
-- Carpetbagging alert: Indiana election officials concluded that Evan Bayh is an "INACTIVE" voter in their state after he failed to establish his residency in Indianapolis, CNN’s Manu Raju reports. The news comes as an additional hurdle for Bayh, who has stayed at a Marriott when he’s gone back to the state rather than his condo. Electric bills earlier this week made clear that he spends no time at his residence.
-- He's back: George W. Bush is planning to visit Indiana next month to stump for Bayh’s Republican opponent, Todd Young, hoping to shore up support for the Republican congressman and close a large fundraising advantage held by Bayh. (WDRB)
-- Rep. Michael McCaul declined to rule out the idea of challenging Ted Cruz for his Texas senate seat in 2018, fueling speculation that he is being courted by major donors to launch a bid. “Asked to rate Cruz's Senate tenure, McCaul said his fellow Texan has ‘spent a lot of time running for president.’ And though McCaul said he's focused on his re-election to the House this fall, he wouldn't limit his future prospects. ‘Never say never,’” he told reporters. (The Dallas Morning News)
-- “They survived Hurricane Katrina and rebuilt in Baton Rouge. Now they’ve lost everything again,” by Emma Brown, Ashley Cusick and Mark Berman: “When Hurricane Katrina leveled New Orleans, thousands of people left behind their ruined homes and took refuge here. They found new jobs and rebuilt their homes. Slowly, things started to feel normal again. But then a nameless storm brought unprecedented flooding to Baton Rouge and a wide swath of southern Louisiana over the last week. Countless Katrina survivors have been left, for a second time, with nothing. Two displacements, two traumas. A loss that has left many feeling tired, battered and hopeless. And even as many face unclear futures and questions about where they will live, experts say they are also concerned about the mental health consequences for Katrina survivors now weathering this new loss. 'I want to get away from water, get away from low-lying areas,' said Jerry Savage, who lost both his home and his lawn-care business in Katrina, then rebuilt both in Baton Rouge only to lose them again. 'I want to get out of here.'"
Republicans seized on the news from the State Department:
A New York City spokesman made this joke at Trump's expense:
Without context or additional explanation, Trump declared he will soon be known as "Mr. Brexit." Ostensibly he was referring to the idea of an upset that shocks elites.
"Mr. Brexit immediately began trending globally," Jennifer Hassan and Max Bearak report. "Thousands of users questioned exactly what Trump meant by his triumphal prognostication."
Many Brits feel like their own leaders deserve the title:
The problematic logic of arguing big crowds point to a future win:
A joke from the polling director at the Huffington Post:
Former George W. Bush White House Press Secretary Dana Perino responded to fans who want her to give them good news about the GOP's chances this election:
Watch Dana spar with the other hosts on "The Five" about it:
Brothers from opposite sides of the aisle -- one is the executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party and the other is a former DNC communications director who has worked for a constellation of liberal outside groups -- clashed publicly over a Republican effort to limit early voting in the Tar Heel State:
Tim Kaine and Tom Vilsack visited the Butter Cow at the Iowa State Fair:
Some 2008 campaign swag, courtesy of Cindy McCain:
Jon Stewart appeared in the final episode of Larry Wilmore's show, which was canceled by Comedy Central. (Read a show summary here.)
On the campaign trail: Trump is in Dimondale, Mich.
At the White House: Obama is in Martha's Vineyard, Mass.
On Capitol Hill: The Senate and House are out.
NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:
-- The Capital Weather Gang forecasts a sunny, “tolerably” humid Friday. “Mostly sunny, at least through midday. We’ll see a light north-northeasterly breeze around 5 mph. What’s not to like? Well, right, it’s still at least five degrees above average for this time of year, with high temperatures forecast to be around 90 and maybe a few mid-90s possible. Enjoy the quietness, even if it is a bit warm. On these hot days, there could always be an isolated shower or storm, but most or all folks staying dry is the best bet.” We’ll take it!
-- The Federal Transit Administration announced it will spend $900,000 to hire and train federal contractors to form an eventually permanent Metro safety oversight agency. Officials say the new contractors will perform immediate inspections and investigations on the Metro, eventually transferring their knowledge base to the new safety oversight commission when it is established. (Faiz Siddiqui)
-- A Latino advocate in Virginia was found guilty of fraud after she posed as an attorney to cheat clients out of thousands of dollars, falsely promising to help them obtain legal status. (Antonio Olivo)
-- As the National Museum of African American History gears up for opening day next month, its director opened up about the “painful but crucial” process museum leaders went through as they grappled with how much of the dark corners of U.S. history to expose. The museum’s structure, they say, is purposefully designed to reflect that struggle. (Krissah Thompson has more.)
CBS compiled what it says are Stephen Colbert's five most "hilarious Hillary takedowns" and his five "most scorching burns" of Trump.
The largest aircraft in the world just took flight:
Bloomberg broke down Trump's strange combination of idioms, expressions, and filler phrases:
The DNC released this video on Trump's refusal to release his tax returns:
Comedy Central mashed up videos of cats who dislike Trump:
A parody trailer for "Mad Trump: Fury Road" went up in June but has been making the rounds again online:
Finally, watch the making of the naked Trump statues that were placed in New York, San Francisco and other cities: | 0fake |
McMaster Gave Susan Rice Continued Access To Classified Info, She Still Has Clearance | This very important scandal is unfolding before us. It has many, many legs with different Obama administration officials involved. Don t count on the main stream media to fill you in. This is a big deal!Andrew McCarthy said it best: The national-security adviser is not an investigator. She is a White House staffer. The president s staff is a consumer of intelligence, not a generator or collector of it. If Susan Rice was unmasking Americans, it was not to fulfill an intelligence need based on American interests; it was to fulfill a political desire based on Democratic-party interests. Circa News has been uncovering disturbing information regarding the unmasking of American citizens and how Obama provided a way for the unmasking to go unfettered . Susan Rice and Samantha Power both have unfettered access to classified material and likely unmasked many in government. Sara Carter reports below on H.R. McMaster s involvement in this unmasking:Almost one month after it was disclosed that former President Obama s National Security Adviser Susan Rice was unmasking members of President Trump s team and other Americans, Trump s own national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, sent an official letter giving her unfettered and continuing access to classified information and waiving her need-to-know requirement on anything she viewed or received during her tenure, Circa has confirmed.The undated and unclassified letter from McMaster was sent in the mail to Rice s home during the last week of April. Trump was not aware of the letter or McMaster s decision, according to two Senior West Wing officials and an intelligence official, who spoke to Circa on condition that they not be named. This is the letter from McMaster to Rice. Names, phone numbers and personal addresses have been blurred. I hereby waive the requirement that you must have a need-to-know to access any classified information contained in items you originated, reviewed, signed or received while serving, as National Security Adviser, the letter said. The letter also states that the NSC will continue to work with you to ensure the appropriate security clearance documentation remains on file to allow you access to classified information. Circa revealed in March that during President Obama s tenure, top aides including Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch routinely reviewed intelligence reports received from the National Security Agency s incidental intercepts of Americans abroad. They were doing so by taking advantage of rules Obama relaxed starting in 2011 to help the government better fight terrorism, espionage by foreign enemies and hacking threats, according to documents obtained by Circa.In June, the House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Rice as part of the committee s larger investigation into the unmasking of Americans under the Obama administration. Rice maintains that she never accessed the information inappropriately and has agreed to testify before the committee.Under the law, and under certain conditions, it is common practice for some senior government officials to be given the unfettered access to classified information, and their need to know is waived under Executive Order 13526 Section 4.4 Access by Historical Researchers and Certain Former Government Personnel. But the White House officials told Circa that under the current congressional investigation, and given President Trump s ongoing concern that members of his team were unmasked, Rice s clearance should have been limited to congressional testimony only or revoked until the end of the investigation. Rice and Brennan have confirmed they sought the unredacted names of Americans in NSA-sourced intelligence reports, but insisted their requests were routine parts of their work and that they did nothing improper. Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power also has legal authority to unmask officials.In a June tweet, Trump called the revelation that Rice and other Obama senior officials were unmasking members of his team the big story the unmasking and surveillance that took place during the Obama administration. Basically, this letter which was signed in the last week of April undercuts the president s assertion that Susan Rice s unmasking activity was inappropriate. In essence, anybody who committed a violation as she did would not be given access to classified information, said a senior West Wing official, who was shown the document by Circa and verified its authenticity. In fact, they would have their security clearance and right to need-to-know stripped. The point is, is that it lowers the bar for her, the Senior West Wing official said. This memo McMaster sent to Rice makes it so that she doesn t have to prove a continuing need-to-know to have access to classified information and in effect is a White House pardon of Susan Rice and could be used by other Obama officials who conducted targeted unmasking of the campaign as a defense, the official added.REMEMBER THAT RICE RECENTLY LIED AGAIN ABOUT THE UNMASKING SHE DID IT ON NATIONAL TV:If the Obama administration was good at anything, it was good at lying to hijack the narrative.Remember when Susan Rice lied after Benghazi? It is what she does so well. Flash forward to the latest hot water she s in and it s hard to tell what she d want us believe this time WHICH SHOULD WE BELIEVE? WHAT SHE SAID TO ANDREA MITCHELL OR TO JUDY WOODRUFF?Susan Rice appeared on Andrea Mitchell. She claimed she didn t leak nothing to nobody Did you catch that double negative?There might be more to that because she s using words in the two sentences very carefully .Check it out:SUSAN RICE VERSION ONE:WATCH: Susan Rice insists I leaked nothing to nobody https://t.co/kAsbu4VJDN MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 4, 2017SUSAN RICE VERSION TWO: I know nothing about this. I was surprised to see reports from Chairman Nunes on that count today. What she says is a lie but who is surprised by this? We know that Susan Rice lied 5 times on 5 different morning shows the morning after Benghazi. Why wouldn t she try and cover this spying up to protect herself and others including Obama.Susan Rice is also giving conflicting stories on what she did so it might be a good idea for her to lawyer up right now. She claimed ignorance of the unmasking and spying but today she spoke about doing it. Yes, red flags are everywhere on this! The reality and truth is this was more of a political attack to destabilize the Trump presidency and embarrass him:The bottom line is that laws were broken when the names were unmasked Someone s in BIG trouble!Read more: circa news | 1real |
Factbox: Trump to meet ex-rivals Fiorina and Santorum, lawmakers | (Reuters) - Donald Trump was scheduled to hold additional meetings on Monday as he forms his administration before taking over from Democratic President Barack Obama on Jan. 20. The Republican president-elect has held more than 90 meetings so far, according to his transition team. * Former Trump rival for the 2016 presidential nomination * Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co * U.S. senator from West Virginia, a Democrat * Meeting originally scheduled for Dec. 9 * U.S. Representative from Idaho, a Republican * Serves on House Judiciary and Natural Resources committees * Was scheduled to meet with Trump on Dec. 8 * Former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, a Republican * Former Trump rival for the 2016 presidential nomination In addition, several top executives from technology companies have been invited to a summit on Wednesday with the president-elect at Trump Tower in New York City, according to media reports * Those invited include representatives from Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Facebook Inc (FB.O), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Intel Corp (INTC.O), Oracle Corp (ORCL.N), the technology website Recode reported. * Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) CEO and founder Jeff Bezos was also invited and is likely to attend, Recode said, citing sources with knowledge of the situation. * Billionaire entrepreneur and Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk, the Wall Street Journal separately reported. | 0fake |
Paul Ryan will face 'monumental obstacles' as speaker | After he managed to win support from his warring caucus, the full House is expected to elect Ryan as speaker on Thursday. But he won't have much time to celebrate, because he will immediately confront a series of divisive issues that could undermine his hold on the speakership just as he reaches the pinnacle of his career.
At the heart of the list: fiscal fights that have badly divided the GOP since it took control of the House in the 2010 elections. Congress must raise the national borrowing ceiling -- or risk the first-ever default on U.S. debt -- by November 3 and then pivot to a high-stakes debate over funding the government the following month.
The outgoing speaker, John Boehner of Ohio, is trying to take the debt limit off the table for Ryan, but he's running into familiar obstacles that could force the Wisconsin Republican to deal with the matter after he takes the top job.
"If you think about what the debt is -- it's what happened in the past -- so I think that the speaker is trying to clean that up for before he leaves," Republican Rep. Tom Rooney of Florida told reporters, but he admitted that might not be possible with time running out before Boehner's last day at the end of this week.
And Ryan will soon command the lead House GOP role in budget talks with the White House -- a discussion centered on raising domestic and defense spending by roughly $76 billion, and one bound to anger the same conservatives the likely new speaker wooed last week. President Barack Obama and Democrats on the Hill are insisting that any increase in national security spending be matched dollar for dollar with more money for domestic programs.
But a deal with the White House could undermine the pledge Ryan has privately been making: that he would restore "regular order" and let congressional committees drive policy -- not the speaker's office.
Rep. Mark Sanford, a South Carolina Republican and member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told CNN that if Ryan agrees to get rid of budget caps it will be a "mixed bag" since it will please defense hawks but anger small-government conservatives.
"I suspect it would stir up the rank and file. And when you get the rank and file at the grass-roots level, other folks get stirred up within the conference," Sanford said.
Sources familiar with the leadership discussions with the White House say there remains a possibility of a deal to scrap the automatic cuts known as sequestration for one year, but the two sides still are not in agreement over how to pay for the spending increases.
Moreover, everything is on hold until House Republicans try to raise the debt ceiling this week -- and there is no consensus within the ranks on how to proceed. Senate Republicans want to extend the debt ceiling until 2017 to take the issue off the table during an election year. House Republicans were forced last week to pull back a proposal crafted by a group of conservatives, that conditioned any debt increase to more spending cuts and a regulatory freeze, because it didn't have enough support to pass. GOP leaders are still trying to come up with a proposal that includes some type of reforms their members can point to in return for increasing the nation's borrowing authority.
All but two House Democrats signed a letter to Boehner on Friday demanding he move a "clean" extension of the debt limit -- one without conditions -- and warning that "failing to do so will plunge the nation into default for the first time in American history, risking economic catastrophe."
But some House Republicans say that a short-term increase should be pursued, potentially putting the issue in Ryan's lap.
Rep. David Brat, the Virginia Republican who unseated then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor last year, said Ryan should pair a debt ceiling increase with dollar-for-dollar spending cuts -- an idea Democrats strongly reject.
"Leadership promised the American people that," Brat said. "We don't want to go back on that if we give our word."
Rooney said it's possible that leaders could be forced again to take up a clean debt limit to avoid a default. While he'll oppose that approach, and noted Ryan voted against it last time, the Florida Republican said no one should blame Ryan for the struggle to avoid an economic crisis.
"If you really hold Paul Ryan responsible for a clean debt limit vote in his first day on the job, I think that's a little unfair to say that that's on him, especially since he's worked so hard at the issues which really do directly deal with the debt and trying to fix that problem," Rooney said.
Yet if Ryan or Boehner try to jam a debt ceiling bill through, they can expect outrage from their right flank.
"I can't vote for a bill dropped on my desk 24 hours before the vote," said Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-South Carolina, a member of the House Freedom Caucus. | 0fake |
Clinton says she will participate in the three presidential debates | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will participate in the three debates set by a debate commission, her campaign said in a statement on Monday. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has complained that the commission scheduled several of the debates during NFL games, possibly hurting television viewership of the debates. | 0fake |
GOP Congressman DEMANDS The Federal Government Be Purged Of Anybody Who Disagrees With Trump | One of the House of Representatives more crazy members, Steve King, is fully on board Trump s train no matter how outlandish or insane he gets. In fact, Steve King thinks the government needs to be purged of all dissenters by which he means anybody who deviates from Trump s (often-changing) beliefs. An article appeared on the Conservative Review about this, and it s obvious that King believes the only way we can move forward is to purge everyone from the White House who doesn t likewise march in lockstep with the Trump train.The first paragraph of that ridiculous story says: At this point in the Obama administration, the newly-minted messiah had full control over every nook and cranny of the executive branch. There was not one morsel of dissent, much less sabotage percolating through the ranks of former GOP presidential appointees within the deep state of the various departments. Fast forward eight years and President Trump is at the cusp of losing control over his presidency if he doesn t immediately fire all of the Obama appointees. This is evidently something on which Steve King, an actual U.S. Representative, believes too. Otherwise why would he tweet the following:@RealDonaldTrump needs to purge Leftists from executive branch before disloyal, illegal & treasonist acts sink us. https://t.co/o1DYtgA7aL Steve King (@SteveKingIA) March 6, 2017Leftists are disloyal why, Congressman King? Because they don t march in lockstep with Trump like you do? With Vladimir Putin, despite the fact that Russia is our enemy? And here we thought Republicans actually believed in freedom, including the freedom to, you know, have different ideas about stuff. First off, the Obama administration had plenty of dissent within its ranks. For instance, Congressional Democrats held Obama s former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, responsible for certain parts of the ACA that didn t pass Congress.Others strongly disagreed with how Obama was handling Syria. So, Not one morsel of dissent? OH PLEASE! Obama was not the dictator conservatives tried to brainwash into thinking he was.As evidence of that, we have Steve King, who s one of the worst right-wingers we ever elected to Congress. Republicans are supposed to support freedom, including freedom of anyone and everyone to disagree with the president. In this case, it s Trump, who lost the popular vote. King s ideas are the opposite of freedom in fact, the support fascism, dictatorships, and even monarchies based on the antithesis of American freedom.Trump should welcome dissent it would prevent tunnel vision and help him determine a course of action that s truly beneficial to the entire country. Instead, he s a dictator who only cares about how many agree with him and are willing to puff him up. King is one of those who would rather puff Trump up than do what s right for freedom and the country. If nothing else, calling for a purge of dissenters from the White House should disqualify him from every government job he ll ever hold.Featured image via Scott Olson/Getty Images | 1real |
UPDATE ON 9/11 MEMORIAL Banned for “Triggering” College Snowflakes | Great news! Southern Methodist University in Texas has reversed its decision to relocate an annual 9/11 memorial display made up of nearly 3,000 American flags to a less prominent part of campus after facing backlash from student groups.A huge thank you to The Young Americans for Freedom group! They had a hand in making this happen! They also were the ones who had set up the tribute honoring the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on SMU s Dallas Hall Lawn every year since 2010.But in July officials informed the group to move the display to Morrison-McGinnis Park because Dallas Hall Lawn is used for classes and a variety of events, said university spokesman Kent Best.SMU officials also had adopted a policy to ensure displays didn t include harmful or triggering messages, but they later removed the language from the then-policy as inappropriate. By that time, though, some student groups said the new policy was an attack on free speech. I don t believe it s the responsibility of the university to shield individuals from certain ideas that they might be offended by, said Grant Wolf, the leader of the Young Americans for Freedom group, according to Dallas News. Wolf, along with other leaders from campus groups, sent a letter to university President R. Gerald Turner to express their frustration with the policy. People absolutely have to have a right to their own opinions, but this does not come with a right to be shielded from opposing ideas, especially in an environment dedicated to the learning, sharing and developing of new ideas, they wrote.They decried the relocation of the memorial. Moving the 9/11 memorial to an out of the way park is almost the same as not allowing it, said Heather Hall, president of the university s Turning Point USA chapter. That s not free speech, Hall said. That s not American. That s definitely not what SMU stands for. Read more: Daily MailOUR PREVIOUS REPORT ON THIS BAN: The shocker about this is that students on both sides of the political spectrum want the 9/11 flags to be displayed where they ve always been displayed. The inability of college campuses to stand up to people who are perpetually offended is a sad statement on where we are in American tolerance these days. It s so ironic that the left wants you to march to their drum beat or else they will destroy you. Note to SMU: You had a good thing going with your student body coming together to memorialize 9/11 so let it continue!DALLAS, Tex. In a time of extreme political divide, students both Republican and Democrat at one Texas college have found something they can agree on.For the past two years at Southern Methodist University, a campus group has planted thousands of American flags in front of Dallas Hall as a memorial to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. That s simply contradictory to the very definition of free speech, said Grant Wolf, the Young Americans for Freedom Chairman.But in July, SMU changed its policy, saying student groups can no longer have displays there.The lawn has historically hosted tributes and protests from students of all political affiliations. The leaders of two prominent student groups say the policy violates their right to free speech. They re basically cornering us into a segment of campus and saying you re not allowed to have a display here because it s triggering, harmful or offensive to students over there, said Drew Wicker, the President of SMU College Republicans.SMU released a statement saying nearby Momac Park, where displays will be allowed, is larger than the lawn and is along one of the most prominent drives on campus.The university said it respects the rights of all campus community members to express their opinions, as well as their right to be free from coercion or harassment. Via: Fox 5 Atlanta | 1real |
U.S. cities push for local laws to oversee police surveillance | SEATTLE (Reuters) - A number of U.S. cities are introducing proposals to mandate community oversight of police use of digital surveillance technology as evidence mounts that black or poor neighborhoods are being more heavily scrutinized than others, civil rights activists said on Wednesday. The legislative measures are being introduced by lawmakers in 11 cities from Seattle to Washington, D.C., and are backed by a coalition of 17 groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “(We need) to build the legislative power of local communities to prevent high-tech racial profiling and policing from turning our neighborhoods into open-air prisons,” Malkia Cyril, executive director of the Center for Media Justice, told reporters on a conference call during which the proposals were announced on Wednesday. The coalition said the proposals stemmed from the growing use by departments across the country of high-tech equipment or software, some of which was developed for battlefields, to surreptitiously monitor poor or predominately black neighborhoods, Muslims, or the street-level movements of activists within the Black Lives Matter movement. The proposed bills would mandate city council approval of the use and purchase of surveillance equipment, and input and oversight from communities on how it is used. “We want to give municipalities the ability to say ‘no,’” Cyril said. Proposals were introduced on Wednesday in Miami Beach and Pensacola, Florida, and others were expected in the coming weeks in New York City, Milwaukee, Muskegon, Michigan, and other localities, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said. Palo Alto, California, will vote on its proposal later in September, and Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is introducing legislation in October, the ACLU said. Police departments across the United States are facing intense scrutiny over the use of excessive force especially against black people, accountability and accusations of racial bias. Police officials have said digital surveillance tools are needed for crime prevention and pointed to reduced crime in some areas where they are used. The coalition said blacks have been disproportionately targeted by automatic license plate readers in Oakland, California, closed-circuit television surveillance in Lansing, Michigan, a ‘stingray’ that mimics cell phone towers to track a phone user’s location in Baltimore, Maryland, and social media monitoring software. | 0fake |
Republicans plan healthcare vote; Obama and TV host denounce bill | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republicans announced plans to vote next week on their latest bid to scuttle Obamacare even as a popular comedian who has become part of the U.S. healthcare debate denounced the bill and former President Barack Obama on Wednesday warned of “real human suffering.” President Donald Trump, who has expressed frustration at the Senate’s failure thus far to pass legislation dismantling Obama’s signature legislative achievement, said “47 or 48” Republicans back the bill, which needs 50 votes for passage in the 100-seat Senate, which his Republican Party controls 52-48. “We think this has a very good chance,” Trump, who made replacing Obamacare a top 2016 campaign promise, told reporters during an appearance with Egypt’s president in New York. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul opposes the bill. At least five other Republicans are undecided on it: Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, John McCain of Arizona and Jerry Moran of Kansas. Republican Senator John Thune on Fox News said: “We’re a handful of votes short of having the 50 that we need.” As they worked to gather enough votes to win, after prior legislation failed in July, congressional Republicans and the White House were on the defensive after Jimmy Kimmel used his late-night TV show to blast the proposal and call Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, one of its two sponsors, a liar. “This guy, Bill Cassidy, just lied right to my face,” Kimmel said on his show on Tuesday night, referring to the senator who since May had touted a “Jimmy Kimmel test” of standards any Obamacare replacement would need to possess. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who was noncommittal on Tuesday about scheduling a vote, now intends to bring it to the Senate floor next week, said his spokesman David Popp. Republicans are using the measure Cassidy is sponsoring with fellow Senator Lindsey Graham to make one last push this year to pass legislation to roll back the 2010 Obamacare law, a goal of theirs for seven years, facing a Sept. 30 deadline. Avalere Health, a healthcare consultancy to hospitals and insurers, forecast that the bill would slash federal funding to states by $215 billion through 2026, with 34 states facing cuts. Hit hard would be Democratic-governed California and New York, which expanded the Medicaid insurance program for the poor and disabled under Obamacare, while Republican-governed Texas, which did not expand Medicaid, would be a winner, Avalere said. It remained unclear if the bill, opposed by Democrats and top medical groups and hospitals, can attract the 50 votes needed for passage, with Vice President Mike Pence ready to cast a tie-breaking vote. In a speech in New York, Obama defended the Affordable Care Act, known informally as Obamacare, which expanded medical insurance to 20 million Americans. “So when I see people trying to undo that hard-won progress for the 50th or 60th time, with bills that would raise costs or reduce coverage or roll back protections for older Americans or people with pre-existing conditions ... it is aggravating,” the Democratic former president said. “And it’s certainly frustrating to have to mobilize every couple of months to keep our leaders from inflicting real human suffering on our constituents.” Cassidy defended his bill, which would divvy up healthcare money as block grants to states, let them opt out of some Obamacare consumer protections and waive requirements that insurers cover certain benefits. It also would end Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. Kimmel entered the healthcare debate after revealing on his show in May that his newborn son had undergone life-saving emergency surgery for a congenital heart condition, and pleaded that no family be denied medical care because they cannot afford it. Cassidy appeared that month on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “He said he would only support a healthcare bill that made sure a child like mine would get the health coverage he needs no matter how much money his parents make,” Kimmel said on Tuesday. “Stop using my name, OK? Because I don’t want my name on it. There’s a new ‘Jimmy Kimmel test’ for you. It’s called the lie detector test. You’re welcome to stop by the studio and take it any time,” he said to cheers from his audience. Cassidy, a gastroenterologist who represents Louisiana, gave a measured response to Kimmel’s remarks, telling reporters on Capitol Hill, “It was a personal attack and I can’t help that.” Graham blasted the comedian. “I bet he looked at some liberal talking point, bought it hook, line and sinker, and went after Bill Cassidy without talking to him. And I think that’s unfair,” Graham said on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” show. Cassidy said his proposal would protect people who are already ill, although it does let states waive an Obamacare mandate that insurers cannot charge people who have pre-existing medical conditions more than those who are healthy. “There is a specific provision that says that if a state applies for a waiver, it must ensure that those with pre-existing conditions have affordable and adequate coverage,” Cassidy told CNN. Trump, in a tweet late on Wednesday, said he would not sign the bill if it did not include coverage of pre-existing conditions. “It does! A great bill,” Trump said. | 0fake |
BUMBLING BILL CLINTON Manages To Insult Poland And Hungary [Video] | The Clinton Campaign just managed to commit the biggest blunder of the presidential race yet! Bill needs a hobby! He s not helping Hillary on the campaign trail. He had a finger wagging moment with some Black Lives Matter folks and now this!The media are protecting the Clinton campaign, as usual. According to the mainstream narrative, voters are supposed to believe that Donald Trump presents a mortal danger to American foreign policy because of a penchant to say stupid and reckless things. Yet it is the Clinton campaign that has said something so outrageous that the prime minister of a faithful ally is demanding an apology, as is the foreign minister of another, and two domestic ethnic voting blocs are up in arms.It all began a week ago yesterday, when Bill Clinton said something outrageous at a Clinton campaign rally in New Jersey:Former US President Bill Clinton said that Poland and Hungary have now decided Democracy is too much trouble, therefore they want Putin-like leadership. The former US President was speaking about the Central European countries to offer some comparison to Republican candidate and Hillary s potential rival Donald Trump. Just give me an authoritarian dictatorship and keep the foreigners out, sound familiar? , Clinton said. Hungary and Poland would not be free today without the United States and the long cold war, he insisted. | 1real |
Watch: Blimp Crashes, Catches Fire at US Open - Breitbart | An advertising blimp at the 2017 US Open golf tournament crashed and caught fire Thursday in Erin, WI. Per Fox 9, the blimp’s pilot, the only person on board, sustained serious burns and injuries from the crash. The Washington County, WI sheriff’s office believes the blimp experienced mechanical problems prior to going down. AirSign tweeted out an update on their pilot, saying he was taken to the hospital and is expected to be fine. Thanks to everyone for your concerns, the blimp pilot is being taken to the hospital but is expected to be ok. No details on cause of crash, — AirSign (@AirSign) June 15, 2017, Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent | 0fake |
Shock Berkeley Poll: California Voters Want Democrats to Work with Trump - Breitbart | A new poll by the Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) at UC Berkeley shows that a majority of registered voters in California want the state’s elected Democrats to work with President Donald Trump rather than to resist his agenda. [The poll reveals that “by a 53% to 47% margin, slightly more voters prefer that when state leaders disagree with the president they should try to work with him even if it means making compromises, rather than opposing him if it risks negative consequences and losses in federal funding. ” Voters prefer that Democrats work with Trump even though 61% disapprove of the job he is doing, according to the poll, which surveyed 1, 000 registered voters and has a margin of error of 3. 6%. In fact, the poll found that Trump has lower approval ratings than any U. S. president at this point in his presidency since the poll began, with President John F. Kennedy in 1961. In addition, the poll finds that Californians reject “CalExit” and proposals to secede from the Union by more than a margin, 68% to 32%. Republicans (85% no, 15% yes) are more opposed than Democrats (56% no, 44% yes) to seceding. The poll also found that California voters approve of Trump’s policies on infrastructure, the economy and jobs — and disapprove of his policies on every other issue. Trump rated lowest on his policies on the environment, and on minority groups. Illegal immigration was a closer call, with 38% of California’s registered voters approving of his policies and 49% disapproving, as the state’s Democrats prepare for a showdown with Trump over the contentious issue of sanctuary cities. 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 |
‘La La Land’ Wins Seven Golden Globes ‘Moonlight’ Wins Best Drama - The New York Times | • The record seven awards for the musical “La La Land” included for best picture comedy or musical and wins by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. “Moonlight” won for best picture drama. • Meryl Streep gave an impassioned, politically charged speech after receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award. • Casey Affleck, Viola Davis, Isabelle Huppert and Tracee Ellis Ross also won awards. Here is a list of the winners. • And in TV categories, “The Crown” and “Atlanta” were triumphant. • Wesley Morris, Melena Ryzik and Dave Itzkoff provided commentary. And The Times was also on the red carpet. The “La La Land” dominated the 74th Golden Globes on Sunday, receiving a promotional boost in the form of a lavish tribute that kicked off the awards telecast and collecting a record seven prizes, including one for best comedy or musical. No film has won more than four Globes since 1979, when the crime drama “Midnight Express” received six, the previous number. “I’m in a daze now officially,” said the force behind “La La Land,” Damien Chazelle, 31, as he accepted the directing award. Noting the “La La Land” plot — dreamers try to make it in show business — Emma Stone said in accepting the award for best actress in a musical or comedy, “I think that hope and creativity are two of the most important things in the world, and that’s what this movie is about. ” “La La Land,” made by Lionsgate, also won Globes for song, score, screenplay and actor. The bliss felt by the “La La Land” cast and crew was likely mirrored by the disappointment of those involved with “Moonlight,” the night’s film. Despite six nominations, “Moonlight,” about a young black man growing up in Miami, received a lone trophy — albeit an important one: best drama. “Please, tell a friend, tell a friend, tell a friend,” Barry Jenkins, the director of “Moonlight,” said in accepting the award, trying to boost the art film’s box office performance. A year after Hollywood was excoriated for its lack of diversity at the Oscars, inclusion was a major theme on Sunday. “This is for all of the women of color and colorful people whose stories, ideas, thoughts are not always considered worthy,” said Tracee Ellis Ross, as she accepted the best television actress Globe for her role in the ABC series “ . ” “I want you to know that I see you. We see you. ” Ms. Ross was the first black woman to win in the category since 1983, when Debbie Allen won for “Fame. ” There were several surprises. Isabelle Huppert took best actress in a drama for the French film “Elle,” beating Natalie Portman, who was favored to win for “Jackie. ” (“Elle,” a thriller about a businesswoman who tracks her rapist, also won best foreign film.) The foreign journalists who bestow the Globes are known for spreading their awards far and wide, but several films received nothing, including “Florence Foster Jenkins,” “Lion,” “Hacksaw Ridge” and “Hell or High Water. ” “Manchester by the Sea,” despite five nominations, was honored only in the best actor category for Casey Affleck. HBO, despite 14 nominations, the most of any network, was shut out altogether. The first award of the night, for best supporting actor, dropped jaws: Aaron won for his performance in Tom Ford’s “Nocturnal Animals,” beating favorites like Mahershala Ali of “Moonlight. ” “I made it — thank you,” Mr. said, looking a bit startled. To the surprise of almost no one, Viola Davis took the supporting actress prize for playing a 1950s homemaker in “Fences. ” After doling out two kisses, one to her husband and one to Denzel Washington, who directed “Fences” and stars in it, Ms. Davis thanked its producers for taking a risk on the film. “It doesn’t scream moneymaker,” she said. “But it does scream art. It does scream heart. ” Early television awards were widely distributed. The FX series “Atlanta,” about an aspiring rapper and his manager cousin, was honored as best comedy and Donald Glover won for best comedic actor for his performance in the show. Beating the likes of Rami Malek (“Mr. Robot”) and Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”) for best actor in a drama was Billy Bob Thornton, honored for his performance in “Goliath,” a show with little buzz. Best actress in a TV drama went to Claire Foy, who plays a young Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s “The Crown,” which won for best dramatic series. As expected, “The People vs. O. J. Simpson: Crime Story” was named best and Sarah Paulson, repeating her win at the Emmys, collected a trophy for her portrayal of the prosecutor Marcia Clark in that show. A Ms. Paulson was showered with hugs from as she returned to her seat. The night got off to a jerky start. After the host, Jimmy Fallon, opened the show with the taped “La La Land” number, he became befuddled after a teleprompter malfunction. Still, he kept it breezy. “Let’s make tonight a celebration,” Mr. Fallon said in his monologue. Despite promises in preshow interviews to zing Donald J. Trump ahead of his inauguration, Mr. Fallon even kept his political jokes to a minimum. “One of the few places left where America still honors the popular vote,” he said, almost in a mumble. For casual movie fans, the annual Oscar race starts with the Globes. (Oscar nomination ballots are due on Friday.) But the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the group behind the Globes, has worked in recent years to make its television honors more relevant by leaning toward rookie shows like “The Affair” and “Transparent. ” Hollywood stylists spent most of the week fretting about the weather forecast. For days, it looked like torrential rain would threaten a repeat of the 2010 Globes ceremony, when the red carpet turned into a swamp. On Sunday, however, Angelenos awakened to “another day of sun,” to borrow a lyric from “La La Land. ” When Meryl Streep, a Globes nominee and winner, accepted her Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award, she gave an impassioned speech that, while never mentioning Mr. Trump by name, was a clear reaction to the election. “Take your broken heart, make it into art,” she said, quoting Carrie Fisher. Mr. Trump, in a brief telephone interview, said that he had not watched the Globes or Ms. Streep’s speech, but that he was “not surprised” that she and some other entertainment figures had criticized him during the Hollywood event. “Meryl Streep introduced Hillary Clinton at her convention, and a lot of these people supported Hillary,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Ms. Streep’s remarks at the Democratic National Convention last summer on behalf of Mrs. Clinton. While winners steered away from directly criticizing Mr. Trump, several used their moment onstage to take clear jabs. The British actor Hugh Laurie, collecting a actor award for “The Night Manager,” said: “I can say I won this at the Golden Globes. I mean, it has the words ‘Hollywood,’ “Foreign’ and ‘Press’ in it. ” He added, “I also think to some Republicans, even the word ‘Association’ is sketchy. ” Some Trump supporters, either anticipating the barbs or irritated that many Hollywood stars have been outspoken in their horror at his election, made #BoycottGoldenGlobes trend on Twitter early on Sunday. The Golden Globes are great fun, and so is its red carpet. Among this year’s first arrivals were the Stallone sisters, this year’s Miss Golden Globes, shepherded about by their father Sylvester’s publicist no buttering up of reporters. A news crew from Canada was promised a question with the sisters but then told “They need to go do Twitter” first. Issa Rae and Donald Glover were among the luminaries who admitted to feeling slightly intimidated to being there. Mr. Glover said he really wanted to meet Ms. Davis, and that he was still shocked at the huge response to “Atlanta,” his FX series. “It was supposed to be a punk show,” he said. “And they screened it at A. F. I. and Scorsese was laughing. ” Ms. Rae, of the HBO show “Insecure,” said she was still adjusting to her growing fame. “I’m an introvert, I barely leave the house,” she said. “To be out here is a blessing but I’m like: ‘Wow, guys. It’s just me. ” Even though Netflix has upended the TV industry, that streaming service had never won in the best drama or comedy category at the Globes (and the Emmys, for that matter). That changed this year with “The Crown,” which was named best drama. Claire Foy, who plays Queen Elizabeth, won for best actress in a drama. “The Crown” beat out “Stranger Things,” also from Netflix “Westworld,” the HBO series that practically requires a Ph. D. to understand it NBC’s “This Is Us” and HBO’s “Game of Thrones. ” Another closely watched television race was for best comedic actress, where Ms. Ross beat out some stiff competition to become the first black woman to win in the category since Debbie Allen in 1983. Also nominated were the Globe winner Sarah Jessica Parker, for her role as a suburban mother in HBO’s “Divorce” Ms. Rae, nominated for her performance in HBO’s “Insecure” Julia from the network’s “Veep” and last year’s winner, Rachel Bloom (“Crazy ”). Globe voters have ardently tried to leave behind their reputation for paying more attention to celebrity than honoring the year’s best performances. Once upon a time, Globe attendees also bellied up to the open bar in a boozy spectacle, but nominees — heeding the scolding eyes of their publicists — have largely started sticking to water. Despite moments of seriousness, however, the Globes lived up its raucous reputation. The “Modern Family” star Sofia Vergara made anus jokes from the stage. NBC censors bleeped expletives from Amy Schumer. Dinner guests in multiple instances chatted right through the speeches. As ever, the ballroom’s smoking patio was chockablock with stars at one moment, Sophie Turner from “Game of Thrones” lit her cigarette off one held by her Maisie Williams. The young “Stranger Things” cast members ran around taking selfies. As ever, the ceremony’s success will be determined by the Nielsen ratings. About 18. 5 million people watched last year, down from 19. 3 million in 2015. Televised award shows in general have been suffering from viewer erosion, partly because there is a seemingly endless array of them, but NBC had high hopes for Mr. Fallon. He has a much wider fan base than Mr. Gervais and has been using his “Tonight Show” perch as a promotional platform for the gig. | 0fake |
U.S. interior secretary raised political funds on government trip: report | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Department of the Interior came under further scrutiny on Thursday amid a media report that he had attended a Republican fundraiser in March during a government trip to the Caribbean. Politico, citing department travel records and other documents, said Ryan Zinke attended a Virgin Islands Republican Party fundraiser where donors paid up to $5,000 per couple for a photograph with the secretary. The report comes as multiple investigations into the former one-term congressman’s travel while serving in the Trump administration were announced this week following various media reports on the subject. On Monday, the Interior Department’s watchdog agency said it was probing Zinke’s travels after recent reports that he had used a private plane owned by an oil executive. On Tuesday, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said it was investigating whether he broke the law in June when he gave a speech to a professional hockey team owned by a political donor. Other Cabinet members have also been scrutinized over their use of taxpayer money for more expensive private travel rather than less expensive commercial trips. Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned on Friday following an uproar over his use of costly private charter planes. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt have also come under question over their private plane use. Questions have also been raised about the cost of security for U.S. Education Secretary Betsy Devos. Democratic House lawmakers earlier this week called on Zinke to disclose the full details of all of his privately chartered airplane trips. In a letter to the secretary, lawmakers pointed to one reported $12,000 private flight from Nevada to Montana, a route they said commercial airlines charge as little as $300 for. “Abuse of taxpayer money has so far been a problem for the Trump administration,” the group of 26 lawmakers wrote on Tuesday. Representatives for Zinke did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Politico report Thursday. Separately, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has said he is seeking information on any private, non-commercial or military flights taken by White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, in a statement released on Wednesday, also said he was seeking evidence that Price had repaid U.S. taxpayers for his private flights. Representatives for the White House said on Thursday that U.S. agencies were responsible for arranging their own transportation, and that Cabinet members “occasionally invite relevant White House staff for official travel” that is then “planned and secured by the inviting agency.” | 0fake |
Factbox: What is in the U.S. Republicans' final tax bill | (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. Congress reached a deal on final tax legislation on Wednesday, clearing the way for final votes next week on a package that, if approved, would be sent to President Donald Trump to sign into law. Formal language of the legislation has not been released. The following are known provisions on which House of Representatives and Senate tax writers have agreed, based on conversations with aides and lawmakers: CORPORATE TAX RATE: Falls to 21 percent from 35 percent. The House and Senate bills, as well as Trump, had earlier proposed 20 percent. Going to 21 percent gave tax writers more federal revenue needed to make the tax cut immediate. U.S. corporations have been seeking a large tax cut like this for many years. PASS-THROUGH BUSINESSES: Creates a 20 percent business income deduction for owners of pass-through businesses, such as sole proprietorships and partnerships. The House had proposed a 25 percent tax rate; the Senate, a 23 percent deduction. CORPORATE MINIMUM: Repeals the corporate alternative minimum tax, which was set up to ensure profitable companies pay at least some federal tax. TOP INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX RATE: Falls to 37 percent from 39.6 percent. The House had proposed maintaining the 39.6 percent top rate and condensing the current seven tax brackets to four. The Senate had proposed cutting the top rate to 38.5 percent and maintaining the seven brackets. PERMANENCE: The expectation is individual tax rates will snap back to current levels in less than 10 years. The individual tax rates in the House bill were permanent. The individual tax rates in the Senate bill would have expired after 10 years. STATE AND LOCAL TAX (SALT): Both the House and Senate had proposed scaling back a popular individual deduction for state and local tax payments by limiting it to property-tax payments and capping it at $10,000. The compromise bill is expected to keep that cap, but also allow for continued deduction of state and local income tax payments. MORTGAGE INTEREST: Caps the mortgage interest deduction at $750,000 in home loan value, down from the current $1 million. The House had proposed a $500,000 cap. The Senate bill left it at $1 million. ESTATE TAX: Roughly doubles the exemption from the federal estate tax on inherited assets to about $11 million, but leaves the tax in place, mirroring the Senate proposal. The House bill had raised the deduction, but also entirely phased out the tax. OBAMACARE MANDATE: Repeals a federal fine imposed on Americans under Obamacare for not obtaining health insurance coverage. The House bill did not repeal the Obamacare individual mandate. ANWR DRILLING: Allows oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The provision was sponsored by Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. | 0fake |
2:00PM Water Cooler 11/9/2016 | What’s that spell? What’s that spell? Schadenfreude!! Schadenfreude! What’s that spell? Schadenfreude!!! [cheers].
The Democrat establishment was warned about their weak candidate, and they were presented with a popular and well-funded alternative: Bernie Sanders. Instead, as the Podesta emails show in lavish detail, they used their control of the party machinery and their service providers in our famously free press to rig the election in their favor at every turn. When their candidate was nominated, the Democrat establishment tacked right, and proceeded to explain to Sanders voters that their voters were not needed because, as #BernieBros, they were racist and sexist. Sanders supporters have every right to say #WeWereRight and #WeToldYouSo.
If this were Japan, we’d be seeing Democrat Party leaders committing seppuku, or cutting off their little fingers or — supposing them not to be gangsters — ritually and tearfully bowing to the people they betrayed. This being America, and these being Democrats, they are feverishly deploying the Blame Cannons at racist and sexist #BernieBros, Johnson, Stein, and the dogs who wouldn’t eat the dog food. These assclowns will only leave office if they’re whipped with scorpions. So get to it, Sanders supporters. This is your time.
Stats Watch
MBA Mortgage Applications, week of November 4, 2016: “Purchase applications for home mortgages rose a seasonally adjusted 1 percent in the November 4 week as activity by home buyers stabilizes following a decline to the lowest level since January in the previous weeks” [ Econoday ].
Wholesale Trade, September 2016: “Inventories at the wholesale level rose 0.1 percent in September vs a revised 0.1 percent decline in August: [ Econoday ]. “In a special positive, wholesale inventories of autos fell 1.7 percent in a draw, based on last week’s very strong results for October vehicle sales, that will have to be rebuilt. The risk that inventories may be too high are a key concern for the economic outlook, specifically that high levels of unwanted inventories could slow fourth-quarter production and employment growth.”
Wages: “The Atlanta Fed’s Wage Growth Tracker came in at 3.6 percent in September, up from 3.3 percent in August and 3.4 percent in July, but the same as the 3.6 percent reading for June. By this measure, there are no obvious signs of an acceleration in wage growth for continuously employed workers during the last few months” [ Econintersect ]. “However, the headline wage growth tracker is a three month moving average of each month’s median wage growth. Interestingly, for September, the median wage growth (using data that are not averaged, sometimes called “unsmoothed”) was 4.2 percent, up from 3.6 percent in August, and the highest since late 2007.”
Real Estate: “Leading Index for Commercial Real Estate “moves higher” in October” [ Calculated Risk ]. ” According to Dodge, this index leads “construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year”. In general, this suggests further increases in CRE spending over the next year.”
Retail: “With the US holiday shopping season now in full swing, the latest monthly Global Port Tracker report produced by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates predicted major US retail ports would handle 4.4% more imports this month than a year earlier. And volumes are expected to show a 4.5% year-on-year gain in December” [ Lloyd’s Loading List ]. That’s the retailers story and they’re sticking to it.
Shipping: “The number of idle containerships has reached yet new highs, even with the current acceleration of vessels heading to the breakers. According to the latest survey conducted by Alphaliner, there were as many as 397 ships above 500 teu awaiting employment on October 31” [ Lloyd’s List ].
Shipping: “Who needs a warehouse when you have a printer?” [ DC Velocity ]. “Will demand for warehouse space shrink as manufacturers print the parts they need on demand instead of making them ahead of time and storing them in DCs? Will express parcel carriers see a drop in business as shippers e-mail digital designs instead of mailing physical parts? Or will 3-D printing be reserved mainly for filling niche demand for prototypes and replacement parts (the approach taken by a New Zealand airline that prints out replacement tray tables)?”
Shipping: “The American Trucking Associations, the largest group representing trucking companies in Washington, said Wednesday it has already started meeting with the Donald Trump transition team as the industry prepares for a possible new look at regulations due to hit operators next year” [ Wall Street Journal , “Trucking Group Starts Meeting With Donald Trump’s Transition Team”]. “Trucking companies are preparing to meet a Dec. 31, 2017 deadline to equip all trucks with electronic logging devices measuring their hours on the road. The rule has divided segments of the industry, with smaller truckers complaining about the cost and shipping customers arguing that it will drive some companies out of business and leave bigger operators free to raise prices.”
Shipping: “Airlines for America (A4A) has welcomed Donald Trump as US President-elect and said that it looks forward to collaborating with his Transition Team on ‘modernising the infrastructure of the skies to meet the needs of a growing US economy'” [ Air Cargo News ]. They want to reform the Air Traffic Control system…
Honey for the Bears: “The growth in U.S. imports of goods has been stubbornly low since the second quarter of 2015, with an average annual growth rate of 0.7 percent. Growth has been even weaker for non-oil imports, which have increased at an average annual rate of only 0.1 percent. This is in sharp contrast to the pattern in the five quarters preceding the second quarter of 2015, when real non-oil imports were growing at an annualized rate of 8 percent per quarter” [ Liberty Stree t]. “How has the recent slowdown in U.S. investment affected U.S. imports? The next chart shows that U.S. capital goods imports are very highly correlated with equipment investment—a category that excludes intangibles, residential investment, and changes in inventories. Equipment investment has been unusually weak, with its four-quarter percentage change falling into negative territory, which is unusual outside a recession period. These data suggest that the slowdown in import growth likely stems from whatever is behind the weakness in equipment, rather than from trade-specific factors such as trade policies or higher trade costs.” Well, we do have a capitalist economy…
Political Risk: “Trump’s victory in the US presidential race adds an exclamation mark to the concerns over anti-globalisation and protectionism expressed by the shipping industry in Copenhagen at the end of October, Norden chief executive Jan Rindbo told Lloyd’s List on Wednesday” [ Lloyd’s List ]. Globalization has been weakening for some time. It’s not just Trump.
Political Risk: “It really does now look like President Donald J. Trump, and markets are plunging. When might we expect them to recover? If the question is when markets will recover, a first-pass answer is never” [Paul Krugman, New York Times ]. Sure, “first pass” is faux Nobel-worthy weasel wording. But come on.
Political Risk: “Dow Makes Miraculous 1,000 Point Recovery From Trump-Fueled Overnight Lows” [ ETF.com ]. “The most short-lived major market crash of all time ended as quickly as currency manipulator” [ Politico ]. “Even if congressional Republicans demonstrated the will and actually managed to approve the TPP in the lame-duck session that begins Monday, the chances of which appear next to nil with Trump headed to the White House, the president-elect would not implement the 12-nation pact, University of California-Irvine Professor Peter Navarro, a Trump adviser, told Politico in August. That makes the Trump presidency the worst-case scenario for the Obama administration and other trade proponents who have been clinging to the hope that the Asia-Pacific pact could pass before the end of this year.” Sad!
“‘I think the TPP is dead, and there will be blood all over the floor if somebody tries to move that through the Congress any time soon,’ Sessions said. ‘Both candidates opposed it, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump'” [ Observer ].
2016
The Rending of Garments and Gnashing of Teeth
“An American Tragedy” [David Remnik, The New Yorker (2:40AM). “That the electorate has, in its plurality, decided to live in Trump’s world of vanity, hate, arrogance, untruth, and recklessness, his disdain for democratic norms, is a fact that will lead, inevitably, to all manner of national decline and suffering.” Notice the flaccidity of the language: “democratic norms”; “all manner of”; “a fact… that will lead to.” Remnik really needs an editor. Sad.
“Homeless in America” [Thomas Friedman, New York Times ]. “How do I explain Trump’s victory? Way too soon to say for sure, but my gut tells me that it has much less to do with trade or income gaps and much more to do with culture and many Americans’ feeling of “homelessness.'” And then Friedman spirals off into abstractions about the “feelings” people have when they lose their homes, while somehow omitting to mention the fact that millions of Americans literally lost their homes in a foreclosure crisis caused by scamming banksters Obama never brought to justice, and who, if they were foolish enough to enter Obama’s “foam the runway” HAMP program, were further screwed.
“Americans are not and have never been united by blood or creed, but by allegiance to a democratic system of government that shares power, cherishes the rule of law and respects the dignity of individuals. We hope our newly elected president will show respect for that system. Americans must stand ready to support him if he does, and to support the system whether he does or does not” [Editorial Board, WaPo ]. Would that any of those things were true. Perhaps for the individuals on WaPo’s editorial board, they are.
“Political scientists have long recognized that most ordinary citizens have only a tenuous grasp of ‘the presuppositions and complex obligations of democracy, the rights it grants and the self-restraints it imposes.’ Thus, political elites ‘serve as the major repositories of the public conscience,’ if anyone does” [Larry Bartels, New York Times ]. I’ve always wondered why the Democrats never really work to extent the franchise. Here at least we have the ideological justification.
“Today the world has seen the end of two centuries of Anglo-Saxon dominance – a hundred years of Britain, from the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 to the Battle of the Somme, and a hundred years of the United States, ending today, with the election as president of the US of a fascist ‘television personality’ married to a nude model” [ Splash 247 ]. “‘Decadence’ is the term that we need, here – decadence on a scale not seen in the world since the fall of the Roman Empire – which fell in much the same way, for much the same reasons.”
We have now seen a hat trick of ‘democratic’ events in which men who come from the elite, and who have betrayed their class – Roderigo Duterte, in the Philippines, on May 9, was the straw in the wind, he was followed by Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage in the UK, on June 23, and today by Donald Trump in the US, and they have, with the use of the internet social media, most especially Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook, successfully suckered the soggy mass of lazy, ill-educated, ill-read and ill-informed proles, and a good supply of what V.I. Lenin called “useful idiots”, in three nations, into putting them into power, by telling lies and by promising the proles what they want.
What the proles want is ‘good jobs’ but with the ability to buy the stuff they buy now at cheap prices, because it is made by under paid, hardworking, men and women in other countries who have ‘stolen their jobs’, and they want ‘no foreigners’. They can’t have this, of course, but no matter, they don’t read, they just look at ‘memes’, and the damage is done.
Leave it to the Brits to work in the class angle, quote Lenin, and toss in an Orwell reference!
“Trump voters will not like what happens next” [Garrison Keillor, WaPo ]. “America is still the land where the waitress’ kids can grow up to become physicists and novelists and pediatricians, but it helps a lot if the waitress and her husband encourage good habits and the ambition to use your God-given talents and the kids aren’t plugged into electronics day and night.” Help me.
“Americans have done a very dangerous thing this week. Because of what they have done we all face dark, uncertain and fearful times” [ Guardian ].
“‘Dear God, America what have you done?’: How the world and its media reacted as Donald Trump became US President-elect” [ Telegraph ]. A nice round-up of front page images.
Policy
“Trump won largely because people couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Clinton, and not so much because anyone like him or his presumed agenda. And along the way he destroyed the Republican party, which may or may not sit so well with Republicans in Congress” [ Mosler Economics] . “So it’s not like he has a mandate to do anything or that he can rely on Republican support for anything.” I’m not so sure; I see the Republican primary and the general taken together a repudiation of both party establishments and the political class in its totality. That said, this is important:
Regarding his proposed tax cuts, under current law bills can’t be introduced in Congress unless they are ‘paid for’, so, for example, to introduce a tax cut it has to be paid for by spending cuts. Yes, Congress could change the law or override it but that would require Senate approval, and that takes a 60% majority that Republicans don’t have.
So my point is that at best it’s going to take a very long time to get anything done. And the way all the charts are decelerating it could all get pretty ugly waiting for the kind of fiscal adjustment needed to reverse course.
“The new Senate’s Republican majority will remain short of the 60 votes needed for a full repeal. But Congress demonstrated in the past year that it could use the upper chamber’s reconciliation process — requiring just 50 votes — to send a bill undoing major ACA elements to the White House. Last winter, President Obama vetoed that legislation” [ WaPo ]. Meaning, of course, that the Democrats could have done exactly the same thing in 2009, but passed HR676 or SB703. That, throwing a bankster or two in jail, and a decent stimulus package instead of the one Larry Summers deked Obama into approving, and the Democrats might control all three branches of government today. And so it goes.
The Voters
“As of 11:55 a.m. ET, Clinton had amassed 59,458,295 votes nationally, to Trump’s 59,265,380 — a margin of 192,915 that puts Clinton on track to become the fifth U.S. presidential candidate to win the popular vote but lose the election” [ NPR ]. But the first woman!
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/how-trump-won/507053/
Butterfly
In the great state of Maine, Trump won Maine Second, and Clinton won Maine First [ Politico ]. Maine voters also passed the following ballot measures: Legalize Marijuana | 1real |
The Hillary Era is Coming: Worry! | BY ANDREW LEVINE I trust that I am not the only one to have noticed that in rural areas and economically distressed neighborhoods in towns and cities, lawn signs for Donald Trump are everywhere, while Hillary signs are rarer than Teslas and Maseratis. I think I understand the Trump signs: they are cries of defiance. Hillary’s supporters are harder to figure out. I suspect that most of them would just as soon not advertise their intentions November 8. Even if they think that there is no other way to stop Trump, they understand that, by voting for Hillary, they are embarrassing themselves. Lawn signs apart, the evidence that Trump is kaput is, by now, overwhelming. He seems finally to have done his campaign in – to such an extent that even diehard anti-Trump fear mongers concede the inevitability of the Clintons’ return to the White House. Trump’s campaign had been on life support for weeks when the pussy grabbing tape surfaced, followed by a seemingly endless stream of women – a dozen or so already — accusing the Donald of groping them and worse. Then, in the third debate, Trump announced that he would “wait and see” before accepting the legitimacy of a Clinton victory. This seems to have been the final straw for all but the most bona fide “deplorables.” And so, the writing is on the wall: Hillary will win just as surely as the sun will rise tomorrow – well, not quite, but almost. There is no reason to rejoice in her victory, only in Trump’s defeat. Hillary’s supporters are in denial, and even people who know better than to support her for her own sake remain determined to waste their votes by adding to her totals. Apparently, they think that this is a way to send the message that Trumpian “fascism” shall not pass. How much better it would be if they would use their votes to build alternatives to the neoliberal perpetual war regime that Hillary and Bill and their co-thinkers have helped fashion! The best chance for that, at this point, is Jill Stein’s campaign on the Green Party ticket. Stein cannot win, of course; a vote for her is only a protest vote. But there is nothing wrong with that. Hillary needs to know that she has no mandate to end the world “as we know it,” and this is one of many ways to convey that message. And even that isn’t as obvious as it seems . Hillary probably the lesser evil all things considered. But Trump is very likely the less dangerous of the two. The man is an adolescent in a septuagenarian’s body, with a tendency to act out. But at least he is not a Russophobe or a neocon or a “humanitarian” intervener intent on regime change in countries that resist American domination. This would include not only the usual victims, countries incapable of harming the United States militarily, but Russia and China as well. It is relevant too that the supposed lesser evil is a committed neoliberal and a Wall Street toady, and that Trump’s “crooked Hillary” taunts hit the target more often than not. These considerations, and others like them, should cause concern to those who are fine with lesser evil voting in general, but who think that there are thresholds beneath which lesser evil considerations should not apply. There is no need to agonize over these issues, however; not in this case. When Trump became the Republican nominee, lesser evil arguments became moot. This would still be the case even if more voters were not quite so willfully blind to the dangers inherent in Clinton’s determination to maintain American world domination by any means necessary, and to her fondness for military “solutions.” Lesser evil considerations are irrelevant because Trump is and always has been bound to lose to any Democrat, even to her. I have been pressing this point and its corollary — that anti-Trump hysteria is a distraction – from Day One. As recently as a month ago, hardly anyone agreed with me. If only I had a dollar for every time I have been taken to task for not seeing the parallels between the Trump phenomenon and the rise of Nazism in the final years of the Weimar Republic! I would be a rich man today. But because it is now recognized that Trump’s chances of becoming President are, for all practical purposes, nil, no one is pressing that line these days. I used to be out on a limb; I no longer am. It would be only natural to take pleasure in this turn of events, and I would — but for the fact that a Trump defeat implies a Clinton victory. That prospect is, at best, only slightly less nightmarish. Worse, it doesn’t seem to matter that all but the most flagrant worrywarts now finally concede that there will never be a President Trump. Liberals and centrists and even a few foolish leftists are still going all out for Hillary. From the dead center to the soft left, the consensus view is still that now is a time to boost, not knock, Hillary’s campaign — especially in the dozen or so states where the Electoral College outcomes could not have been determined years ago with absolute certainty. It is remarkable that so many people cannot let anti-Trump hysteria go; that they are so focused on Trump’s misogyny, temperamental instability, and narcissistic blather that they don’t see that the only thing we need fear, where Trump is concerned, is, so to speak, the fear itself. However, in Hillary’s case, there really is something to fear: that she is about to become the Commander-in-Chief of the most lethal military force in the history of the world. On that point, her supporters are in denial, and even people who know better than to support her for her own sake remain determined to waste their votes by adding to her totals. Apparently, they think that this is a way to send the message that Trumpian “fascism” shall not pass. How much better it would be if they would use their votes to build alternatives to the neoliberal perpetual war regime that Hillary and Bill and their co-thinkers have helped fashion! The best chance for that, at this point, is Jill Stein’s campaign on the Green Party ticket. Stein cannot win, of course; a vote for her is only a protest vote. But there is nothing wrong with that. Hillary needs to know that she has no mandate to end the world “as we know it,” and this is one of many ways to convey that message. Pundits who claim otherwise are dead wrong. Those who pile on for Hillary are wasting their votes; protest votes aimed at Hillary are not wasted at all. I would imagine that at least some Trump voters are thinking along similar lines. But the racism, nativism and Islamophobia of their candidate tarnishes the messages their votes will convey. They therefore cannot register with any real clarity. The message protest votes for Stein convey is, on the other hand, as clear and distinct as can be. And if she garners at least five percent of the total votes cast, the Greens will have access to federal funding in future elections, and will have a much easier time gaining ballot access in all fifty states. This would not make for much of a “political revolution,” even in Bernie Sanders’ highly attenuated sense of the term, but it would make future elections less mind-numbing and degrading, and it could ultimately lead to more far-reaching transformations of the political scene. Now that Trump has all but killed off the GOP, the duopoly party system is in jeopardy, and all kinds of political realignments have, at last, become feasible. *** I wasn’t just being contrarian when I went out on a limb about Trump’s chances; and my confidence was in no way based on inferences from polling data or statistical extrapolations. Let the blogosphere’s “political junkies” and the corporate media’s talking heads knock themselves out with that. What they do is useful only for entertaining people who care about the horse race aspect of presidential elections. It is distressing how many Americans indulge in that spectator sport. Most of them are essentially apolitical. I was confident that I was right about Trump’s chances because I knew that what people tell pollsters when an election seems far off is basically irrelevant for predicting the election’s outcome. Information about how they and people like them voted in the past is more relevant, but not by much. This is especially true when, as in this case, disdain for one or the other candidate, or for both, is a dispositive factor in many voters’ minds. I was also fairly sure that, rightly or wrongly, more people fear and loathe Trump than fear and loathe Hillary; and that, if they didn’t at the outset, they would before long – because Trump was all but certain to undermine himself, and because there is so much dirt out there on the Donald’s sleazy connections and moral turpitude that even God-fearing Republicans, capable of believing almost any nonsense, were bound eventually to be repulsed. I suspected too that Trump never really wanted to be President; that he only got into the race to promote his brand, and because he is an egotist and publicity-hound. Trump hates to lose, however — especially to the likes of Hillary — and so, at some point, he must have decided to give the campaign his all, even if it meant bringing the Trump brand down with him. Should it come to that, I will shed crocodile tears for his brood, Ivanka especially. A worthwhile thing to do in the months ahead would be to work to make that happen; to do everything possible to assure that the damage done to all things Trump will be irreversible. What a delightful irony that would be! There are plenty of Hillary-haters in the Donald’s base who hate Hillary because they consider her the embodiment of coercive goody-goodyism, or because they think she is disdainful of people like them (people in the “deplorables” demographic), or because they think that she is too leftwing. The idea that she is too leftwing is nonsense, of course; she is not nearly leftwing enough. That anyone would think otherwise is a testament to the media’s ability to shape public perceptions and to the degree of political ignorance rampant in some quarters of the American electorate. But “vast rightwing conspiracy” Hillary-haters are spot on right about the rest of it — and two out of three isn’t bad. Even so, there are better reasons than theirs to dread the prospect of a Clinton presidency. They all have to do with the service Hillary has done, and will go on doing, for the miscreants who control the commanding heights of America’s and the world’s capitalist order, and with her untrammeled, ideologically-driven bellicosity. Hillary knows how to game the system; and she and Bill know how to benefit from doing so. But, for all her vaunted “experience,” she is clueless about the world. And although she and her fans boast of her “pragmatism,” that woman is seriously inept. Most of what she undertakes to do is ill conceived, and nearly all of it turns out badly. In short, the lesser evil, if that is what she is, is a very great evil indeed. It won’t take long, once she moves back into the White House and starts putting her stamp on the empire’s depredations, for the scales to fall from the eyes of all but her most gullible supporters. I am even more sure of this than I was of Trump’s defeat, but I will take even less joy in being proved right again. What lies ahead, with Hillary in control, is too horrible to contemplate. PLEASE COMMENT AND DEBATE DIRECTLY ON OUR FACEBOOK GROUP. JUST CLICK HERE . ABOUT THE AUTHOR ANDREW LEVINE is a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, the author most recently of THE AMERICAN IDEOLOGY (Routledge) and POLITICAL KEY WORDS (Blackwell) as well as of many other books and articles in political philosophy. His most recent book is In Bad Faith: What’s Wrong With the Opium of the People . He was a Professor (philosophy) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Research Professor (philosophy) at the University of Maryland-College Park. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press). Note to Commenters Due to severe hacking attacks in the recent past that brought our site down for up to 11 days with considerable loss of circulation, we exercise extreme caution in the comments we publish, as the comment box has been one of the main arteries to inject malicious code. Because of that comments may not appear immediately, but rest assured that if you are a legitimate commenter your opinion will be published within 24 hours. If your comment fails to appear, and you wish to reach us directly, send us a mail at: editor@greanvillepost.com
We apologize for this inconvenience. ALL CAPTIONS AND PULL-QUOTES BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS. | 1real |
Conservative Group Club for Growth Opposes Paul Ryan’s Obamacare-Lite - Breitbart | Club for Growth President David McIntosh released a statement expressing the influential conservative group’s strong opposition to House Speaker Paul Ryan’s as Republicans are now calling the GOP leadership healthcare plan that does not follow through on GOP campaign promises to repeal and replace Obamacare. [McIntosh said in his statement: The problems with this bill are not just what’s in it, but also what’s missing: namely, the critical solution of selling health insurance across state lines. Such an injection of competition would lead to hundreds of billions of dollars in savings, nullifying any argument by Congressional Republicans that this provision cannot be included in the current bill. If this substitute for health care remains unchanged, the Club for Growth will key vote against it. Republicans should be offering a full and immediate repeal of Obamacare’s taxes, regulations, and mandates, an end to the Medicaid expansion, and inclusion of reforms, like interstate competition. The Club for Growth is an influential conservative organization that has helped many Republicans get elected in recent years, and with the group’s strong opposition to the package it may peel off enough House Republicans to hurt the bill’s chances in that chamber. Many House Republicans, including Reps. Jim Jordan ( ) and Mark Meadows ( ) — the former and current chairs of the House Freedom Caucus — are publicly opposed to Paul Ryan’s bill already. There are also questions as to whether the bill can pass the U. S. Senate as well, with at least two U. S. Senators publicly opposed to the legislation and one promising he would oppose it — more than enough to kill a bill without bipartisan support, as this is unlikely to receive, in the Senate. | 0fake |
BREAKING: TRUMP ANNOUNCES Nominee For Secretary Of State…Liberal Heads Explode! | Leading Republicans have already expressed anxieties about Tillerson, as they contend with intelligence assessments saying that Russia meddled in the U.S. presidential election to help turn the tables Trump s way. FOX NewsThe RINOs will certainly join in with their concerns just like Marco Rubio did in a tweet: Being a friend of Vladimir is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState. Sen. Marco RubioPresident-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he intends to nominate ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State.Tillerson impressed Trump during the two meetings he had with him. Trump had high praise for the energy titan, calling him a world class player . He s in charge of an oil company that s pretty much double the size of his next nearest competitor, Trump told host Chris Wallace. It s been a company that s been unbelievably managed, and to me a great advantage is he knows many of the players and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia, he does massive deals for the company. Not for himself, for the company. Trump pointed to Tillerson s relations with Moscow and other political hot spots as a selling point. As ExxonMobil s chief, he maintained close ties with Russia and was awarded by Russian President Vladimir Putin with the Order of Friendship in 2013, a high honor for a foreign citizen.Read more: FOX | 1real |
Trump says Puerto Rico obliterated by Hurricane Maria | NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Hurricane Maria totally obliterated the U.S. island territory of Puerto Rico with its electrical grid destroyed. Trump told reporters during a meeting with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko that he would visit Puerto Rico at some point. He did not specify a time. He described Puerto Rico as in very, very, very perilous shape and said U.S. emergency authorities were starting to work on helping in the recovery. | 0fake |
IS GOP ESTABLISHMENT Responsible For Pro-Amnesty Spanish Version Of Nikki Haley’s GOP Response To Obama’s SOTU? [Video] | This is a very big development. We all knew the GOP establishment has been pandering to pro-amnesty corporations and the Chamber of Commerce, but this is a new low, even for the GOP establishment There is a bigger controversy about to break wide-open that s potentially far more significant than Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell approving Nikki Haley s non-subtle attack on GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. That bigger controversy is the Spanish version of the GOP State of the Union rebuttal containing an amnesty pledge .As this is written, Governor Nikki Haley is trying to get out ahead of the building expose . Haley just gave a DC press conference claiming she does not support amnesty ; however, against her earlier admission of Speaker Ryan and Leader McConnell approving her script the Spanish version must have held similar approvals.Governor Haley gave the English version, Miami Representative and party-insider Mario Diaz-Barlat delivered it in Spanish.ENGLISH:SPANISH:Here s a (paragraph by paragraph) comparison as translated by the Miami Herald (emphasis mine): English (Via Haley): No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country.Spanish (Via Diaz-Barlat): No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love the United States should ever feel unwelcome in this country. It s not who we are. English: At the same time, that does not mean we just flat out open our borders. We can t do that. We cannot continue to allow immigrants to come here illegally. And in this age of terrorism, we must not let in refugees whose intentions cannot be determined.Spanish: At the same time, it s obvious that our immigration system needs to be reformed. The current system puts our national security at risk and is an obstacle for our economy. English: We must fix our broken immigration system. That means stopping illegal immigration. And it means welcoming properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion. Just like we have for centuries.Spanish: It s essential that we find a legislative solution to protect our nation, defend our borders, offer a permanent and human solution to those who live in the shadows, respect the rule of law, modernize the visa system and push the economy forward. English: I have no doubt that if we act with proper focus, we can protect our borders, our sovereignty and our citizens, all while remaining true to America s noblest legacies.Spanish: I have no doubt that if we work together, we can achieve this and continue to be faithful to the noblest legacies of the United States.It is important to remember the backdrop to this current dual narrative (one the GOPe leadership want to say publicly and one they wish to keep hidden).Back in June 2014 Speaker John Boehner was only two days away from calling up the vote on the Senate gang-of-eight amnesty bill, when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was defeated in the Virginia Primary.Mario Diaz Balart along with Paul Ryan and Luis V. Gutierrez were in secret negotiations throughout the spring/summer of 2014 planning the pathway for comprehensive immigration reform. John Boehner asked Kevin McCarthy to whip the house and identify if they had votes for passage:[ ] On Tuesday June 10th Speaker Boehner, Eric Cantor (Majority Leader) and Kevin McCarthy (Majority Whip) had lunch together discussing timing the vote Thursday night or Friday Morning.However, later that same night the results from the 2014 Virginia primary showed an unknown conservative outsider, Dave Brat, had defeated (primaried) Eric Cantor. At 7:00pm Tuesday night the first word went out that Cantor had lost.~ Full Back StorySo this hidden narrative within the 2016 Republican State of the Union Rebuttal should come as no surprise. Comprehensive Immigration Reform is the GOPe agenda they continue to hide from the electorate.Via: Conservative Treehouse | 1real |
WHOA! Republican Governor Just Compared Donald Trump To Mass Murderer Dylann Roof (VIDEO) | When you think of anti-Trump people, South Carolina s governor, Nikki Haley, is probably not the first person to come to mind. Haley is anti-government, anti-choice, anti-civil rights and anti-regulation. In other words, she is the perfect Republican, but she s no fan of Donald Trump.In the past, Haley has said that Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk. Sure, that s not exactly an endorsement, but then, she certainly seemed to leave other options open.On Thursday, though, Haley minced no words whatsoever. She compared Trump to Dylann Roof, who is accused of killing nine black churchgoers in what was clearly a racist attack. These comments are possibly worse than any of his opponents have dared levy against him:South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Thursday she wishes Donald Trump communicated differently because bad things result from divisive rhetoric, as evidenced by last June s massacre in Charleston.The Republican governor said divisive speech motivated Dylann Roof to gun down nine black parishioners at historic Emanuel AME Church. Police have said the white 22-year-old charged with their killings wanted to start a race war.The Confederate flag that Roof was seen brandishing in photos had to be removed from the Statehouse grounds, she said, and she supports sending the rebel flag in The Citadel s chapel to a museum too. But she opposes renaming buildings or monuments associated with the state s racist past.Haley, who endorsed then-candidate Marco Rubio ahead of South Carolina s primary, said she has vocally criticized Trump because I know what that rhetoric can do. I saw it happen. Source: Crooks and LiarsHere is the video:Haley is right. Since Trump began running for president, hate crimes against Muslims have escalated. He inspired at least one hate crime against a Latino man. Trump is certainly winning with the white supremacist voting bloc.None of this is exactly new and in fact, Trump may be more of a symptom than a cause. According to the Southern Policy Law Center, extremist groups have been growing, and that started before Trump announced his run for the presidency.The timing doesn t excuse Trump from blame, though. Like any good marketing person (and we have to admit that Trump is that, if nothing else), Trump saw the insidious trend and ran with it. It didn t hurt his cause that he was already very comfortable with racist, xenophobic rhetoric. It didn t hurt his cause that he s probably sincere in his hatred, but as the SPLC notes, it s the job of our leaders to act like adults. After seeing the bloodshed that defined 2015, our politicians should have worked to defuse this anger and bring us together as a nation, Mark Potok, editor of the report, wrote. Unfortunately, the carnage did little to dissuade some political figures from spouting incendiary rhetoric about minorities. In fact, they frequently exploited the anger and polarization across the country for political gain. Source: PS MagThat is the most dangerous kind of cynicism. It s clear that Trump doesn t care if a civil war breaks out. Hell, he d be cheering people on. Trump has one goal and only one goal, and that is to become Dictator in Chief. It doesn t matter who is killed along the way.Featured image via video screen capture. | 1real |
This Fantastic Obama Speech Shows Us How A REAL President Would Be Acting Right Now (VIDEO) | We just took a massive step closer to nuclear war with North Korea, and while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson keeps trying to reassure our allies that we re trying to bring North Korea to the negotiating table rather than just annihilate the entire planet, Trump is still posturing like a male peacock fanning his tail feathers. We don t need a peacock. We need a diplomat. Here s why:BREAKING: North Korea says it will complete plan to attack waters near Guam by mid-August then wait for commander in chief s order. The Associated Press (@AP) August 9, 2017So the Georgia Democratic Party decided to remind us of exactly what a real president would be doing right now. President Obama, who believed in the diplomacy that Trump s immature machismo says is simply weakness (because why try diplomacy when you can fan your peacock feathers and strut?), always spoke eloquently on U.S. foreign policy and on war, and emphasized the necessity of working with the rest of the world to neutralize threats: Our greatest generation fought and bled and died to build an international order of laws and institutions that could preserve the peace and extend prosperity and promote cooperation among nations. And for all of its imperfections, we depend on that international order to protect our own freedom.In other words, we are a nation that, at our best, has been defined by hope, and not fear. Watch below:In times like these we re reminded that character, integrity, sound judgement & a commitment to American values matter. #ThanksObama#gapol pic.twitter.com/fF26ew2haq Georgia Democrat (@GeorgiaDemocrat) August 9, 2017Trump is trying to define us by fear because to him, fear is the same thing as respect. He s dangerous to us because of that. Obama was what a real president looked like when discussing war.Read more:Featured image via video screen capture | 1real |
Guatemala to move embassy to Jerusalem, backing Trump | GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said on Sunday he had given instructions to move the Central American country s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a few days after his government backed the United States in a row over the city s status. In a short post on his official Facebook account, Morales said he decided to move the embassy from Tel Aviv after talking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. This month U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing decades of U.S. policy and upsetting the Arab world and Western allies. The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest obstacles to forging a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as their capital. The international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the entire city, home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions. On Thursday, 128 countries defied Trump by backing a non-binding U.N. General Assembly resolution calling for the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem. Guatemala and neighboring Honduras were two of only a handful of countries to join the United States and Israel in voting against the resolution on Jerusalem. The United States is an important source of assistance to Guatemala and Honduras, and Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that supported the U.N. resolution. Morales, a former television comedian with an important base of conservative Christian support, earlier this year became embroiled in a bitter spat with the United Nations when a U.N.-backed anti-corruption body in Guatemala tried to impeach him. Although Morales avoided impeachment, he failed in an attempt to expel the head of the body, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, after criticism from the United Nations, the United States and the European Union. | 0fake |
Texas Conservatives Scream Louder For Secession After Britain Exits EU (TWEETS) | Texas conservatives are cheering after Britain voted to leave the European Union because they believe it means they can secede from the United States.Upon learning of the results, conservatives took to social media to urge Texas to declare independence.Texas should leave the failed American Union & rejoin the world as an independent, self-governing nation. #Texit https://t.co/0esvrO46Ei Trey Mays (@TreyMays) June 24, 2016 Now, Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma secede and form a new country called the United States of Awesome! #Texit. Collin O Scopy (@Crapplefratz) June 24, 2016In the event that @HillaryClinton becomes POTUS .. @GovAbbott can we begin plans for #Texit ? Thanks for your SUPERB leadership! #tcot #2A Stan Weber (@spweber54) June 24, 2016 Please please please now can we have a vote for Texas to leave the US? #Texit (((Jeff Tiedrich))) (@jefftiedrich) June 24, 2016Join over 260,000 fellow Texans who have pledge to vote FOR Texas Independence!https://t.co/u0U3aSHvOX#Texit pic.twitter.com/mCl5841lf8 TNM (@TexasNatMov) June 15, 2016 Forget #Brexit I want to know when we re going to start a #Texit pic.twitter.com/rAbkR0gWxy Modern Rebel (@MAmericanRebel) June 11, 2016No one is happier about the the British exit from the EU than Texas Nationalist Movement president Daniel Miller.In an interview with The Guardian, Miller claimed that Britain leaving the EU is the exact same as Texas wanting to leave the United States. You could take Britain out and replace it with Texas . You could take EU out and replace it with US . You could take Brussels out and replace it with Washington DC . You could give you guys a nice Texas drawl and no one would know any different. So much of it is exactly the same. The vast majority of the laws, rules and regulations that affect the people of Texas are created by the political class or un-elected bureaucrats in Washington, he continued.It s not likely that Texas will be able to secede, however. Shortly after the Civil War, the Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. White:When, therefore, Texas became one of the United States, she entered into an indissoluble relation. All the obligations of perpetual union, and all the guaranties of republican government in the Union, attached at once to the State. The act which consummated her admission into the Union was something more than a compact; it was the incorporation of a new member into the political body. And it was final. The union between Texas and the other States was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original States. There was no place for reconsideration or revocation, except through revolution or through consent of the States.In short, the only way Texas can secede is if a majority of the states agree to let Texas do so.And perhaps it s time to let them.The Republican Party would suffer a serious blow if Texas exited the Union. Texas has 38 electoral votes and sends 36 representatives to Congress, 25 of whom are Republicans. The two Senators Texas sends to Congress are also Republicans. So not only would Democrats win the presidency handily, they could take back the House and the Senate.Furthermore, the United States government could stop sending federal dollars to Texas.You can also bet that conservatives would flock to Texas in search of a conservative paradise.And when the new country of Texas becomes a failed state, we can just build a wall around it and let them deal with their own mess instead of coming to their rescue again as America did in 1845 when Texas begged for entrance into the United States because it was in severe debt.It s time to cut the cord, America. Texas has been dragging this country down for too long. We survived as a nation for nearly 100 years without Texas. We didn t need Texas then. We definitely do not need Texas now. The Republican Party needs Texas, but we don t. So let s kill two birds with one stone and let Texas go. Because once Texas goes, so goes the Republican Party. Texas entered this country in what they call a marriage of convenience. This would just be a divorce of convenience, except that America would finally progress into the future we deserve while Texas continues to go backwards.Featured image via Wikimedia | 1real |
Ohio State University Student Says Terrorist Attack Was “Misunderstanding” Caused By Racism [VIDEO] | 1real | |
CHELSEA AND HILLARY CLINTON BASHED By Staffers: “The apple doesn’t fall far.” | Chelsea s emails are under Diane Reynolds | 1real |
Have The Sun really darkened the image of Brexit legal challenge winner Gina Miller? | Next Swipe left/right Have The Sun really darkened the image of Brexit legal challenge winner Gina Miller?
@Crookedfootball over on Twitter says, “Look how the Sun has darkened Gina Miller’s skin compared to the Times”
The Sun:
The Times:
Obviously this could be just web bollocks but @Ajjolley has checked the paper versions next to each other:
“Printed in same plant”, he says, “Little doubt the Sun darkened photo of Gina Miller”
However @CaeruleanSea says, “as much as I loathe the Sun, the Times have upped the exposure on their pic. Google pics from that speech.”
And yep – he has a point: look at the BBC coverage Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37861888
In conclusion: the media has sent us all entirely mad that we’re now checking how dark people are in Photoshop. | 1real |
Feds Seize $7.2 Million in Drugs at Border in Day | Officers with U. S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized drugs worth more than $7, 200, 000 on one day at the Port of Nogales in Nogales, Arizona. Nogales shares a border with Sonora, Mexico, and is Arizona’s largest border city. [On Saturday afternoon, a drug detection officer alerted on a tractor trailer carrying bell peppers at the Mariposa Commercial Facility. CBP officers took the produce off of the tractor and discovered that the Mexican driver had 13, 700 pounds of marijuana hidden in the produce. The drugs have an estimated street value of $6. 85 million. Officers at the Dennis DeConcini Crossing also busted a Mexican man. His vehicle was referred to be inspected when he reached the border crossing. A CBP canine alerted on the Ford SUV, and officers found more than 34 pounds of cocaine hidden in the back seats. Officials estimate the value of the drug at almost $386, 000. Officers seized the vehicles used to transport the contraband along with the drugs. Officers arrested the suspected drug smugglers turned them over to special agents from U. S. Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Nogales provides ports of entry for vehicular, pedestrian, and airport traffic. In April, Breitbart Texas reported that border officials arrested a Mexican woman after she was found to be carrying the highly dangerous drug, fentanyl, in a baby stroller that was also carrying two small children. CBP officers at the Nogales Port of Entry observed the woman crossing the pedestrian lanes. They directed her to a secondary inspection station where a officer alerted to the possible presence of drugs in the stroller. “Fentanyl can kill you,” DEA Deputy Administrator Jack Riley advised in a statement sent to law enforcement officers in 2015. “Fentanyl is being sold as heroin in virtually every corner of our country. It’s produced clandestinely in Mexico, and (also) comes directly from China. It is 40 to 50 times stronger than heroin. A very small amount ingested, or absorbed through your skin, can kill you,” he said. Breitbart Texas reported in late January that a previously deported Italian mobster was caught trying to sneak into the country through Nogales. Salvatore Marciante had been previously deported after serving time in federal prison for drug trafficking and violent assaults. The Italian drug Mafia mobster had been a permanent legal resident living in New York until he was convicted in 1995 and lost his legal status. After he had served time, officials deported him back to Italy. Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook. | 0fake |
Paul Ryan: Republicans ‘Will Not Tolerate’ More Democratic Disruption In The House | The Democrats in the House of Representatives last week showed a level of spine that the slimy weasel we call the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, will never know. They staged a sit-in, led by civil rights icon John Lewis, on the floor of the House of Representatives. Well, Ryan seems to have gotten his cowardly boxer briefs in a twist over the fact that his pals on the other side of the aisle made a fool of him and caused him to lose control of the House chamber, and has issued a stern warning to his Democratic colleagues.Speaking with Upfront with Mike Gousha on WISN, Ryan said the following of what he would do if the Democrats dared to disrupt his ordered, delusional life as Speaker of the House by, oh, you know, standing up for what s right: We are not going to handle it the same way. We will not take this. We will not tolerate this. Ryan could have, as Speaker, had the Democrats who staged the sit-in arrested, but he chose not to do so. Because, well, he s a coward with no spine. We already knew this, though. Instead of admitting this, however, he blamed the Democrats, saying: They said they were hoping to get arrested and hauled off the floor. They told a number of my staff that and so I did get a brief heads up about it, I highly doubt they were dumb enough to tell your staff, who they knew in turn would be obligated to tell you, sir, what they were planning to do to make sure the sit-in was effective. You re just embarrassed that you lost control of the House chamber, and with good reason. You re always talking about doing the people s work in the people s house, yet you defy the gun control measures that 90+% of the American people want. You are doing the NRA s bidding, and we all know it. I hope House Democrats tell you to shove your crazy ideas up your ass where they belong, should you ever have the gall to actually confront any of them.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 1real |
The thing is I’ve told them I’m prime minister, admits Farage | The thing is I’ve told them I’m prime minister, admits Farage 15-11-16 NIGEL Farage has admitted that he may accidentally have told Donald Trump he is Britain’s prime minister. The former UKIP leader confessed that he failed to correct an early misunderstanding which has now snowballed into a new transatlantic alliance. He said: “I went over, and Mr Trump congratulated me on running the UK after Brexit, and we were about to go on stage so I joked ‘Certainly a big responsibility, ha ha!’ “After a few fizzy Yank beers I found myself claiming that UKIP had been made the ruling party following an intervention by my friend, the Queen, and also that my wife was a former Miss Germany and Playboy model. “You’ve not met him, it’s like he makes you say these things. “Anyway he really seems to like me and it’s probably just easier for everyone if I just take over.” Farage added: “The ironic thing is, neither of us actually ever intended to lead a country because it’s a massive pain in the arse.”
Save | 1real |
WOW! WHISTLEBLOWER TELLS CHILLING STORY Of Massive Voter Fraud: Trump Campaign Readies Lawsuit Against FL Sec Of Elections In Critical District [VIDEO] | This is truly a chilling story of organized voter fraud We reported on a massive voter fraud operation was discovered in Democratic Broward County, Florida ealier this week:https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/793890171058085888The amazing citizen journalist Mike Cernovich broke this story this morning at Danger and Play. Florida residents have been complaining that they re not getting their absentee ballots. Chelsey Marie Smith, was working full-time at Broward County Supervisor of Elections main office blew the whistle on the voter fraud scheme:LIVE on #Periscope: Breaking news! Voting fraud uncovered in Florida #MAGA3X https://t.co/q7jeEz6Rgh Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) November 4, 2016The Florida State Attorney is actively investigating the fraud case that involves Secretary of Elections Brenda Snipes: Source: FL State Attorney investigators are actively reviewing Broward County Voter Fraud Case Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) November 4, 2016 Democrat Dr. Brenda Snipes was appointed by Jeb Bush in 2003 and is no stranger to controversy. On October 20, the Sun Sentinal reported that former Oakland Park Commissioner Anne Sallee noticed something troubling about her vote-by-mail ballot. It is missing Constitutional Amendment 2, the medical marijuana question.Sallee, now Broward chapter director of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, knows her way around government. Yet she said she spent a week unsuccessfully trying to get someone at the Broward elections office to pay attention to her complaint.She was cleared on Wednesday of another election snafu, the early posting of primary election results. Her office also was criticized for sending out inaccurate voter ID cards, and for printing ballots for November that include the word no in the yes line on the county s transportation sales surtax question.There were multiple reports that Hillary personally met with Brenda Snipes days ago:There were multiple reports Hillary personally met with Brenda Snipes days ago. No photos, but where there's smoke Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) November 4, 2016According to a former Secretary of Elections Department employee, there is a secret room where Democrat insiders fill out those absentee ballots.The woman provided her sworn testimony via affidavit.The affidavit by Chelsey Marie Smith accuses Broward County officials of filling out blank absentee ballots to officials who she saw filling the ballots out at the Supervisor of Elections headquarters. Via: GP Page 1:Page 2: Source: FL State Attorney investigators are actively reviewing Broward County Voter Fraud Case Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) November 4, 2016 | 1real |
The UNBELIEVABLE Reason Trump Pardoned Arpaio As Hurricane Harvey Was Bearing Down | If Donald Trump hadn t proven himself to be the worst person to ever occupy the White House, he certainly proved it on Friday. While Hurricane Harvey was about to hit land as the largest hurricane in over a decade, he pardoned the racist sheriff Joe Arpaio.As it turns out, Trump s timing wasn t just heartless and it wasn t at all oblivious. Like nearly everything the former reality show star does, it was about television ratings. In the middle of a hurricane, even though it was a Friday evening, I assumed the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally, Trump said during a press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinist . You know, the hurricane was just starting. He s done a great job for the people of Arizona, he s very strong on borders, very strong on illegal immigration, Trump said about Arpaio. I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly when they came down with their big decision to go get him right before the election voting started. Source: The HillBy pardoning the man who was convicted of disregarding a court order to stop racially profiling, Trump already proved himself to have zero compassion, but the fact that it was some sort of ratings grab proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Trump isn t even human.It also explains a lot about his media coverage during the election. Trump seems to have one skill, and that is to bring on ratings, in much the same way as any shock jock might. He doesn t elevate the national dialogue; he shoves it into the gutter. He will never be my president because he refuses to be my president. He is only the president to those who voted for him. He is by far the most divisive man (and I use that word very broadly) to ever hold office. He is id with a dangerous dose of ego and Friday s pardon of Arpaio showed the worst of both.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 1real |
Collective Consciousness – The Individual is Gone | Waking Times
“In the middle of all the brain-research going on, from one end of the planet to the other, there is the assumption that the individual doesn’t really exist. He’s a fiction. There is only the motion of particles in the brain. Therefore, nothing is inviolate, nothing is protected. Make the brain do A, make it do B; it doesn’t matter. What matters is harmonizing these tiny particles, in order to build a collective consensus, in order to force a science of behavior.” ~The Underground, Jon Rappoport
Individual power. Your power.
It stands as the essence of what the founding documents of the American Republic are all about, once you scratch below the surface a millimeter or so.
Therefore, it stands to reason that colleges and universities would be teaching courses in INDIVIDUAL POWER.
As soon as I write that, though, we all fall down laughing, because we understand the absurdity of such a proposition. Can you imagine Harvard endowing a chair in Individual Power?
Students would tear down the building in which such courses were taught. They’ve been carefully instructed that the individual is the greatest living threat to the planet.
If you can’t see that as mind control, visit your local optometrist and get a prescription for glasses.
So we have this astonishing situation: the very basis of freedom has no reflection in the educational system.
You can say “individual” within certain limited contexts. You can say “power,” if you’re talking about nuclear plants, or if you’re accusing someone of a crime, but if you put “individual” and “power” together and attribute a positive quality to the combination, you’re way, way outside the consensus. You’re crazy. You’re committing some kind of treason.
In order to spot the deepest versions of educational brainwashing, YOU HAVE TO HAVE SOME STANDARD AGAINST WHICH YOU CAN COMPARE WHAT IS COMING DOWN THE PIPELINE INTO THE MINDS OF STUDENTS.
If you lack that standard, you miss most of the action.
If you lack that standard, you have already been worked over by the system.
And in this case, the standard is INDIVIDUAL POWER.
Clean it off, hose off the dirt, polish it, look at it, think about it, remember it.
Then you’ll see some Grade-A prime mind control. Everywhere. Because schools either don’t mention it, or they discredit it.
Back in the days when I was writing on assignment for newspapers and magazines, I pitched a story about individual power to an editor. I wanted to trace its history as an idea over the past ten years.
He looked at me for a few seconds. He looked at me as if I’d just dropped some cow flop on his desk. He knew I wasn’t kidding and I had something I could write and turn in to him, but that made it worse. He began to squirm in his chair.
He laughed nervously.
He said, “This isn’t what we do.”
For him, I was suddenly radioactive.
I had a similar experience with a high-school history teacher in California. We were having lunch in a cafe in Santa Monica, and I said, “You should teach a course in individual power. The positive aspects. No group stuff. Just the individual.”
He frowned a deep intellectual frown, as if I’d just opened my jacket and exposed a few sticks of dynamite strapped to my chest. As if he was thinking about which agency of the government to report me to.
Now, for the schizoid part. The movies. Television. Video games. Comics. Graphic novels. They are filled to the brim, they are overflowing with individual heroes who have considerable power. These entertainment businesses bank billions of dollars, because people want to immerse themselves in that universe where the individual is supreme. They want it badly.
But when it comes to “real” life, power stops at the front door and no one answers the bell.
Suddenly, the hero, the person with power is anathema. He’s left holding the bag. So he adjusts. He waits. He wonders. He settles for less, far less. He stifles his hopes. He shrinks. He forgets. He develops “problems” and tries to solve them within an impossibly narrow context. He redefines success and victory down to meet limited expectations. He strives for the normal and the average. For his efforts, he receives tidbits, like a dog looking up at his master.
If that isn’t mind control, nothing is.
Once we enter a world where the individual no longer has credibility, a world where “greatest good for the greatest number” is the overriding principle, and where that principle is defined by the elite few, the term “mind control” will have a positive connotation. It will be accepted as the obvious strategy for achieving “peace in our time.”
At a job interview, a candidate will say, “Yes, I received my PhD in Mind Control at Yale, and then I did three years of post-doc work in Cooperative Learning Studies at MIT. My PhD thesis? It was titled, ‘Coordination Strategies in the Classroom for Eliminating the Concept of the Individual.’”
From Wikipedia, “Cooperative Learning”:
“Students must work in groups to complete tasks collectively toward academic goals. Unlike individual learning, which can be competitive in nature, students learning cooperatively can capitalize on one another’s resources and skills…Furthermore, the teacher’s role changes from giving information to facilitating students’ learning. Everyone succeeds when the group succeeds.”
That is a towering assemblage of bullshit.
“Everyone succeeds when the group succeeds.” You could use that quote on the back cover of Orwell’s 1984 or Huxley’s Brave New World . Everyone does not succeed—because the individual never finds out what he can do on his own. That avenue is cut off. He only knows what he can achieve in combination with others. He only knows what he can understand when he borrows from others. He may never glimpse what he truly wants to do in life.
This is a tragic situation, but the tragedy is concealed, because the memory of shifting from individual independence to group dependence is gone. There is no such memory. A child is brought up without independence. Therefore, how can he recall losing it?
He only knows the group and the team and the participation and the praise. He only knows the organizing of his life within a synthetically produced context.
He is taught that this is good and necessary.
So, one day, when a bolt comes out of the blue and he recognizes he is himself, what will he use to grasp that revelation and build on it?
Yes, there are productive groups and teams, and one is always working with others, to some degree. But the core and the starting point is one’s self. That is where the insight and the magic begin. That is where the great decisions and commitments are made. That is where the world is born, every day.
I see no end of writing about this magic, because civilization has been turned upside down by treacherous people who have been fabricating a counter-tradition that will sink the ship. About the Author
Jon Rappoport is the author of three explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED , EXIT FROM THE MATRIX , and POWER OUTSIDE THE MATRIX , Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29 th District of California. He maintains a consulting practice for private clients, the purpose of which is the expansion of personal creative power. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free emails at NoMoreFakeNews.com or OutsideTheRealityMachine .
(To read about Jon’s mega-collection, Exit From The Matrix , click here .)
This article ( Collective Consciousness – The Individual is Gone ) was originally created and published by Jon Rappaport’s Blog and is re-posted here with permission.
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Email Reveals What Progressive Think Tank Gained By Hosting Netanyahu | When a prominent, progressive establishment think tank, the Center for American Progress, hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on November 10, 2015, it was widely criticized among the left. However, in an email sent by Neera Tanden, the think tank’s president, she defends the decision to welcome Netanyahu with open arms.
The email was published in the latest batch of “Podesta Emails” from WikiLeaks. It offers a glimpse at how Tanden, an adviser to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and moderator of CAP’s Netanyahu event, dealt with the controversy.
John Podesta, Clinton campaign chairman, sent her an email the day after the event. “As a bloodied Jack Nicholson said in Hoffa, ‘What has been gained and what has been lost?’ How did the Bibi event score on that scale?”
In Tanden’s reply, she clearly outlined the pros and cons of hosting Netanyahu.
“Things gained: We will never be called anti-Semitic again. No matter what anyone writes,” Tanden asserted. “Mainstream press and people think we handled it just right – tough questions. I think for any dismissers, not that I think there were a lot, but we have definitely proven we’re a think tank. And it may have sealed the deal with a new board member.”
Tanden continued, “Things lost: Staff is riven. On both sides. We are holding a lot of meetings on that. Worse thing – someone leaked staff statement. That kind of thing really changes the culture.”
“How to keep that culture with that kind of leaking is going to be hard, but need to navigate. And far left hates me. We do have a broader issue of expectations in the organization. I had an intern tell me that she was upset we did not tell her ahead of time.”
What was lost and gained is expressed purely in institutional terms. Tanden writes nothing about what CAP may have done to give Netanyahu cover for the crimes the Israeli government commits against Palestinians through its occupation. She has no words for what this may mean for the people of Gaza, who endure poverty and face humanitarian disaster as a result of an economic blockade.
Overall, Tanden concludes, “Nothing we have done has pitted being a think tank and being ideologically action oriented against each other more harshly. At the end of the day, we had to choose.”
“So answer is complicated. If I could have the whole thing not happen, would definitely have it not happen. But it happened to us.”
Inviting a world leader is not something that just happens , like a branch breaking a car’s windshield when it falls out of a tree. Tanden and other leaders of CAP actively sought to host Netanyahu, and they were proud of the prestige it could garner for them.
When she introduced Netanyahu, Tanden said, “Thank you for taking questions because the choices you make matter profoundly to Israel’s future and the future of the region. And we believe that matters profoundly to America.” Notably, she said nothing about the future of Palestinians.
Journalist Rania Khalek pointed out that Tanden let Netanyahu lie repeatedly during the event about the construction of new settlements, settler violence, land theft, and ethnic cleansing.
Tanden and other Clinton appointees served on the Democratic Platform Committee, and during the process, they blocked language that would have acknowledged there is, in fact, an Israeli occupation. They also refused to remove language suggesting the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement “delegitimizes” Israel.
A coalition of Clinton Democrats and other liberal Democrats blocked a resolution to support the rebuilding of Gaza during the full Democratic platform committee meeting in July.
Clinton has distinguished herself as a pro-Israel Democrat and will aggressively challenge the BDS movement as president. With the support of Democratic mega-donor Haim Saban, who has pledged to invest billions to fight BDS, Clinton celebrated college students on the “front lines of the battle to oppose the alarming boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement known as BDS” during her speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference.
Additionally, emails previously published by WikiLeaks already have shown that the letter Clinton wrote to Saban, where she pledged to fight BDS, was written to help the campaign attract more pro-Israel donors.
Returning to the CAP event for Netanyahu, in the week before the event, The Intercept published a story on leaked emails showing the lengths to which CAP was willing to go to “placate AIPAC.” The think tank censored “its own writers on the topic of Israel.”
Tanden may seem exasperated in the email. “I need to clear my head on this and then would love to get your advice on a few things in the coming days,” she shared in the email. However, it is not as if there was any kind of an about-face or open display of regret in the aftermath. Tanden and CAP served the interests of AIPAC, also known as the Israel lobby, and if called upon to hold a similar event as a service to a Clinton White House, they will be loyal soldiers and help whitewash the policies of Israel again.
The post Email Reveals What Progressive Think Tank Gained By Hosting Netanyahu appeared first on Shadowproof . | 1real |
German coalition parties not yet agreed on eurozone budget idea | BERLIN (Reuters) - The German parties exploring a possible coalition said on Thursday they wanted to discuss further the question of a euro zone budget an idea pushed by French President Emmanuel Macron. German-French cooperation is of paramount importance to us, the three groups the conservatives, pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens said in a paper released during exploratory coalition talks. They also agreed to further discuss the future of the euro zone s rescue mechanism, the ESM, which some politicians want to turn into a more powerful European Monetary Fund. A negotiator for the Greens said the parties were far apart on this issue. | 0fake |
North Korea's Kim says will make 'deranged' Trump pay dearly for U.N. speech | SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un said on Friday the North will consider the “highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history” against the United States in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy the North. Calling Trump “mentally deranged” and his comments “the most ferocious declaration of a war in history,” Kim said his U.N. speech on Tuesday confirmed Pyongyang’s nuclear program has been “the correct path”. “His remarks ... have convinced me, rather than frightening or stopping me, that the path I chose is correct and that it is the one I have to follow to the last,” Kim said in the statement carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency, promising to make Trump “pay dearly for his speech”. Trump had warned the North Korean leader in his U.N. address on Tuesday that the United States, if threatened, would “totally destroy” the country of 26 million people and mocked Kim as a “rocket man” on a suicide mission. It was the U.S. president’s most direct reference to military action so far against the North, which conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sept. 3. In addition to the nuclear test, North Korea has launched dozens of missiles since Kim came to power in 2011. Two recent ballistic missiles flew over Japan as Pyongyang advanced toward its goal of creating nuclear warhead-tipped missiles that can hit the United States. Kim said Trump would face “results beyond his expectation,” without specifying what action North Korea would take next. “I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire,” Kim said in the rare direct statement, referring to Trump. He offered more vitriol for Trump, saying he was “unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country, and he is surely a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire, rather than a politician.” A day after Trump’s address, North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho had likened Trump to a “barking dog,” saying his comments were no threat to the North. Kim took a page out of Ri’s book on Friday, saying “a frightened dog barks louder”. “Now that Trump has denied the existence of and insulted me and my country in front of the eyes of the world.., we will consider with seriousness exercising of a corresponding, highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history,” Kim said. | 0fake |
Trump says he will accept election result - if he wins | WASHINGTON/DELAWARE, Ohio (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Thursday he would accept the result of the Nov. 8 election - “if I win” - fueling Republican concerns his stance would make it harder for his party to maintain control of Congress. His refusal to commit to accepting the election outcome was the standout remark of the third and final 2016 presidential debate between Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on Wednesday night. It ratcheted up Trump’s allegations the election was being rigged against him, and became the latest flashpoint in an unusually acrimonious race three weeks before voters go to the polls. Clinton called the comment “horrifying.” President Barack Obama blasted Trump on Thursday at a rally in Miami Gardens, Florida, for Clinton and U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy, who is trying to unseat Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a Trump supporter. “That is dangerous. Because when you try to sow the seeds of doubt in people’s minds about the legitimacy of the elections, that undermines our democracy. Then you’re doing the work of our adversaries for them,” Obama said. Trump modified his comment at a rally in Ohio on Thursday, but did not back off. “I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters and to all of the people of the United States, that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election - if I win,” he said. He added he would accept “a clear election result,” but reserved the right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result. With Trump trailing in opinion polls, the focus ahead of the Nov. 8 vote is shifting to whether Republicans can keep their narrow majority in the Senate or even their larger advantage in the House of Representatives. Senator John McCain of Arizona, who lost the 2008 presidential election to Obama, said accepting the election result was “the American way.” “I didn’t like the outcome of the 2008 election. But I had a duty to concede, and I did so without reluctance,” McCain, who has opened a poll lead in his Senate re-election race, said in a statement. “A concession isn’t just an exercise in graciousness. It is an act of respect for the will of the American people, a respect that is every American leader’s first responsibility.” McCain has withdrawn his support for Trump. Asked on Wednesday night if he would commit to a peaceful transition of power, Trump, a businessman-turned-politician, replied: “What I’m saying is that I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense. OK?” Trump’s statement, the most provocative in a debate that repeatedly descended into rancor, made headlines across the country and raised questions about his commitment to a peaceful transition of power, a cornerstone of American democracy. Clinton accused Trump of being Russian President Vladimir Putin’s puppet. Trump called Clinton a “nasty woman” and a criminal who should be barred from running. They did not exchange the customary handshake when the debate ended. On Thursday night the two candidates appeared together at a formal charity dinner in New York and shook hands there after giving speeches intended to roast each other. “Just before taking the dais, Hillary accidentally bumped into me, and she very civilly said, ‘pardon me,’” Trump joked. “And I very politely replied, let me talk to you about that after I get into office.” Trump has said Clinton should be imprisoned for her email practices as secretary of state. Clinton spoke after Trump at the dinner, which she joked was remarkable in itself. “I didn’t think he’d be ok with a peaceful transition of power,” she said. That show of humor was not the norm, however. Democrats jumped to ask Republican candidates whether they agreed with Trump, who is making his first run for public office against Clinton, a former senator and first lady. “Do you agree with Donald Trump to question the results of the election?” the Nevada Democratic Party asked in a release targeting Republican Joe Heck. Heck is in a tight race with Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto for retiring Democratic leader Harry Reid’s Senate seat. Trump’s comments did not worry his supporters. Marion Fields, 48, a registered Democrat who backs Trump, said he did not think concession would be an issue because Trump would win. Were he to lose, “After it’s announced, you’d have to be a professional and concede.” A CNN/ORC snap poll said 52 percent of Americans thought Clinton won the debate, to 39 percent for Trump. Trump donor and energy investor Dan Eberhart said Trump won. He disagreed with his rhetoric, but still backs the candidate. “I think Hillary’s policies and track record are not what the country needs leading us forward for the next four years. And that backs me into supporting Trump,” Eberhart said. Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway sought on Thursday to defend Trump, saying in television interviews he was “putting people on notice” about voting irregularities. Trump has not offered specific evidence to back up his vote-rigging claims, and numerous studies have shown that the U.S. election system, which is run by the states, is sound. Trump has stepped up allegations that the election is being rigged against a backdrop of accusations that he had made improper sexual advances to women since a video emerged two weeks ago in which Trump boasted of such behavior. A 10th woman came forward on Thursday at a news conference in Manhattan with attorney Gloria Allred, a Clinton supporter who specializes in representing women in cases of alleged assault. Trump campaign spokeswoman Jessica Ditto called the news conference a “coordinated, publicity-seeking attack” by Allred. First lady Michelle Obama, a powerful campaigner for Clinton, renewed her criticism of Trump without naming him during a campaign event in Arizona. “Decent men do not demean women. And we shouldn’t tolerate this behavior from any man, let alone a man who wants to be the president,” she said. | 0fake |
Europeans have no future - Putin on Migrant Crisis [Video] |
November 6th, 2016 - Fort Russ News -
RT- Translated by Inessa Sinchougova
In a truly shocking twist, the Supreme Court of Austria has decided to acquit the Iraqi man, "that may not have realised the 10-year-old Austrian boy did not want to be sexually abused by him." Amir, 20, was visiting the Theresienbad pool in the Austrian capital of Vienna in December 2015, as part of a trip to encourage integration, when the incident occurred.
Europe - if you can't stand up for your children, who will? Of course there is the fact that Western Europe has supported the US in their violent destruction of the Middle East over the past 20 years. Is it a guilty conscience that seems to appease the blatant criminal activity on behalf of some newcomers? Or are they Soros puppets implanted into the judicial system that are at work?
Russia is a multicultural and multi-religious society, and has been for 1000 years. The law applies to everyone equally - whether you're a Crimean Tatar or a Slavic Russian - every Russian citizen is 'native' as such and subject to the same protocols.
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Report: Hillary Wants Joe Biden For HUGE Role In White House | A new report indicates that Vice President Joe Biden s long tenure in Washington, D.C. may not be over just yet if Hillary Clinton has anything to do with it. According to Politico, the Clinton brain trust is considering offering Biden one of the most important roles in her administration if she wins the election. Joe Biden is at the top of the internal short list Hillary Clinton s transition team is preparing for her pick to be secretary of state, a source familiar with the planning tells POLITICO.This would be the first major Cabinet candidate to go public for a campaign that s insisted its focus remains on winning the election, and perhaps the most central choice for a potential president who was a secretary of state herself. The report indicates that a formal offer of the position has not been discussed yet between Biden and Clinton.Biden has years of experience with foreign policy, including time leading the Foreign Relations Committee when he was a U.S. Senator from Delaware, and he has been one of President Obama s closest advisors on the topic while serving as Vice President.Biden considered running for President this year, and some polls indicated he would have been a strong challenger to Clinton. After the death of his son Beau, he decided against the campaign and has endorsed Clinton. His speech in favor of Clinton at the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia was one of the highlights of the event.He has been holding campaign events on her behalf and is among the all-star team of surrogates including the President, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Senator Bernie Sanders that are promoting Clinton s campaign.Biden has also dedicated himself to leading the so-called moon shot project to cure cancer, a position that President Obama announced for him during his final State of the Union address.Featured image via Flickr | 1real |
Kellyanne Conway Says Private D.C. Schools Want Her Kids As Much As We Want Trump – They Don’t | The majority of the country doesn t want Donald Trump as our president. A-list celebrities and even marching bands don t want to perform at his inauguration. And now, his former campaign manager and newest counselor Kellyanne Conway is finding out that private schools in the D.C. area don t want her kids either.Conway said on Wednesday that she is more amused than worried over the fact that none of the top notch schools in Washington want to accept her children. I would not characterize myself as worried so much as amused by the silence and sighs on the other end of the phone when friends and allies have made preliminary inquiries on my behalf, Conway told the New York Post.Conway then pointed out that many of these schools tout diversity in their handbooks. For some, there is comfort in sameness, she noted. No wonder Trump likes her so much. If I were an admissions counselor I d shy away from this too, but I digress.Nobody with any sense wants to be associated with Trump or his transition team in any way, shape, or form. Conway is known as a talented spin doctor who now spends her days trying to explain why the horrible things that come out of Trump s mouth (or Twitter page) couldn t possibly be as abhorrent as they seem on the surface.Conway said she has been shocked by the flood of people who have offered to help her and her family with their move to D.C., but top schools apparently aren t so eager. According to the Post, a source close to Conway said that she is desperate and is asking everyone with connections to D.C. schools for help. Whether or nor real estate agents in Washington will want to work with her remains to be seen, as when asked about the matter she simply replied: First things first. Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 1real |
Health insurers quietly shape Obamacare replacement with fewer risks | NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health insurers are making their case to Republican lawmakers over how Americans sign up for individual insurance and pushing for other changes to shape the replacement of former President Barack Obama’s national healthcare law. The health insurers, including Independence Blue Cross and Molina Healthcare Inc, are also recommending ways to put more control over insurance in the hands of states as the federal oversight of Obamacare is dismantled. They emphasize that it is crucial to keep government subsidies for low income people. These changes, described by executives, high level officials in the health insurance sector and lawmakers in nearly a dozen interviews with Reuters, include pushing for more strict enforcement of eligibility for these plans. Because Republicans are just starting to work with the new Trump administration and the debate is fluid, it is not clear ultimately what changes will take hold. But some of these ideas have started to surface in early Republican legislation, such as a co-sponsored bill from Maine Senator Susan Collins that would keep subsidies. The moves underscore that private insurers are quietly working on how to benefit under the Trump administration, which is focusing on deregulation in healthcare, energy and manufacturing. And they show that insurers want to save aspects of Obamacare individual plans, but cut down on the risk to their own bottom lines and any hikes in premiums that threaten the viability of this insurance market. This market for individual insurance covers about 10 million people and is small compared to the employer-based system that covers more than 160 million Americans and the government-paid programs for over 120 million people. But it is one that insurers have described as having growth potential. While Obamacare cut the uninsured rate to 11 percent, there are still millions of uninsured Americans. The largest U.S. insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc told investors recently that it sees opportunities in new state-based markets and is talking to policymakers. Many investors believe that the Republican deregulation push with Trump will benefit insurers. “Clearly they support the private insurers and the role that they are going to play in any sort of new market,” said Jeff Jonas, a portfolio manager at Gamco Investors in Rye, New York, which he said owns the publicly traded insurers. President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to repeal Obama’s national healthcare law on his first day in office. He and Republicans have not presented an agreed upon replacement plan, but key issues they are expected to address include the law’s requirements for individuals to have insurance. Insurers’ main “ask” takes into account replacement plans under discussion in Congress, and largely assumes that government funds will continue to subsidize health benefits, at least for the next two to three years. Daniel Hilferty, CEO of Independence Blue Cross in Pennsylvania, told Reuters that he advocated tightening the rules around signing up for insurance outside of the open enrollment period, and tight control of which third parties are allowed to pay premiums for patients. Independence is part of a nationwide network of Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees such as Anthem Inc and has enrolled more than 300,000 consumers in individual plans. Hilferty’s requests, echoed by other people in the industry who did not want to be named, are similar to demands the industry made of Obama. Enrollment outside of the regular period - and third-party groups that keep poorer, sicker patients in the private market by paying their premiums - has helped lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for insurers and pushed three of the nation’s largest players out of the Obamacare market. In addition, Independence is also asking for a bigger role in signing up new customers who want to buy individual plans. Insurers sell plans both on the exchanges and off the exchanges, but subsidized plans are currently mostly sold on the government run HealthCare.gov and on state-run websites in a dozen states. “It would be really helpful if we in the industry played a more significant role in the actual enrollment process,” Hilferty said. Trump signed an executive order on Friday directing the federal government to scale back regulations, taxes and penalties related to the law. But the directive did not change the priorities outlined to Reuters by the insurers and industry sources, they said. Insurers have built their list of top priorities assuming in part that Republicans will try to overturn the existing individual mandate, which requires Americans to pay a fee if they do not have insurance. A replacement plan would need to include some type of bonus to entice healthy people to get insurance. That, they say, would be a step towards a good mix of sick and healthy people that will keep the plans profitable. Ideas include creating high-risk pools to keep the very sick in a separate market and offering low prices to the young and healthy. Without a punishment for not buying insurance that is like the individual mandate, the market can’t survive, according to Dr. J. Mario Molina, Chief Executive Officer of Molina Healthcare Inc, a company that provides Medicaid for the poor and individual insurance plans on the exchanges. “It probably needs to be a combination of both an incentive and a penalty,” Molina said. Insurers also want to keep the cost-sharing subsidies that have made healthcare costs affordable for millions of people as well as the premium subsidies that help to reduce the monthly cost for people with low incomes. Those subsidies are part of a court case filed last year that is on hold. “If it’s free or close to free, you are more likely to sign up in the absence of the mandate,” said Dan Mendelson, CEO of Avalere Health, a research group and consultant that advises health insurers and is part of Inovalon Holdings. Insurers also want continued premium subsidies, skewed to keep up enrollment of younger people. “I think if you don’t have the subsidies, then the whole thing falls apart,” said Molina. | 0fake |
U.S. leaders must still 'distrust' Iran: Clinton | NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said in a speech to a pro-Israel lobby group in Washington on Monday Iran still posed a threat to Israel and needed to be closely watched. Speaking to the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, also criticized her Republican rival Donald Trump for having a “neutral” stance on Israel. She said U.S. leaders needed to show loyalty to its Mideast ally and “anyone who doesn’t understand that has no business being our president.” | 0fake |
Watch Trump Campaign Try To Spin Their Way Out Of ‘I Love War’ Comment (VIDEO) | A new ad by the Hillary Clinton SuperPac Priorities USA was released on Tuesday. It s perhaps the most frightening of all because it directly quotes Trump saying, I love war, and specifically, he loves nuclear war.Here s the ad:FactCheck did their due diligence with the ad and the biggest complaint they could find is that the direct quotes from Trump came from two different times. Still, here are his entire quotes:Trump, Nov. 12, 2015: This is the Trump theory on war. But I m good at war. I ve had a lot of wars of my own. I m really good at war. I love war, in a certain way, but only when we win.And then the second half, a few months later he talked about nukes:Trump: It s not like, gee whiz, nobody has them.So, North Korea has nukes. Japan has a problem with that. I mean, they have a big problem with that. Maybe they would in fact be better off if they defend themselves from North Korea.Wallace: With nukes?Trump: Maybe they would be better off including with nukes, yes, including with nukes.So, now that we ve confirmed that yes, Trump does love war, how is his campaign going to spin that?Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway appeared on Good Morning America on Wednesday and it was clear she was out of her league, even though most of the questions weren t that hard hitting.At first, she deflected:Conway responded that what is actually irresponsible is taking little, cherry-picking little snippets of what he said and not giving the full context of the sentence let alone the speech. This woman was secretary of state for four years. And I think the reason she s struggling in the polls part is because aren t really fond of that record and she will be held account for that record, Conway said, ripping into Clinton over her recent polling troubles. She s actually been in control of many aspects of our national security and our troops and our defense and I think that given all of her advantages, including her super PAC including her campaign hang spent over $200 million most in paid advertising one wonders why is she not at 50, 60 percent in the polls. Why isn t she at 60, 65 percent among women? Hillary Clinton has a Hillary Clinton problem. Source: PoliticoWhen pressed further, she still had no explanation: I d have to see the entire snippet there but obviously many commanders in chief have made the very difficult decision to go to war, Conway responded. You have Hillary Clinton as secretary of state calling a Russia reset that didn t work, she was wrong on Libya, she was wrong on Syria, she was certainly wrong on Benghazi and I think they ll both be held to account for that. Here s her spin: ABC Breaking News | Latest News VideosThe fact is that Trump does love war and he has no concept whatsoever of the ramifications of his actions. In a national security briefing, Trump asked three times why we can t use nuclear weapons. If you aren t frightened by Trump s racism, sexism or xenophobia, please be frightened by the fact that he has complete disregard for the damage war, and in particular, nuclear weapons, can inflict. Be frightened over his dangerous stupidity.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images. | 1real |
Mar-a-Lago, the Future Winter White House and Home of the Calmer Trump - The New York Times | WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — When Donald J. Trump rang in the new year this weekend, he did it in opulence, joined by the actor Sylvester Stallone, the gossip page fixture Fabio and a crowd of wealthy developers reveling under the swaying palm trees at Mr. Trump’s resort in Palm Beach. President George W. Bush had his ranch in Crawford, Tex. His father had a compound in Kennebunkport, Me. President Obama has taken frequent vacations in Hawaii, staying at a private home. But Mr. Trump’s private club in Florida, where he has spent the past two weeks away from his home in New York City, is likely to eclipse them all as the 45th president’s winter White House. And that was always the intention of Marjorie Meriweather Post, the cereal heiress and the property’s original owner, who left to the federal government when she died in 1973, hoping it would serve as a home for presidents. But the government had no interest in her plan, and Mr. Trump later bought the property for less than $10 million, turning it into a club where membership costs six figures. Mr. Trump’s arrival was greeted with sneers by the Palm Beach elite, and he opened up ’s membership to Jews and who had been excluded from other establishments. He was also the first club owner on the island to admit an openly gay couple. Since Mr. Trump’s victory in November, has been stuffed with guests attracted by an amenity unique to this club: the chance to rub shoulders with the next president. “It’s like going to Disneyland and knowing Mickey Mouse will be there all day long,” said Jeff Greene, a developer and unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the Senate from Florida in 2010, who is a member and was a Hillary Clinton supporter. Instead of hosting major corporate executives and potential cabinet secretaries for interviews inside a boxy transition office at Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan, Mr. Trump has been seated at an ornately designed couch, upholstered in pale fabric laced with gold, beneath a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, a scene resembling a mansion in “Sunset Boulevard” or “Citizen Kane,” two of Mr. Trump’s favorite movies. At night, the couches are moved out and tables are added to accommodate the evening cocktail crowd, among whom Mr. Trump moves from one table to the next, the most powerful greeter in the world. At the annual New Year’s Eve party on Saturday night, a white menu included “Mr. Trump’s wedge salad,” a wild mushroom and Swiss chard ravioli and a “breakfast buffet. ” Those in attendance drifted in under a striped awning, the men dressed in tuxedos, the women in ball gowns, many with their hair swept high. Guests stepped onto a red carpet as they entered the club and wandered over to a poolside cocktail party. Mr. Trump later delivered remarks, according to a guest, who said he thanked his family and the club members for their support over the years. Howie Carr, a conservative radio host who was supportive of Mr. Trump, roamed the crowd, with Mr. Carr posting on Twitter that his daughter asked Mr. Trump if she could be an intern in the White House. Mr. Trump’s two adult sons, Eric and Donald Jr. posed for photographs. Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski from MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” were also there. Like most aspects of Mr. Trump’s business interests, the party generated controversy as tickets to it were made available to club members and guests for a little more than $500. Mr. Trump’s aides rejected the questions. Mr. Trump returned to New York on Sunday night. But the club will remain an escape for him. His contentious Twitter posts belie his relative calm when he is at compared with when he is isolated inside Trump Tower. Mr. Trump’s combative public persona — often on display during his campaign — mostly dissolves behind the walls of his castle. “ is an environment he can control,” said the historian Douglas Brinkley, who last week attended a lunch with a longtime club member, Chris Ruddy, the chief executive of Newsmax Media. “I watched him hold court — he was so comfortable in his own skin, and so relaxed. ” Mr. Ruddy has hosted Mr. Carr and Laura Ingraham, another conservative radio host who supported Mr. Trump, at the club and has introduced Mr. Trump to a range of news media figures, politicians and donors. He described the as “seeking the Donald Trump: totally at ease, very positive, very gregarious. ” Mr. Trump appears to feed off contact with the people at the club. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, he queried dinner guests about whether he should appoint Rudolph W. Giuliani or Mitt Romney as his secretary of state (he ended up picking neither). During this trip, he has heaped praise on his ultimate choice for the job, Rex W. Tillerson, the head of Exxon Mobil. (Mr. Trump has called him “Mr. Exxon. ”) He talks about the work he has done to find a solution for the problems at the Department of Veteran Affairs, which included a recent meeting with a number of executives at . Mr. Trump told a New York Times reporter that he intended to make Brian Burns, the businessman son of a confidante of Joseph P. Kennedy, the ambassador to Ireland. Isaac Perlmutter, the reclusive head of Marvel Entertainment, is a member who helped Mr. Trump put that meeting together. Mr. Trump has also held with Robert K. Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots and a club member, and hosted prominent figures like Carlos Slim, the billionaire who is Mexico’s richest man. Mr. Trump his wife, Melania and their son, Barron, inhabit a residential area of the club. His adult children and their families usually stay in nearby cabanas on the property. Mr. Trump frequently dines on the patio, a central point of action, where at night a singer plays with a small band, sometimes belting out requests from Mr. Trump and other guests. (“My Way,” a song popularized by Frank Sinatra, was one recent choice.) A violinist sometimes moves among tables, plucking tunes like the theme from “Fiddler on the Roof. ” Mr. Trump has given the cadre of White House reporters who now cover him some access to the club, but grudgingly so — he once again eluded the reporters covering him on Saturday, slipping away without any warning to play golf at another of his clubs nearby in Jupiter. And outside the confines of old grievances flare up. On the golf course, Mr. Trump spotted Harry Hurt, a biographer who wrote critically of Mr. Trump years ago, preparing to play a round with David H. Koch, a billionaire conservative donor. Mr. Trump ordered club officials to remove Mr. Hurt from the property, according to a Facebook post by Mr. Hurt. Over the years, Mr. Trump has also been perpetually at loggerheads with Palm Beach officials. He has filed lawsuits attempting to keep noisy planes from flying over and there have been disputes over the height of his oversize flagpole on the grounds. With its owner’s coming new job, the club has had some changes. Guests now go through an elaborate security screen to gain access to the main entrance. Secret Service agents are now sprinkled throughout the property, at night blending into the shrubbery along the grounds. Robin Bernstein, a club member for nearly 25 years, said that some club members might express frustration, but that most thought it was important “that we keep Donald and his family safe. ” Attendees seem to see a benefit so far in having the around, and expect it will continue. “The loser in this game is Camp David,” said Mr. Brinkley, referring to the longtime presidential retreat in Maryland. “Once you’re at and it’s so opulent and the idea of suddenly inserting yourself into Camp David’s Maryland mountains environment seems unlikely. ” | 0fake |
Here's your intent! Hillary Intentionally Erased Emails - Wikileaks |
In today’s, 25th, Wikileaks release of hacked Podesta emails, one of the notable highlights is a March 2, 2015 exchange between John Podesta and Clinton aide Cheryl Mills in which the Clinton Campaign Chair says “ On another matter….and not to sound like Lanny, but we are going to have to dump all those emails. ”
Back in July 2016, FBI didn’t go after Hillary because director Comey said “didn’t find any intent”. Well here’s your “intent” thanks to Wikileaks.
The email, which may indicate intent, was sent at the same time as the NYT story “ Hillary Clinton Used Personal Email Account at State Dept., Possibly Breaking Rules ” – which for the first time revealed the existence of Hillary’s email server – hit, and just days before Hillary’s press conference addressing what was at the time, the stunning revelation that she had a personal email account, and server, in her home.
The proposed “dumping” on March 2 takes place two days before the House Select Committee on Benghazi sent Hillary Clinton a document retention subpoena on March 4, 2015, with some hinting the NYT report may have served to tip off the Clinton campaign about the upcoming subpoena.
Mills’ response to Podesta: “Think you just got your new nick name.”
It is unclear which “Lanny” is referred to: the infamous former DOJ staffer Lanny Breuer who quit in January 2013 after telling Frontline that some banks are too big to fail, or, more likely Lanny Davis, special counsel to President Bill Clinton, and spokesperson for the President and the White House on matters concerning campaign-finance investigations and other legal issues
It is also unclear – for now – which emails Podesta is referring to in the thread, but Podesta adds: “better to do so sooner than later.” We can hope that a subsequent response, yet to be leaked by Wikileaks, will provide more color.
If the exchange is shown to disclose intent to mislead, it will negate the entire narrative prepared by Clinton that she merely deleted “personal” emails and will reveal a strategic plan to hinder the State Department and FBI “investigation.”
This is the first time that particular exchange has emerged among the Podesta emails.
Furthermore, a search for Lanny Davis reveals the following curious exchange between Robby Mook and John Podesta from March 8, 2015, just days after the abovementioned exchange, in which Mook says:
We gotta zap Lanny out of our universe. Can’t believe he committed her to a private review of her hard drive on TV.
It seems the Clinton campaign was not happy with being set on a course of transparency by Bill Clinton’s special counsel.
Finally, in a separate email sent out in the first week of March 2015 , by Clinton campaign communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, we get yet another confirmation that the president actively mislead the public when he said he didn’t know Hillary was using a private email address:
Suggest Philippe talk to Josh or Eric. They know POTUS and HRC emailed. Josh has been asked about that. Standard practice is not to confirm anything about his email, so his answer to press was that he would not comment/confirm. I recollect that Josh was also asked if POTUS ever noticed her personal email account and he said something like POTUS likely had better things to do than focus on his Cabinet’s email addresses.
Perhaps while the DOJ/FBI is taking a second look into Huma Abedin’s emails, it can also take a repeat look at some of these, especially the ones involving POTUS.
Source
| 1real |
Britain to pay 400 million-pound debt to Iran soon, Iranian envoy says | LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will soon repay a decades-old debt of over 400 million pounds ($527 million) to Iran, the Iranian ambassador said on Friday, adding that the payment was not linked to the case of a British-Iranian charity worker jailed in Iran. An outstanding debt owed by the U.K. to Tehran will be transferred to the Central Bank of Iran in the coming days. The payment ... has nothing to do with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe s case, Hamid Baeedinejad wrote on his Telegram channel. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained in April 2016 in Tehran as she tried to leave Iran after a visit with her two-year-old daughter. She was sentenced to five years in prison after an Iranian court convicted her of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. She denies the charges, and Britain has called for her release. Iran does not recognize dual citizenship for its nationals. Britain s debt to Iran dates from the 1970s, before the Islamic Revolution of 1979 toppled the U.S.-backed Shah. Iran paid up front for 1,750 Chieftain tanks and other vehicles, but most were never delivered because of sanctions imposed on Tehran after the revolution. A British government official, who asked not to be named, said on Friday it was speculation that the money would be paid. The Treasury said in a statement the money was frozen by a British court and could not be paid because of sanctions. The Telegraph newspaper reported on Thursday that Britain was working on a plan to pay Iran the debt, as part of efforts to secure the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe. On Thursday, British Prime Minister Theresa May s spokesman denied there was any link between the debt and the charity worker s case. Tehran also dismissed the Telegraph report. Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a charity organization that is independent of Thomson Reuters. It operates independently of Reuters News. In 2009, the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Britain to repay Iran for the undelivered vehicles, but UN and EU sanctions prevented that. Under a deal between Iran and six major powers in 2015, most sanctions on Iran were lifted last year, in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear program. Iran s Foreign Ministry spokesman said that a range of issues would be discussed with Britain during a visit to Tehran this month by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Iranian media reported on Thursday. | 0fake |
Trump's threats chill corporate investment plans in Mexico | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s threats to battle Mexico over trade, investment and jobs have pushed a growing number of companies operating in the country to put expansion plans on hold until the president-elect fleshes out his policies, business leaders have told Reuters since the Nov. 8 election. Pledging to recast a joint trade deal and protect U.S. industry from outsourcing to Mexico, Trump landed his first blow last week, announcing a deal with United Technologies Corp’s Carrier unit to stop it shifting about 1,000 jobs south of the border. Trump’s unorthodox move, involving state tax breaks, sent a chill through executives still uncertain which policies the president-elect would pursue upon assuming office on Jan. 20. On the campaign trail, he threatened to levy hefty tariffs on Chinese and Mexican-made products. “If he puts an import duty on Mexican goods, it’s going to be a total disaster,” said Maurizio Rosa, chief executive of Codan Rubber Mexico, a maker of hoses for the auto industry with annual sales of some 200 million pesos ($10 million). Codan and other companies in Mexico are plugged into the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Mexico and Canada, which Trump has threatened to dismantle if he cannot renegotiate it. Over half of Codan’s output goes directly to the United States, and “probably the rest” indirectly through other firms, said Rosa, whose clients include automakers Nissan Motor Co Ltd, Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) and tractor maker Kubota Corp. Until it becomes clear what Trump means for business, new investment at the firm has been put on hold, he said. Mexico wants to reduce its economic dependency on the United States, and a recent auction of deep-water oil fields was notable for the pledges made by investors from China, Australia, Malaysia and elsewhere. But most big investments made since NAFTA have served to further integrate Mexican manufacturing with the United States. The Friday after Trump’s election victory, the Mexican Association of Industrial Parks (AMPIP) surveyed members internally on what implications it had for business, getting eight replies. The as-yet-unpublished survey found that 37.5 percent of pending projects - eight in total - had been put on hold, mostly until 2017. The rest were still going ahead. Nearly half of the $425.7 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mexico between 1999 and 2015 came from the United States. Such investment has been a cornerstone of U.S.-Mexican trade, today worth $500 billion annually. But Trump’s renewed threats of punitive tariffs on goods made abroad by U.S. companies may threaten that flow of investment. Shortly after his deal with Carrier, Trump revived his campaign on Twitter to slap a 35 percent tariff on such goods coming into the United States. Mexico is more immediately exposed to the risk of a trade war, given it sends 80 percent of its exports to U.S. buyers, five times the U.S. proportion going to Mexico. Economists have already highlighted the risks. After Trump’s win, HSBC slashed its 2017 Mexican growth forecast to 1.7 percent from 2.3 percent, saying most of the hit would likely come from reduced FDI and private investment. Credit rating firm Fitch on Friday flagged the risks Trump posed to trade and investment as it revised down Mexico’s outlook to negative from stable. Emilio Cadena, CEO of Grupo Prodensa, a specialist in helping foreign companies move to Mexico, estimated one in 10 such businesses - all “smaller firms” - had put investments on hold while uncertainty persisted over U.S.-Mexico relations. Business lobbies said major investments are still proceeding as planned, but smaller firms focused on the U.S. market are less able to absorb potential shocks. Bosco de la Vega, a partner in Agro Groppo, a potato producer in the northern state of Sinaloa, said his firm has now put off a $5 million investment for at least four to six months. The company and its partners had planned to purchase a Mexican firm to help them export more to the United States. Luis Aguirre, vice president of industry confederation Concamin, said some smaller foreign manufacturers were also in a holding pattern because of uncertainty caused by Trump. A survey of German companies in Mexico published on Wednesday showed that 83 percent expected Trump’s trade policy to have a negative impact on business. Carlo Bonfante, economy minister of the border state of Baja California, said that none of the 2017 investment already in the pipeline for the state was on hold yet, but that firms would likely wait until April before making their next move. “There’ll be a pause for analysis that there wouldn’t have been if Trump hadn’t won,” he said. | 0fake |
Obamacare Architect LAUGHS About Skyrocketing Premiums [VIDEO] | Daily Caller October 27, 2016
Ezekiel Emanuel stopped by “Morning Joe” on Wednesday to talk about the Affordable Care Act premium increases that will affect more than one million Americans.
WATCH:
Mika Brzezinski noted that Emanuel, one of Obama’s former advisors, is “often called one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act.”
“How’s that working for you right now, Zeke?” chimed in Joe Scarborough.
Emanuel’s response?
Laughter. A d v e r t i s e m e n t
“Be honest, though,” Scarborough continued. “Zeke only worked on the part of the Affordable Care Act that’s causing increases 25 percent on average.”
Brzezinski stated she’s “all for it.”
Again, Emanuel responded with a case of the giggles. This 24 | 1real |
Schumer says Senate Democrats will not block votes on healthcare amendments | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will not block efforts by Republicans to vote on Tuesday night on amendments to a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. “We’ll have to see what they propose, but we don’t mind having a few votes tonight,” Schumer told reporters after the Senate voted with no Democratic support to open debate on healthcare reform. | 0fake |
Coal rule killed by U.S. Congress, others near chopping block | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress moved swiftly on Thursday to undo Obama-era rules on the environment, corruption, labor and guns, with the Senate wiping from the books a rule aimed at reducing water pollution. By a vote of 54-45, the Senate approved a resolution already passed in the House of Representatives to kill the rule aimed at keeping pollutants out of streams in areas near mountaintop removal coal-mining sites. The resolution now goes to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it quickly. It was only the second time the Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers to stop newly minted regulations in their tracks, has been used successfully since it was passed in 2000. The Senate then turned to an equally controversial rule requiring mining and energy companies such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron to disclose taxes and other payments they make to governments at home and abroad. Democrats, who cannot filibuster the resolution, attempted to slow the process by pushing debate late into the night, with a vote scheduled for shortly after 6:30 a.m. on Friday. Republicans are using their control of Congress and the White House to attack regulations they believe hurt the economy. They cast the stream protection rule as harming industry and usurping state rights. “The Obama Administration’s stream buffer rule was an attack against coal miners and their families,” said the top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, adding it had threatened jobs in his home state of Kentucky. Environmental activists and many Democrats said it would have made drinking water safer by monitoring for pollutants such as lead. “Given that many of these toxins are known to cause birth defects, developmental delays, and other health and environmental impacts, this basic monitoring provision was essential,” said Jeni Collins, associate legislative representative for environmental group Earthjustice. The coal industry hopes the repeal will lead Trump to overturn a moratorium by former President Barack Obama’s administration on some coal leases. Senator Joe Manchin, who represents West Virginia, historically coal country, was one of the few Democrats who supported killing the rule. He told CNN more than 400 changes had been made to the regulation as it was drafted. “There’s nobody in West Virginia that wants dirty water and dirty air, but you can’t throw 400 different regulations ... on top of what we already have and expect anyone to survive,” he said. Also on Thursday, the House on Thursday overturned Obama administration rules addressing pay discrimination at federal contractors and requiring expanded background checks for gun purchasers who receive Social Security benefits and have a history of mental illness. It plans on Friday to kill a measure addressing methane emissions on public lands. The Senate will then take all three up. The Senate is also targeting rules enacted in the final months of Obama’s administration for extinction. Senator David Perdue, a Republican from Georgia, introduced on Wednesday a resolution for killing one intended to protect users of gift and prepaid cards. Under the Congressional Review Act, lawmakers can vote to undo regulations with a simple majority. Agencies cannot revisit overturned regulations. Timing in the law means any regulation enacted since May is eligible for repeal. The House already approved a resolution ending the rule that requires oil companies to publicly state taxes and payments, which is part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. Republicans and some oil and mining companies say the rule is burdensome and costly and duplicates other long-standing regulations. Supporters of the rule see it as vital for exposing bribery and questionable financial ties U.S. companies may have with foreign governments, as well as showing shareholders how their money is spent. | 0fake |
Candid Hitler Photos Sell for $41,000 to Unidentified Bidder - The New York Times | A black and white photograph shows Adolf Hitler reading on a deck chair on the veranda of his Bavarian Alps headquarters. In another image, he pauses during a stroll, an easy grin on his face. He looks into the camera, and smiling onlookers look at him. The photographs, chilling in their casual depiction of the murderous dictator, were among dozens of images of Nazi officials in an album that was discovered among the belongings of his companion, Eva Braun, in Hitler’s bunker in Berlin in 1945, according to CT Auctioneers of Britain. The album was found in a drawer in her bedroom. The album was sold at an auction on Wednesday in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Britain, to an unidentified bidder for 34, 000 pounds, or about $41, 000, the auctioneers said. The images could not be republished without permission, but they remained visible on the auction site and in a Reuters video. “Very few significant artifacts liberated from the Fuhrer Bunker in 1945 exist today in the open market, especially with such concrete provenance dating all the way back to the time of liberation,” the auction house said in a statement. Matthew Tredwen, an owner of the auction house, said in a telephone interview that it was not clear who took the photographs, but that the proximity to Hitler, and to other officials in the Nazi Party including Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, suggested the person or people behind the camera had trusted access. Braun, a photographer, is credited with other surviving pictures and films of Hitler. “The photographs had to be taken by someone who was very close,” Mr. Tredwen said. “All photographs of Adolf Hitler were very much controlled because obviously they did not want photographs coming out that made him look bad. They would not have been made for the general public. ” There were no signatures in the book to suggest ownership, or the identity of the photographer, he said. He described the bidding as “very competitive,” with telephone bidders from Britain and the United States, as well as interest online from Germany, China, South Africa and other countries. Mr. Tredwen, a specialist of more than a dozen years in military history items, said buyers of Nazi memorabilia were generally historians. “I have never in my life met anyone who shared the political views of the Third Reich,” he said. “They are literally only there to collect. World War II was one of the biggest events to affect the world. ” “People are fascinated by how evil the Third Reich were,” he added. The description of the item online traced its journey from April 1945, when a British Fleet Street photographer, Edward Dean, “obtained” it from a Russian soldier whom he had watched find the album in a drawer in Braun’s bunker bedroom, shortly after the couple committed suicide. The item changed hands several times after Mr. Dean auctioned it. In one photograph, Hitler salutes as he walks toward the camera down a path at his Berghof headquarters in the Bavarian Alps. His guards are also depicted on duty and in relaxed poses in the images, which date mostly from the early to . Ownership of items related to Nazi history poses ethical questions. Some art collectors have stepped forward to try to find out whether their art was looted from Jews. A replica of a gate that was believed to have been stolen from the Dachau concentration camp in Germany was recovered last year. And an attraction in Berlin that recreates the interior of Hitler’s bunker and opened last year suggests an uncomfortable phenomenon — that Hitler sells. Memorials dedicated to preserving the historical context of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed, have often called on collectors or people with personal items from survivors to donate the artifacts. In January, in commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and death camps at in Poland, the memorial director, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywinski, issued a statement calling for donations. “We kindly ask the public to hand over any documents, photos, personal letters, diaries, or other materials that are in private hands,” he said. “I am absolutely convinced that only mutual effort can lead to a fuller understanding of the mechanisms of hatred, and analyses from the perspective of the victims, given the course of events, cannot fully serve the purpose,” he added. “Today, we need new sources for a comprehensive picture of the history of Auschwitz and the Holocaust. ” | 0fake |
Nukes and the UN: a Historic Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons | Email
In an historic move the United Nations First Committee voted Thursday to convene a conference next March to negotiate a new treaty to ban the possession of nuclear weapons. The vote is a huge step forward in the campaign to rid the world of nuclear weapons launched several years ago by nonnuclear weapons states and civil society from across the globe.
Dismayed by the failure of the nuclear weapons states to honor their obligation under Article VI of the Non Proliferation Treaty which requires them to pursue good faith negotiations for the elimination of their nuclear arsenals, and moved by the growing danger of nuclear war, more than 120 nations gathered in Oslo in March of 2013 to review the latest scientific data about the catastrophic consequences that will result from the use of nuclear weapons. The conference shifted the focus of international discussion about nuclear war from abstract consideration of nuclear strategy to an evaluation of the medical data about what will actually happen if these weapons are used. It was boycotted by all of the major nuclear powers, the US, Russia, UK, China and France, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, or P5.
Further meetings in Nayarit, Mexico and Vienna followed in 2014 and culminated in a pledge by the Austrian government to “close the gap” in international law that does not yet specifically outlaw the possession of these weapons. More than 140 countries ultimately associated themselves with the pledge which was fiercely opposed by the United States and the other nuclear weapons states, and in the fall of 2015 the UN General Assembly voted to establish an Open Ended Working Group which met in Geneva earlier this year and recommended the negotiations approved Thursday.
The United States, which led the opposition had hoped to limit the “Yes” vote to less than one hundred, but failed badly. The final vote was 123 For, 38 Against and 16 Abstentions. The “No” votes came from the nuclear weapons states, and US allies in NATO, plus Japan, South Korea and Australia which have treaty ties to the US and consider themselves to be under the protection of the “US nuclear umbrella”.
But four nuclear weapons states broke ranks, with China, India and Pakistan abstaining, and North Korea voting in favor of the treaty negotiations. In addition, the Netherlands defied intense pressure from the rest of NATO and abstained, as did Finland, which is not a member of NATO but has close ties with the alliance.
Japan which voted with the US against the treaty has indicated that it will, nonetheless, participate in the negotiations when they begin in March.
The US and the other nuclear weapons states will probably try to block final approval of the treaty conference by the General Assembly later this fall, but, following Thursday’s vote, it appears overwhelmingly likely that negotiations will begin in March, and that they will involve a significant majority of UN member states, even if the nuclear states continue their boycott.
The successful completion of a new treaty will not of itself eliminate nuclear weapons. But it will put powerful new pressure on the nuclear weapons states who clearly do not want to uphold their obligations under the Non Proliferation Treaty even as they insist that the nonnuclear weapons states meet theirs.
We have come perilously close to nuclear war on multiple occasions during the last 70 years, and we have been incredibly lucky. US nuclear policy cannot continue to be the hope that we will remain lucky in the future. We need to join and lead the growing movement to abolish nuclear weapons and work to bring the other nuclear weapons states into a binding agreement that sets out the detailed time line for eliminating these weapons and the detailed verification and enforcement mechanisms to make sure they are eliminated.
This will not be an easy task, but we really have no choice. If we don’t get rid of these weapons, someday, perhaps sooner rather than later, they will be used and they will destroy human civilization. The decision is ours.
Ira Helfand , MD, is past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility and is currently co-president of that group’s global federation, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. Join the debate on Facebook Ira Helfand MD practices internal medicine at an urgent care center in Springfield, MA. He is a Past President of Physicians for Social Responsibility and is currently the Co-President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War , the 1985 Nobel Peace Laureate. | 1real |
Right-Wing Broadcaster: Teenage Girl Is A ‘Prostitute’ For Being Afraid Of Bundy Militia (VIDEO) | We recently saw the heartbreaking plea of 15-year-old Ashlie Presley, who lives in the area that is currently being occupied by Ammon Bundy and his band of would-be domestic terrorists. She bravely took the microphone and tearfully explained why she was begging the militia to leave. One would think that most people would feel sympathy for her, but no, some people are too callous to feel anything at all. One such person is right-wing broadcast personality Pete Santilli.Presley is the granddaughter of Judge Steven Grasty, and Santilli decided to capitalize on that fact. He said that Grasty had allowed his grandchild to become a prostitute. In one of his broadcasts, live from the wildlife refuge where the militants are camped out, Santilli said: That judge was prostituting his granddaughter for political purposes, I m going to call it for what it is. If it were my granddaughter, I would not treat her like a prostitute like he did. He then went on to attack anyone and everyone who opposes what this militia is doing, calling them bunch of effing communists for letting the child speak at the meeting. Santilli ranted: What he did with his granddaughter is disgusting. It s called prostitution, okay? Except you gave it up for free She s a young girl, she did just a masterful dramatic performance. The only reason that anyone needs to be fearful about what s going on around here are the corrupt bastards like her grandfather. He needs to be fearful because we re going to investigate and we re going to bring some justice to a judge. So, it sounds like this guy is not only attacking a vulnerable, scared teenage girl, but he is also threatening a judge. When will these yahoos be arrested?Watch the video of Santilli s vile remarks below:Featured image via screen capture from Raw Story | 1real |
Merkel brings shuttle diplomacy to White House | Washington (CNN) Angela Merkel, the German chancellor desperately working to reach a diplomatic accord ending unrest in eastern Ukraine, continued her efforts at the White House Monday, urging President Barack Obama to forestall sending lethal aid to Kiev.
Her efforts appeared effective; at a midday press conference, Obama said he hadn't yet decided whether or not to send arms and equipment to besieged Ukrainian troops in the eastern part of the country.
But both leaders hinted there could be disagreements to come on how to best end the unrest that has waged for months and so far claimed 5,000 lives. Obama left open the possibility of equipping Ukrainians with American weapons if Merkel's latest attempt at brokering a diplomatic end to the violence fails.
"There may be some areas where there tactical disagreements," Obama said. "There may not be. But the broad principle that we have to stand up for, not just Ukraine, but the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty is one where we are completely unified."
Merkel used similar language, saying through a translator the alliance between the United States and Europe will continue to stand, will continue to be solid, even though on certain issues we may not always agree."
It was the latest bid in Merkel's shuttle diplomacy, which has taken the East Germany-born chancellor from Kiev to Moscow to the White House in just a matter of days. She's headed to Belarus for more talks on Ukraine on Wednesday.
Obama and Merkel hoped to display a united front against Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose government has backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine. Tough economic sanctions levied both by the United States and Europe have severely degraded Russia's economy, but until now haven't stopped Putin from his territorial campaign.
The united front was intact on Monday as Obama and Merkel underscored their alignment on sanctions and preference toward achieving peace through diplomacy.
"I am absolutely confident that we will do this together," Merkel said of the diplomatic efforts. "I myself actually would not be able to live with not having made this attempt."
The show of unity could be weakened if Obama decides to follow the advice of a bipartisan group of lawmakers and former administration officials pushing for greater lethal aid to Kiev. Under pressure from American lawmakers and former administration officials, the White House has said it's reconsidering whether or not to send arms to Ukrainian troops.
"It's not based on the idea that Ukraine could defeat a Russian army that was determined," Obama said of his administration's deliberations. "It is rather to see whether or not there are additional things we can do to help Ukraine bolster its defenses in the face of separatist aggression."
He failed to give a timeline for his deliberations on lethal aid to Ukraine, nor did he cite any specific move by Russia that would prompt him to decide either way.
Obama has been reluctant to send lethal aid overseas in the multiple world crises he's faced, citing the potential for the arms to wind up in the hands of enemies. In Ukraine, administration officials say they're worried that shipments of U.S. weapons could elevate the unrest there into a proxy war with Russia. And they're unsure of the Ukrainians' ability to effectively use American-supplied arms.
Republicans and Democrats have pressed the topic both in the United States and overseas. Sen. John McCain, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said at a security conference in Munich this weekend that Ukrainian troops were woefully underprepared for battle.
"The Ukrainians are being slaughtered and we're sending them blankets and meals. Blankets don't do well against Russian tanks," McCain said, echoing the plea Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko made to Congress in September.
Others who are closer to Obama, including the president's former Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy and his current nominee to become defense secretary Ashton Carter, have also said they believe the U.S. should supply Kiev with lethal aid.
Merkel has staunchly opposed that tack, arguing more military aid could escalate the crisis further.
"The progress that Ukraine needs cannot be achieved with more weapons," she said over the weekend. "I have grave doubts about the validity of this point."
Merkel has positioned herself as the diplomatic envoy between the West and Russia, traveling to Moscow last week for closed-door meetings with Putin and French President Francois Hollande. The summit, however, concluded without a clear path toward ending the escalating violence in Eastern Ukraine.
A weekend telephone call between Merkel, Putin, Hollande and Poroshenko ended with the leaders agreeing to meet in Belarus on Wednesday, though firm details of the session weren't finalized.
The European leaders -- recognizing their country's stronger economic ties to Russia -- have been eager to broker a ceasefire diplomatically, a goal that so far has remained elusive.
Obama, who released a National Security Strategy last week with a heavy emphasis on diplomacy, has held similar views, saying the crisis in Ukraine won't end militarily.
But so far diplomacy has produced few results. A September agreement calling for drawback of heavy arms and a buffer zone disintegrated shortly after it was signed. Subsequent calls to adhere to the plan were ignored. | 0fake |
Michelle Obama Wore A Nice Dress, So Conservatives Called Her ‘Ape’ And ‘Gorilla’ (SCREENSHOTS) | This may shock you, but Michelle Obama wears clothing. In fact, sometimes she wears very nice clothing, like the Naeem Khan dress she wore to the Nordic state dinner on Friday. The Washington Post reports:Michelle Obama is standing out in a sea of black tuxedos in a blush-colored, strapless, floor-length gown at the Nordic Summit dinner.The first lady chose a dress by Indian-born designer Naeem Khan for the White House dinner honoring the leaders of Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Denmark and Norway. She finished the look with gold jewelry and a wispy chignon.While state dinners typically celebrate a single head of state and Mrs. Obama often wears a gown by a designer from the country being honored the Nordic party was a twist on typical White House protocol.The President did, indeed, step on his wife s dress. The First Lady feigned outrage, then the couple had some fun with the situation. She looks good, Barack said when the two paused for photographs. He stepped on my dress, Michelle followed up. The President then put a finger up to his lips, playfully shushing as though the incident was to remain a huge secret. It was a very human moment for the First Couple. Naturally, conservatives had to jump in to share their thoughts on the apes in the White House. You can put lipstick on a monkey, but you still have a monkey, one commenter on ABC News Facebook page wrote. One person wondered if his (Michelle s) fake booby popped out of the dress. Others lamented that she did not fall and harm herself, while some chose to simply call her a pig and a gorilla. The unbridled hatred leveled at the First Family is unprecedented. Recently, upon learning that Malia Obama had gotten into Harvard, Fox News fans took time out of their busy day of huffing paint fumes and masturbating to Donald Trump s photograph to inform everyone they thought she was a n*gger. Barack and Michelle Obama have weathered a nonstop barrage of racist comments since before the President was elected the first time, but conservatives have not been remotely content to leave it at that. They genuinely believe that black people living in the WHITE ( White is, after all, in the name) HOUSE is a crime against nature.Barack Obama has been arguably the best President in decades, perhaps in our country s history, and will probably be the best for at least decades to come. Michelle Obama is a classy woman whose strength has enabled the President to be all that he is. Their children are impressive young ladies who will certainly make an impact on the world. The problem is that our frenemies on the Right are incapable of seeing anything more than a skin color they hate.Watch this deeply human event unfold below:Featured image via screengrab | 1real |
Ryan urges Obama to rule out sanctions 'workarounds' for Iran | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, called on President Barack Obama on Monday to “definitively” rule out any possible sanctions “workaround” that might provide Iran, directly or indirectly, with access to the U.S. financial system or dollar. “Instead of helping the regime get richer, the administration should hold it accountable for its continued ballistic missile tests, egregious human rights violations and support for terrorism,” the Republican congressional leader said in his strongest statement yet on the issue. | 0fake |
Rachel Dratch Brings Up OBVIOUS Problem With Trump No One Seems To Be Saying (TWEET) | With Donald Trump throwing a Twitter tantrum from the very early morning throughout the afternoon on Sunday, it makes you wonder what exactly he plans to do once he s actually inside the Oval Office. He clearly has anger issues and he doesn t know how to handle any sort of conflict, especially criticism against him.He s even been saying that he won the popular vote which he so very clearly DID NOT, because Hillary Clinton currently holds a 2.2 million vote lead that continues to climb. Then he says that there was voter fraud in other states.In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016Serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California so why isn't the media reporting on this? Serious bias big problem! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2016Those, of course, being states Hillary won, so of course he s saying there s fraud there since the states he supposedly won are the ones currently being looked at for a recount. He s throwing his typical I know you are, but what am I? behavior that he became notorious for over the course of the entire election.He is literally spiraling out of control.Noticing this clear spiral was none other than SNL alum and entertainer extraordinaire, Rachel Dratch.Dratch tweeted out the obvious that no one seems to want to point out: The fact that no one seems to have the power to take his damn *phone* away makes me extremely nervous about all the other buttons. The fact that no one seems to have the power to take his damn *phone* away makes me extremely nervous about all the other buttons Rachel Dratch (@TheRealDratch) November 27, 2016Which is exactly right. If he can t control his Twitter habits, and no one else seems to be able to control him either, what the hell is going to happen when he gains control over our military, or scarier yet, our nuclear codes? It s absolutely horrifying.It s certainly going to be an interesting next few weeks as recounts get underway.Featured Photo by Brad Barket, Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 1real |
Palestine's Abbas says U.S. Jerusalem decision 'greatest crime' | CAIRO (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday, the Trump administration s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was the greatest crime and a flagrant violation of international law. Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Palestine, he told an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Turkey. He said the United States was giving away Jerusalem as if it were an American city. It crosses all the red lines, he said. Abbas said it was unacceptable for the United States to have a role in the Middle East peace process because it was biased in favor of Israel. | 0fake |
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