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BREAKING: STATE DEPARTMENT Asked FBI To Switch Clinton ‘Classified’ Email To ‘Unclassified’ For ‘Quid Pro Quo’…Intent! | In the documents, an unnamed person interviewed by the FBI said Kennedy contacted the FBI to ask for the change in classification in exchange for a quid pro quo.' Whether or not Clinton sent classified emails from her private server that could have jeopardized national security has become a key issue ahead of the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 8, when Clinton will face Republican nominee Donald Trump.Catherine Herridge of FOX News is a class act and out there telling the truth day after day. Here s her truth bomb on this effort to protect Hillary Clinton:FBI releases docs showing a State Dept exec wanted changes to email classification that would benefit dept & shield HRC, Herridge reports. pic.twitter.com/JMNethoRmX Fox News (@FoxNews) October 17, 2016 VIA: REUTERS | 1real |
Woodward On Clinton Foundation “It’s Corrupt” | Woodward On Clinton Foundation “It’s Corrupt” By VNN on October 28, 2016 He’s correct: The Clinton Foundation is corrupt, and voters should be troubled by Clinton’s role in the unethical pay-for-play scandals.
Conservative Tribune
Voters have been concerned about Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s involvement in the scandal-ridden Clinton Foundation.
Liberal journalist Bob Woodward legitimized those concerns Sunday on Fox News by pointing to the Foundation’s “ pay-for-play ” scandals while Clinton served as secretary of state as something that should trouble voters.
Woodward, who broke the Watergate story that led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon, told host Chris Wallace in no uncertain terms that the Clinton Foundation is “corrupt” and a “scandal.”
Watch Woodward’s comments on Fox News Sunday here:
“There are allegations about the Clinton Foundation and pay-for-play,” Wallace said. “When you see what seems to be clear evidence that Clinton Foundation donors were being treated differently than non-donors in terms of access, when you see this new revelations (sic) about the $12 million deal between Hillary Clinton, the Foundation and the King of Morocco, are voters right to be troubled by this?”
“Yes,” Woodward responded. “ It’s corrupt . It’s a scandal.”
Wallace had attempted to get answers from Clinton about the issue at the final presidential debate with Republican candidate Donald Trump.
But of course Clinton ducked the moderator’s question and instead talked about the organization’s charitable donations rather than its extreme conflicts of interest — something Woodward took note of and criticized her for.
“She didn’t answer your question at all,” Woodward told Wallace. “And she turned to embrace the good work that the Clinton Foundation has done.”
Woodward apparently didn’t want to discredit the “good work” done by the organization, but pointed out that even its “good work” is compromised by the overwhelming evidence of corruption.
“(T)he mixing of speech fees, the Clinton Foundation and actions by the State Department — which she ran — are all intertwined and it’s corrupt,” he argued.
He’s correct: The Clinton Foundation is corrupt, and voters should be troubled by Clinton’s role in the unethical pay-for-play scandals.
Unfortunately Clinton has an acute ability to avoid being held accountable for her scandals, but we have faith in the American people and their desire to be led by a person with integrity and respect for the office he holds, not someone who continuously looks for ways for his political power to benefit his personal life.
Like and share on Facebook and Twitter if you agree with Bob Woodward about Hillary Clinton and her family’s scandal-ridden Clinton Foundation. What do you think about Woodward’s criticism of Clinton? Scroll down to comment below!
Also see | 1real |
WOW! REMEMBER WHEN MEDIA SAID TRUMP Mocked Disabled Reporter? Here’s PROOF They LIED! [VIDEO] | Kudos to Catholics4Trump for providing evidence that the story Hillary and her comrades in the media have been telling American voters for months about Trump mocking a disabled man was nothing more than an opportunity for them to fabricate a story about Trump, in hopes of making him look like an awful human being. Meanwhile, it accomplished what they had hoped for. It took the focus off Hillary and her corrupt and dangerous behavior as our Secretary of State and helped to diminish Trump in the eyes of many Americans. But here s the proof they were lying:At the Democratic National Convention speakers repeated the claim, amplified ad nauseam by the left and establishment GOP opponents over the past year, that Donald Trump mocked the disability of New York Times reporter, Serge Kovaleski. This accusation has served as a very convenient tool to both smear Trump s character and to avoid having to confront him on substantive political issues. But is it true? Here is the story the media is not telling you.It all started on November 21, 2015 when, at a rally, Trump said he remembered seeing reports of Arab Americans celebrating the 9/11 terror attacks on rooftops in New Jersey shortly after the twin towers fell. As he told George Stephanopolous in an interview the next day on ABC s This Week :Stephanopolous and all of the major news outlets immediately denied the existence of any such news reports following 9/11. One paper, the Washington Post, even went so far as to write a detailed article claiming to fact check Mr. Trump. After an exhaustive review, the Post lectured that there was absolutely no evidence of Trump s claim and deemed it false.Imagine the Washington Post s surprise when Trump uncovered one of the Washington Post s own reporters, Serge Kovaleski, supporting the claim in an article Kovaleski wrote for them on September 18, 2001. Kovaleski wrote:Very embarrassing for the media, especially the Washington Post which had done such a great job scouring news reports after 9/11 that they missed their very own story on the subject. It was in this state of embarrassment that the media was desperate to distract from the matter. The Washington Post ended up finding Kovaleski, now writing for the New York Times, so he could do damage control. Kovaleski predictably tried to backtrack from his 2001 account saying he didn t remember the details:Enter Donald Trump s rally in South Carolina soon thereafter. During the rally Trump pointed all of this out and paraphrased Kovaleski s backtracking as he impersonated a groveling reporter changing his story under pressure. While he did this, Trump moved his hands around quickly, acting flustered.Soon thereafter, the media revealed still photos of Kovaleski with his right hand in a permanently flexed position downward announcing that he was disabled. The media then shifted from trying to defend their oversight of the 9/11 Post article and instead, with disapproving shocked outrage, accused Trump of mocking a reporter s disability. Some liberals went even further and freeze-framed a millisecond of the Trump video at the exact moment when his hand went into a flexed posture. Then they dishonestly put this screen capture side by side with a picture of Kovaleski s flexed hand. Thus, you saw the following photo spread like wildfire over social media with commentary condescendingly and horrifyingly excoriating trump as a monster:The media s clear implication was that Trump was mocking the way Kovaleski moved his arms. People watching the clip of Trump s impersonation only knew that Kovaleski was disabled. Thus, they naturally assumed Kovaleski s disability must be similar to cerebral palsy where he has limited control of his movements and is prone to have muscle spasms or move his arms in jerky motions as Trump was doing at the rally. This is precisely the image the media wanted in people s minds. They wanted this to be the story: that Donald Trump knowingly and intentionally mocked the flailing arm motions of someone who can t control his muscles. They knew this would naturally trigger a visceral reaction of disgust from viewers and outrage amongst the disabled and all decent Americans, many of whom, to this day, think this is exactly what happened. Is it?What the media did not choose to show you was video of Serge Kovaleski. Notice how the media only showed and still shows photos of him. This was done for a reason. As it turns out, Kovaleski s disability is a congenital condition called arthrogryposis. Arthrogryposis causes restricted movement in the joints but does not cause spasms or uncontrolled moving of the limbs like cerebral palsy does.To show the depths of the deceit, one CNN reporter explained, while displaying a still photo of him, that Kovaleski, suffers from a chronic condition that impairs movement of his arms. Again, the implication is that Kovaleski can t control his arms from moving.To the contrary, Kovaleski appears perfectly calm when giving interviews. Thus, if Trump truly wanted to mock Kovaleski s disability, he would have had to stand perfectly still with a flexed right hand and not flail his arms. don t believe me? Watch the video:Here is Trump explaining that he NEVER mocked the leftist NYT s reporter who was using Trump s misconstrued comments and body language to do a hatchet job on his character:Here s Hillary using a bogus story about Trump created by the leftist media in an attempt to distract from her criminal and reckless behavior as Secretary of State:And finally, watch Trump use almost the EXACT hand movements when referring to the NOT disabled Ted Cruz or the General he spoke of while using similar hand movements:https://youtu.be/ydGOPzW227EBy the way here s the video proving Trump was also correct about Muslim s celebrating in Jersey City after 9-11 terror attack:Via: Catholics4Trump | 1real |
Russia, Saudi Arabia sign atomic energy cooperation roadmap | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and Saudi Arabia have signed a roadmap for cooperation in the atomic energy sector, Russian state nuclear company Rosatom said on Thursday. The roadmap comprises a number of steps needed to implement a cooperation program that was signed by the two nations during Saudi King Salman s visit to Russia in October. Saudi Arabia, which wants to reduce oil consumption at home, is considering building 17.6 gigawatts of nuclear-powered electricity generating capacity by 2032 and has sent a request for information to international suppliers to build two reactors in the kingdom. Last month Rosatom said it hoped to win the Saudi tender. | 0fake |
At NYT, “talented reporters scrambled to match stories with what internally was often called ‘the narrative.’” - The Unz Review | Here's something interesting from The Unz Review... Recipient Name Recipient Email =>
Former Washington Post film critic Stephen Hunter has a depiction of “The Narrative” in one of his novels. Now, here’s former New York Times entertainment industry reporter Michael Cieply with some interesting observations on The Narrative at the NYT . From Deadline :
by Michael Cieply November 10, 2016 12:59pm
It’s been a moment for soul-searching, and to some extent repentance, at the New York Times. In much-discussed remarks to his own media columnist James Rutenberg, executive editor Dean Baquet offered a mea culpa for having missed the Donald Trump surprise, though he spoke less for the paper than for journalists in general. “We’ve got to do a much better job of being on the road, out in the country, talking to different kinds of people than we talk to — especially if you happen to be a New York-based news organization — and remind ourselves that New York is not the real world,” Baquet said.
… “As The Times begins a period of self-reflection, I hope its editors will think hard about the half of America the paper too seldom covers,” wrote Spayd.
She continued: “The red state America campaign coverage that rang the loudest in news coverage grew out of Trump rallies, and it often amplified the voices of the most hateful. One especially compelling video produced with footage collected over months on the campaign trail, captured the ugly vitriol like few others. That’s important coverage.
Or it’s intentionally misleading.
But it and pieces like it drowned out the kind of agenda-free, deep narratives that could have taken Times readers deeper into the lives and values of the people who just elected the next president.”
Having left the Times on July 25, after almost 12 years as an editor and correspondent, I missed the main heat of the presidential campaign; so I can’t add a word to those self-assessments of the recent political coverage. But these recent mornings-after leave me with some hard-earned thoughts about the Times’ drift from its moorings in the nation at-large.
For starters, it’s important to accept that the New York Times has always — or at least for many decades — been a far more editor-driven, and self-conscious, publication than many of those with which it competes. Historically, the Los Angeles Times, where I worked twice, for instance, was a reporter-driven, bottom-up newspaper. Most editors wanted to know, every day, before the first morning meeting: “What are you hearing? What have you got?”
It was a shock on arriving at the New York Times in 2004, as the paper’s movie editor, to realize that its editorial dynamic was essentially the reverse. By and large, talented reporters scrambled to match stories with what internally was often called “the narrative.” We were occasionally asked to map a narrative for our various beats a year in advance, square the plan with editors, then generate stories that fit the pre-designated line.
Reality usually had a way of intervening. But I knew one senior reporter who would play solitaire on his computer in the mornings, waiting for his editors to come through with marching orders. Once, in the Los Angeles bureau, I listened to a visiting National staff reporter tell a contact, more or less: “My editor needs someone to say such-and-such, could you say that?”
The bigger shock came on being told, at least twice, by Times editors who were describing the paper’s daily Page One meeting: “We set the agenda for the country in that room.”
You can see this in agenda-driven stuff like World War T and the Military / Campus Rape Culture hysterics. These are not news, they are planned campaigns of psychological warfare. | 1real |
GOP voters want an apocalypse: The truth about Trump & Carson’s success | It’s interesting how that’s unfolding. None of the governors are panning out. Texas Governor Rick Perry, whose record running one of the biggest state’s successfully on a Republican platform was no help, dropped out first; followed by the union slaying Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Both had been highly touted as excellent presidential material based on their records. None of the current and former governors, from Bush to Kasich, Christie, Huckabee, Jindal and Pataki, have caught fire either. Between them, they have decades of executive experience and yet they can’t get any momentum. This flies in the face of everything we’ve ever heard about the Republican reverence for state government, for executive experience and the ability to get results from Republican policies.
For a long time it was assumed that Senators were unsuited for the task of the presidency, what with their lack experience “running things.” Not that this stopped them from running for president, but it hadn’t escaped anyone’s notice that until 2008 the last Senator to become president had been elected in 1960. Barack Obama broke that long streak and the Republicans have a handful of Senators to choose from in 2016. Two of the four in the race, Rubio and Cruz, seem to be doing slightly better than the governors, and are at this point seen as “establishment” alternatives, even though neither of them are polling at more than 11 percent. The third, Rand Paul, once touted as the leader of a new libertarian, isolationist Republican Party, has turned out to be irrelevant. The fourth, Senator Lindsay Graham, is a joke.
There you have the vaunted GOP bench — the well-prepared, highly qualified, totally experienced group of veterans, any one of whom the country was supposed to be able to see as president. And Republican primary voters can’t stand any of them. They are, instead, enthralled with two men who have never held public office, and seem not to even understand our system of government or care how it works.
The Hill asked some Republican strategists to explain this phenomenon:
“It’s a different test this time around,” said GOP strategist David Payne. “Experience, executive experience, these aren’t the tests. It’s about the right ideas and the right temperament and coming off as tough. You see how important the debates have been. Style and presentation matter more than ever, more even than if you were a great leader in the past.” […] “Republicans this year don’t want managers, they want transformers,” conservative Iowa radio host Steve Deace, a Cruz supporter, told The Hill. “They don’t want reform, they want revolution. They don’t want a better government, they want a new government. The ground has shifted and the grassroots conservatives have taken the establishment’s preeminence away.”
Say what you will about Trump and Carson, they are both entertaining. But it’s the revolutionary aspect of their candidacies that’s interesting.
It’s not exactly a surprise that Republican voters hate government. It’s been their number one organizing principle for years. In fact, the Sainted Ronald Reagan himself was known for his saying “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” And we know they hate liberals. They have spent decades denigrating the philosophy,the ideology and even the word itself. But until now they haven’t hated the Republican Party. And boy do they hate it.
What seems to have happened is that GOP base voters feel betrayed and disillusioned because they voted for a Republican Congress and that Congress has failed to deliver the agenda on which they ran. First of all, they failed to remove President Obama from office, either through impeachment or at the ballot box in 2012. They also failed to repeal Obamacare,”close the borders,” ban abortion, stop gay marriage, or end political correctness, just for starters. Someone forgot to tell Republican voters that there are three branches of government regulated by checks and balances, and other people in their own party, as well as the opposition party, who have different agendas competing with their own. If you listen to right-wing media and follow what’s being said in the conservative bubble, it’s understandable. They were told that they won a huge mandate, and now they quite logically blame the people who have been making promises they don’t keep. When they listen to these professional politicians running for their party’s nomination, they just hear more of the same — and they don’t want to hear it anymore. They want someone who will assure them that this creaky government system with all those checks and balances, and all the resultant gridlock, will not be a hinderance to achievement of their agenda. They are tired of waiting. And right now they have two presidential candidates who are promising a different way of doing things. Donald Trump is running to be a strongman. It’s all about him “getting the job done” because he’s smarter and tougher than everyone else. (This is a familiar archetype and Trump’s specific relationship to it is fascinatingly explored in this piece by Rick Perlstein, called “Donald Trump and the F-word.”) Ben Carson is a little bit more complicated. He’s running as a quasi-religious leader who will be able to overcome all these obstacles through the same miraculous process that has characterized his life story. (The recent questions about some details of that very famous life story have only resulted in adding martyrdom to his mystique.) In both cases, the people who like them are not merely attracted to the fact that these men are outsiders, but also by qualities that will ostensibly allow them to transcend the normal process of democratic government. Despite their professions of love for the constitution, these voters no longer believe in the system of government that constitution sets forth. It’s still possible that these voters are simply “sending a message” to the powers that be, telling them that they are at the ends of their ropes. That’s certainly what the establishment hopes is happening: Republicans like Cullen, who says he cannot support Trump, Carson or Cruz, say it’s still early, and the party will rally behind they types of candidates it’s nominated in the past. “Some of these guys still look like summer love affairs to me, even if we’re well into the fall now,” he said. “I still think voters will want look to take the polished young man home that they can show off to mom and dad.” That courtly tone sounds as out of place in the Trump era as if he were speaking Elizabethan english. These Republican voters have been listening to talk radio and watching Fox news and reading thousands of Tea Party emails for years and they want a man of action. When they talk about revolution it’s not the white wigged American style. They’re thinking of something much more “top-down.” | 0fake |
HILLARY EPICALLY BOMBS PRESS CONFERENCE About Weekends Attacks By Saying All The Wrong Things [VIDEO] | Hillary Clinton is known world-wide for saying and doing the most ridiculous things, but her press conference concerning the attacks over the weekend has to be the most ridiculous to date.Any American that truly decides to actually listen to the things she said can see that she has run out of any form of ammo against Trump that she thought she had.Just a few of the things she said that will make you think twice: We need a better Visa System. Lets remember what happened on 9/11. These were not refugees. We need to do everything we can to support law enforcement. We will defeat the evil, twisted ideology of the terrorists. Take the fight to ISIS everywhere they threaten us. These are just a few in a 12 minute long dialogue that sounds like she is doing her best to literally say the opposite of everything she has ever said before. Hillary even has the gall to claim that Trump is aiding and abetting terrorists. She must have forgotten that she is the one who takes monetary gifts from places like Iran.In an ironic twist Hillary basically blames Trump for any and all attacks saying that his anti-Muslim rhetoric is the root cause for Muslims to want to attack us. Really Hillary?Clinton has tried to push the refugee program on us even after it was made clear that the refugees cannot be vetted properly. She has fully supported Black Lives Matter and continuously disrespects Law Enforcement. Hillary has said more than once that she supports the rights of Muslims in America (Sharia Law). Furthermore she tries to label anyone that protests the radical ideology of Islam as terrorists. Every word she says in the press conference is a direct contradiction of her record: | 1real |
Insurance Prices for Many Obamacare Customers Will Rise By Double Digits in 2017 | Insurance Prices for Many Obamacare Customers Will Rise By Double Digits in 2017
The cost of private health insurance arranged under President Obama’s health care law will rise by double-digit percentages and many Americans will have only one insurer to choose from, the White House confirmed.
The Associated Press reports :
Before taxpayer-provided subsidies, premiums for a midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent across the 39 states served by the federally run online market, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. Some states will see much bigger jumps, others less.
Moreover, about 1 in 5 consumers will only have plans from a single insurer to pick from, after major national carriers such as UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Aetna scaled back their roles.
“Consumers will be faced this year with not only big premium increases but also with a declining number of insurers participating, and that will lead to a tumultuous open enrollment period,” said Larry Levitt, who tracks the health care law for the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. …
In some states, the premium increases are striking. In Arizona, unsubsidized premiums for a hypothetical 27-year-old buying a benchmark “second-lowest cost silver plan” will jump by 116 percent, from $196 to $422, according to the administration report.
But HHS said if that hypothetical consumer has a fairly modest income, making $25,000 a year, the subsidies would cover $280 of the new premium, and the consumer would pay $142. Caveat: if the consumer is making $30,000 or $40,000 his or her subsidy would be significantly lower.
The total number of insurers will drop from 232 this year to 167 in 2017, a loss of 28 percent. Switching will be a burden for patients with chronic conditions or other complications.
While many carriers are offering a choice of plan designs, most use a single prescription formulary and physician network across all their products, explained Pearson. “So, enrollees may need to change doctors or drugs when they switch insurers,” she said.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has proposed “an array of fixes, including sweetening the law’s subsidies and allowing more people to qualify for financial assistance,” AP reports. Americans will deliver profits to insurance companies either way, as subsidy money comes from taxpayers and represents a loss of public services Americans could otherwise provide themselves. | 1real |
OBAMA’S RACISM CZAR, “REVEREND” AL SHARPTON CALLS FOR FEDERAL POLICE FORCE | Yeah putting the federal government in charge of our entire police force, sounds like a great idea Al. We re waiting for Al to call for an all black police force next you know, in the name of fairness. Rev. Al Sharpton called for national policing legislation akin to the Civil Rights Act this morning at the kickoff his National Action Network s annual convention, just after the arrest of a white South Carolina police officer for murder in the shooting of an unarmed black man. There must be national policy and national law on policing, Mr. Sharpton said. We can t go from state to state, we ve got to have national law to protect people against these continued questions. Mr. Sharpton s comments, coming on the heels of multiple instances of police killings of unarmed men of color around the country, were met with applause from the crowd and from the dais, which was packed with elected officials including Mayor Bill de Blasio, Congressman Charles Rangel, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, city Comptroller Scott Stringer and state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoliThe convention kickoff, which featured a ribbon cutting with the lawmakers, came just hours after it was announced last night that North Charleston, S.C., police officer Michael T. Slager would be charged with murder in the death of Walter Scott who can be seen in a widely publicized video running away from Mr. Slager, while the officer shoots into the man s back repeatedly. The video offers a markedly different story than the one Mr. Slager first offered up: that Scott had stolen his taser and left him in fear for his life.Mr. Sharpton praised the city s mayor and police chief for bringing the charges, but said the nation couldn t rely on the judgement of local officials. We commend them, but we cannot have a justice system that hopes we have a mayor in the right city or a police chief, he said. We have to have one policy that is national. Mr. Sharpton later noted that the comparatively small town s officials had been braver than police leaders in bigger cities. He has been vocal about his belief that New York City police Daniel Pantaleo should have been charged with a crime in the death of an unarmed black Staten Island man, Eric Garner. A grand jury declined to indict Mr. Pantaleo, spurring protests throughout the city.That death, too, was captured in a widely published video. And though the footage did not lead to any charges, Mr. Sharpton said today the national legislation should focus on cameras as well as accountability. He compared the fight for police reform to the civil rights struggle, noting that activists did not try to fix discrimination in individual states or cities. They fought for a national Civil Rights Act, a national Voting Rights Act. It s time for this country to have national policing, Mr. Sharpton said.After the ribbon cutting, Mr. de Blasio whose first year in office was dominated by an effort to reform police-community relations after Garner s death and a subsequent City Hall feud with police union leadership said he agreed some kind of national standard should be set. It s a broad point he s making, and I think he way he made the analogy to the Voting Rights Act is the right one. We ve got to figure out how to create the right relationship between police and community, Mr. de Blasio told reporters. The vast majority of police do their job well and want to work more closely with the community. Obviously community residents want to work more closely with the police. But we have to create more of a national standard that says we all have to be on the same page. The relationship between Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Sharpton was fodder for his woes with police unions last year: they took umbrage when Mr. Sharpton was seated next to the mayor and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton at a City Hall round table, and dismissed Mr. Sharpton as divisive. A poll later showed voters didn t like the approaches of either Mr. Sharpton or the union leaders and rank-and-file officers who later turned their backs on Mr. de Blasio at the funeral for two slain officers.Today, Mr. Sharpton offered a full-throated defense his relationship with the mayor, saying it was based not on political power but on a long history of working together, citing Mr. de Blasio s support on issues like wage increases and the silent march against stop, question and frisk before his election. He marched with us when other candidates wouldn t. So don t begrudge us for knowing somebody that we always knew, and that was there in the trenches with us, Mr. Sharpton said, saying he had never asked for favors or back room deals only access and policy changes. There s nothing in the back room we want. We want everything out front. Via: The Observer | 1real |
Rebuffing Israel, U.S. Allows Censure Over Settlements - The New York Times | UNITED NATIONS — Defying extraordinary pressure from Donald J. Trump and furious lobbying by Israel, the Obama administration on Friday allowed the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution that condemned Israeli settlement construction. The administration’s decision not to veto the measure reflected its accumulated frustration over Israeli settlements. The American abstention on the vote also broke a longstanding policy of shielding Israel from action at the United Nations that described the settlements as illegal. While the resolution is not expected to have any practical impact on the ground, it is regarded as a major rebuff to Israel, one that could increase its isolation over the paralyzed peace process with Israel’s Palestinian neighbors, who have sought to establish their own state on territory held by Israel. Applause broke out in the Security Council’s chambers after the vote on the measure, which passed 14 to 0, with the United States ambassador, Samantha Power, raising her hand as the lone abstention. Israel’s ambassador, Danny Danon, denounced the measure, and castigated the council members who had approved it. “Would you ban the French from building in Paris?” he told them. The resolution describes the settlement building as a “major obstacle” to peace and demands that Israel stop the construction, which most the world regards as illegal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who had scrambled in recent days to stop the measure from coming to a vote, issued a blistering denunciation afterward. “Israel rejects this shameful resolution at the U. N. and will not abide by its terms,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement. “At a time when the Security Council does nothing to stop the slaughter of half a million people in Syria, it disgracefully gangs up on the one true democracy in the Middle East, Israel, and calls the Western Wall ‘occupied territory.’ ” Mr. Netanyahu immediately retaliated against two of the countries that sponsored the resolution. He ordered Israel’s ambassadors to New Zealand and Senegal to return home for consultations, canceled a planned visit to Israel next month by Senegal’s foreign minister and cut off all aid programs to Senegal. The vote came a day after Mr. Trump personally intervened to keep the measure, which had been originally proposed by Egypt, from coming up for a vote on Thursday, as scheduled. Mr. Trump’s aides said he had spoken to Mr. Netanyahu. Both men also spoke to the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah . Egypt postponed the vote under what that country’s United Nations ambassador called intense pressure. But in a show of mounting exasperation, four other countries on the Security Council — Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal and Venezuela — all of them relatively powerless temporary members with rotating seats, snatched the resolution away from Egypt and put it up for a vote Friday. The Obama administration has been highly critical of Israel’s settlement building, describing it as an impediment to a solution in the conflict that has long been the official United States position, regardless of the party in power. Mr. Trump, who had urged the administration to veto the resolution, has made clear that he will take a far more sympathetic approach to Israel when his administration assumes office on Jan. 20. Mr. Trump’s comments on the resolution amounted to his most direct intervention on United States foreign policy during his transition to power. Minutes after the Security Council vote was announced, Mr. Trump made his anger known in a Twitter posting, saying: “As to the U. N. things will be different after Jan. 20th. ” A range of senators and congressmen from both parties also denounced the resolution, a reflection of the deep loyalty to Israel shared by Democrats and Republicans. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York said, “It is extremely frustrating, disappointing and confounding that the administration has failed to veto this resolution. ” Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who oversees a subcommittee that oversees United Nations funding by the United States, threatened to take steps that could “suspend or significantly reduce” that financing. Reaction to the resolution also illustrated fissures among American Jews regarding Israeli policy. Some, like the World Jewish Congress and American Jewish Committee, called the resolution a measure that would not help the peace process. Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, said in a statement: “It is also disconcerting and unfortunate that the United States, Israel’s greatest ally, chose to abstain rather than veto this counterproductive text. ” Other groups that have grown increasingly critical of the Israeli government’s approach to the peace process applauded the resolution and the Obama administration’s decision not to block it. J Street, a organization that advocates a solution, said the resolution “conveys the overwhelming support of the international community, including Israel’s closest friends and allies, for the solution, and their deep concern over the deteriorating status quo between Israelis and Palestinians and the lack of meaningful progress toward peace. ” Ms. Power, the United States ambassador, portrayed the abstention as consistent with the American disapproval of but she also criticized countries at the United Nations for treating Israel unfairly. She said the United States remained committed to its “steadfast support” for Israel and reminded the council that Israel received an enormous amount of American military aid. Ms. Power said the United States chose not to veto the resolution, as it had done to a similar measure under Mr. Obama in 2011, because settlement building had accelerated so much that it had put the solution in jeopardy, and because the peace process had gone nowhere. “Today the Security Council reaffirmed its established consensus that settlements have no legal validity,” she said. “The United States has been sending a message that settlements must stop privately and publicly for nearly five decades. ” She also rebuked Palestinian leaders for “too often” failing to condemn violence against Israeli civilians. But she directed a portion of her remarks to Mr. Netanyahu, whose relations with the Obama administration have never been warm. “One cannot simultaneously champion expanding Israeli settlements and champion a viable solution that would end the conflict,” she said, arguing that the settlements have undermined Israel’s security. Israel’s ambassador, Mr. Danon, who had exhorted the American delegation to block the measure, expressed his anger in a statement that looked forward to a change in policy under Mr. Trump. “It was to be expected that Israel’s greatest ally would act in accordance with the values that we share and that they would have vetoed this disgraceful resolution,” he said. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, welcomed the resolution’s adoption but tempered his approval with a warning. “In reality, today’s action may be too little too late,” he said. “After years of allowing the law to be trampled and the situation to spiral downward, today’s resolution may rightly be seen as a last attempt to preserve the solution and revive the path for peace. ” The resolution condemned Israeli housing construction in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank as a “flagrant violation under international law” that was “dangerously imperiling the viability” of a future peace settlement establishing a Palestinian state. The resolution also included a nod to Israel and its backers by condemning “all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation, incitement and destruction. ” That language is diplomatic scolding aimed at Palestinian leaders, whom Israel accuses of encouraging attacks on Israeli civilians. Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip and is deemed a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel, expressed appreciation to the Security Council. “We praise the countries that voted for the resolution,” said Hazem Kassem, a spokesman for the group. “We emphasize the need to turn such a resolution into action, not only to halt settlements but to eradicate Israel’s occupation in all its forms. ” | 0fake |
Thirty-two years after quake, angry Mexicans still wait for homes | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - When Tuesday s earthquake struck Mexico, Martha Mejia watched the tin walls of her tiny shack quiver and remembered the smell of death that hung in the air of shattered apartment blocks 32 years before. I wanted to scream because I had lived this all before. I wanted to run out and scream, said the 64-year-old Mejia, whose home was destroyed in a 1985 quake that devastated Mexico City. Back then, I was strong. But this time I felt it more. The 1985 earthquake, which killed around 5,000 people, was a defining moment for the Mexican capital. Three decades on, hundreds of its victims are still living in hovel encampments across the sprawling city of 20 million, waiting for long-promised government-subsidized homes - and now the latest quake has made thousands more people homeless. Mejia s apartment building in the Santa Maria la Ribera neighborhood was shaken to the ground in 1985. Today, she lives in one of the encampments with her husband, her daughter and a granddaughter. Their 10-foot by 20-foot hovel in the Lindavista district in the north of the capital has a double bed, a bunk bed and a stove. Supposedly this place was going to be temporary, but that temporary has been my whole life, she said. A heavy rain pounded on the tin roof of the shack as Mejia watched TV coverage of this week s earthquake and wept. Tuesday s tremor - which struck on the anniversary of the 1985 quake - killed close to 300 people. The time has come for me to give up all illusions, Mejia said. Now with this other earthquake, how many people will be left homeless? They are going to make new shelters and we are going to stay in the same one. According to the leaders of the Lindavista camp, its ramshackle shacks are home to around 750 people, divided into roughly 250 families. There are almost 200 children who are the grandchildren of those originally resettled here, according to local leaders. At least six such camps exist in the capital. Mexico City s housing institute said that since 2016, they have delivered 173 homes to victims of the 1985 quake and expected to hand over 120 more before the end of next year. Data on how many homes have been delivered in total since 1985 was not immediately available. With the race for July s presidential race heating up, President Enrique Pena Nieto, the mayor of Mexico City and governors from the affected states rushed to the scene of the recent devastation, making promises to help those affected. Political parties have vied to outdo each other with offers to donate campaign funds to disaster victims. But there is deep skepticism among Mexicans that they will see enough aid. Jeanete Morales, 41, cleans offices in the city and comes home every night to the Lindavista shanty town she first moved into with her mom when she was nine years old. Their three-story apartment building was severely damaged in 1985 and they were soon forced to leave and brought to the camp. They were told they would only be there for two weeks. Now married with four children, Morales still lives at the camp. Her mother died eight years ago. She died believing she would get her house, Morales said. It makes you so mad. You feel so impotent. Morales said officials at the city s housing institute said they already gave her mother an apartment. Alfredo Villegas, one of the leaders of the camp, said Morales mother had not been given a home despite her name appearing on what he said was a government list of those who had been given homes. The list he produced could not be immediately authenticated by Reuters. The questions is: where are those apartments? Villegas said. He said it seemed that city officials were fraudulently selling homes to others. The cost of the government-subsidized homes depends on a victim s income but is often in the range of 250,000-300-000 pesos ($14,000-$17,000), Villegas said. The housing institute did not immediately respond to request for comment. Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera has said the problem lies with how the institute delivers housing to the loose organizations that represent the people with a claim to the subsidized housing. At least 2,500 people are sleeping in the streets or in their cars in Mexico City after Tuesday s 7.1 magnitude tremor collapsed dozens of buildings and damaged hundreds more. Thousands of others have lost their homes in the states of Morelos, Puebla and the state of Mexico. Many more in Oaxaca and Chiapas lost their homes in the quake that hit southern Mexico on Sept. 7. Hundreds of millions of dollars will be required for reconstruction in Mexico City, according to the mayor. The home of taxi driver Emanuel Jardon, 60, was severely damaged by the collapse of a neighboring building on Tuesday. Wearing a helmet, he cursed politicians as he cleared debris from his home. It is a vile lie. Right now as the campaigns begin...they come to see us, to supervise, but the months will pass and they will forget, he said. I m sorry to be rude, but they suck. | 0fake |
Little-Loved by Scholars, Trump Also Gets Little of Their Cash | Little-Loved by Scholars, Trump Also Gets Little of Their Cash Peter Olsen-Phillips, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 7, 2016
It’s no secret that campaign contributions from higher education have favored Democratic candidates for years. When it comes to the current presidential race, however, data show that the gap between left and right has grown from a rift into a chasm.
A Chronicle analysis of Federal Election Commission data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics shows Donald Trump raising a tiny fraction of the campaign money that the previous two Republican nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, drew from higher-education professionals over comparable time periods.
Across higher education, donations in congressional and Senate races showed a ratio of Democratic to Republican giving similar to that of the two previous presidential-campaign cycles. But support for Mr. Trump stood at less than 8 percent of what Senator McCain raised from higher-ed professionals, and around 4 percent of the donations that Mr. Romney pulled in over the same time period, once the figures were adjusted for inflation.
As of June 30, faculty members and others who work in higher education had donated $76,668 to Mr. Trump’s campaign committee and to support “super PACs”–independent committees that can raise and spend unlimited funds. By comparison, people working in academe had given $6.4 million to Hillary Clinton. Those figures account for donations of at least $200 that the Center for Responsive Politics has determined come from people associated with higher education. They are the most-recent figures available.
{snip} | 1real |
Kuwait Catches Trump In MAJOR Lie But He Refuses To Back Down | Since Donald Trump enacted the travel ban from seven majority Muslim countries last week, he s spent most of his time on the defensive. That position got worse after Trump posted a fake news story on his Facebook timeline that was quickly debunked by the country of Kuwait, but not before the right-wing media ran with it as proof that Trump s Muslim ban is cool, even in the Muslim world.The article, which is still on Trump s Facebook page, said that Kuwait enacted a similar ban to Trump s.Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians, Pakistanis and Afghans will not be able to obtain visit, tourism or trade Kuwaiti visas with the news coming one day after the US slapped its own restrictions on seven Muslim-majority countries.Passport holders from the countries will not be allowed to enter the Gulf state while the blanket ban is in place and have been told not to apply to visas.Trump s post has more than 250,000 likes and nearly 70,000 shares. It was also shared by right-wing sites like Breitbart and Infowars. The only problem is, it didn t happen.The foreign ministry of the Middle Eastern country categorically denies these claims and affirms that these reported nationalities have big communities in Kuwait and enjoy full rights, according to a Sunday morning report in Reuters.The story shared by Trump had alleged that Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians, Pakistanis and Afghans will not be able to obtain visit, tourism or trade Kuwaiti visas with the news coming one day after the US slapped its own restrictions on seven Muslim-majority countries. The story in the Jordanian news outlet Al Bawaba did not have an official statement or order from the Kuwaiti government nor from any of the countries it said were facing a ban.Source: The Daily BeastOf course, Trump hasn t taken the story down, which shouldn t be a surprise at all. The Trump administration is apparently far more comfortable with lies than they are the truth. If they told the truth, they d lose the support of the majority of their followers.Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images. | 1real |
Pieczenik “Rogue FBI Agents and Wikileaks are Spearheading a Movement to Stop the Clintons from Stealing the White House” – TruthFeed | Breaking News Pieczenik “Rogue FBI Agents and Wikileaks are Spearheading a Movement to Stop the Clintons from Stealing the White House” Pieczenik “Rogue FBI Agents and Wikileaks are Spearheading a Movement to Stop the Clintons from Stealing the White House” Breaking News By Amy Moreno November 2, 2016
The world is teaming up to stop crooked Hillary from taking the White House.
From Wikileaks to rogue FBI agents, everyone is doing their part to stop the sinister Clinton Machine.
It’s a joint effort from patriots hailing from every corner of the world.
Watch the video: Breaking:Twitter Friendly Version A soft coup has been launched by FBI to overthrow the Clinton’s hostile takeover of the White House. pic.twitter.com/MrPUlSO1OE
— OakTown ☢MAGA O.G☢ (@hrtablaze) November 2, 2016 This is a movement – we are the political OUTSIDERS fighting against the FAILED GLOBAL ESTABLISHMENT! Join the resistance and help us fight to put America First! Amy Moreno is a Published Author , Pug Lover & Game of Thrones Nerd. You can follow her on Twitter here and Facebook here . Support the Trump Movement and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter. | 1real |
BREAKING: CHARITY FAILED TO REVEAL 1,100 DONORS TO THE CLINTON FOUNDATION | More and more dirt on these two grifters who re shockingly still denying the truth or saying nothing to defend themselves. They have pocketed most of the donations with only 15 cents of every dollar donated going to charity. And now this A charity affiliated with the Clinton Foundation failed to reveal the identities of its 1,100 donors, creating a broad exception to the foundation s promise to disclose funding sources as part of an ethics agreement with the Obama administration.The number of undisclosed contributors to the charity, the Canada-based Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, signals a larger zone of secrecy around foundation donors than was previously known.Details of the organization s fundraising were disclosed this week by a spokeswoman for the Canadian group s founder, mining magnate Frank Giustra.The Canadian group has received attention in recent days as a potential avenue for anonymous Clinton Foundation donations from foreign business executives, including some who had interests before the U.S. government while Hillary Rodham Clinton was secretary of state.The partnership, named in part for Bill Clinton, sends much of its money to the New York-based Clinton Foundation. Two of the partnership s known donors Giustra and another mining executive, Ian Telfer are featured in the soon-to-be-released book Clinton Cash for their roles in a series of deals that resulted in Russia controlling many uranium deposits around the world and in the United States.With the foundation s finances emerging as an issue for Hillary Clinton s presidential campaign, a foundation official this week defended the arrangement with the Giustra group, noting in a blog post that Canadian law prevents charities in that country from disclosing their donors without the donors permission.The Canadian partnership has in recent days begun to reach out to its 28 largest donors, each of whom gave donations equivalent to at least $250,000 in U.S. dollars, to seek permission to release their names, said a person familiar with the foundation, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.The large number of undisclosed supporters of a Clinton-affiliated charity raises new questions about the foundation s adherence to the 2008 ethics agreement it struck with the Obama administration, which was designed to avoid conflicts of interest during Hillary Clinton s tenure at the State Department.Read more: WaPo | 1real |
WATCH: Trump Assumes Black Reporter Can Set Up A Meeting With Black Lawmakers For Him | After claiming that he s the least racist person, Donald trump literally assumed a black reporter could set up a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus for him.Seriously, that actually happened during Trump s first solo press conference on Thursday.After talking about our inner cities like they are apocalyptic crime-infested war zones, American Urban Radio Networks reporter April Ryan asked Trump if he will work with the Congressional Black Caucus. Trump s response was to assume that because Ryan is black she ll know the CBC members. He then told her to set up a meeting with them as if she is his servant. And then he accused Rep. Elijah Cummings of refusing to meet with him.Ryan: When you say inner cities, are you gonna include the CBC, Mr. President, in the conversations with your urban agenda, your inner city agenda, as well as Trump: Am I gonna am I gonna include who?Ryan: Are you gonna include the Congressional Black Caucus and Trump: Well, I would. I tell you what, you want to set up the meeting? Do you want to set up the meeting?Ryan: No, no, no I m just a reporter.Trump: Are they friends of yours?Ryan: I know some of them Trump: No, go ahead, set up the meeting. Let s go. Set up a meeting, I would love to meet with the black caucus. I think it s great, the Congressional Black Caucus, I think it s great. I actually thought I had a meeting with Congressman Cummings, and he was all excited, and then he said, oh, I can t move. It might be bad for me politically. I can t have that meeting. I was all set to have that meeting. You know we called him and called him. And he was all set. I spoke to him on the phone, a nice guy.Ryan: I hear he wanted that meeting with you as well.Trump: He wanted it. But we called called called called. I can t make a meeting with him. Every day, I walk in, I said, I would like to meet with him, because I do want to solve the problem. But he probably was told by Schumer or somebody like that, some other lightweight.He was probably told he was probably told, don t meet with Trump. It s bad politics. That s part of the problem in this country. Okay. One more.Here s the video via The Washington Post.The fact is, however, that the Congressional Black Caucus has already tried to set up a meeting with Trump but he ignored the letter they sent him.Hi, @realDonaldTrump. We re the CBC. We sent you a letter on January 19, but you never wrote us back. Sad! Letter: https://t.co/58KiuHmITF The CBC (@OfficialCBC) February 16, 2017And one Twitter user suggested a reason why Trump didn t respond.@OfficialCBC @realDonaldTrump too many words, too few maps. megan larson (@meganjlarson) February 16, 2017Or, Trump is just a racist and doesn t want to be seen meeting with black people in the White House.Featured image via screenshot | 1real |
Russia’s RT Network: Is It More BBC or K.G.B.? - The New York Times | LONDON — The London newsroom and studios of RT, the television channel and website formerly known as Russia Today, are ultramodern and spacious, with spectacular views from the 16th floor overlooking the Thames and the London Eye. And, its London bureau chief, Nikolay A. Bogachikhin, jokes, “We overlook MI5 and we’re near MI6,” Britain’s domestic and foreign intelligence agencies. Mr. Bogachikhin was poking fun at the charge from Western governments, American and European, that RT is an agent of Kremlin policy and a tool directly used by President Vladimir V. Putin to undermine Western democracies — meddling in the recent American presidential election and, European security officials say, trying to do the same in the Netherlands, France and Germany, all of which vote later this year. But the West is not laughing. Even as Russia insists that RT is just another global network like the BBC or France 24, albeit one offering “alternative views” to the news media, many Western countries regard RT as the slickly produced heart of a broad, often covert disinformation campaign designed to sow doubt about democratic institutions and destabilize the West. Western attention focused on RT when the Obama administration and United States intelligence agencies judged with “high confidence” in January that Mr. Putin had ordered a campaign to “undermine public faith in the U. S. democratic process,” discredit Hillary Clinton through the hacking of Democratic Party internal emails and provide support for Donald J. Trump, who as a candidate said he wanted to improve relations with Russia. The agencies issued a report saying the attack was carried out through the targeted use of real information, some open and some hacked, and the creation of false reports, or “fake news,” broadcast on news media like RT and its sibling, the internet news agency Sputnik. These reports were then amplified on social media, sometimes by computer “bots” that send out thousands of Facebook and Twitter messages. To many Americans, the impression that RT is an instrument of Russian meddling was reinforced when its programming suddenly interrupted ’s online coverage of the House of Representatives in January. ( later called it a technical error, not a hacking.) Watching RT can be a dizzying experience. Hard news and graphics mix with interviews from all sorts of people: well known and obscure, left and right. They include favorites like Julian Assange of WikiLeaks and Noam Chomsky, the liberal critic of Western policies odd voices like the actress Pamela Anderson and cranks who think Washington is the source of all evil in the world. But if there is any unifying character to RT, it is a deep skepticism of Western and American narratives of the world and a fundamental defensiveness about Russia and Mr. Putin. Analysts are sharply divided about the influence of RT. Pointing to its minuscule ratings numbers, many caution against overstating its impact. Yet focusing on ratings may miss the point, says Peter Pomerantsev, who wrote a book three years ago that described Russia’s use of television for propaganda. “Ratings aren’t the main thing for them,” he said. “These are campaigns for financial, political and media influence. ” RT and Sputnik propel those campaigns by helping create the fodder for thousands of fake news propagators and providing another outlet for hacked material that can serve Russian interests, said Ben Nimmo, who studies RT for the Atlantic Council. Whatever its impact, RT is unquestionably a case study in the complexity of modern propaganda. It is both a slick modern television network, dressed up with great visuals and stylish presenters, and a content farm that helps feed the European far right. Viewers find it difficult to discern exactly what is journalism and what is propaganda, what may be “fake news” and what is real but presented with a strong slant. A recent evening featured reports of Britain refusing to condemn human rights violations in Bahrain and a “mainstream media firestorm” over Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s chats with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Other reports included the “liberation” of Palmyra by the Syrian Army with “the support of the Russian Air Force” an interview with former British ambassador to Syria and a United States critic, Peter Ford and a report about a London professor decrying the fall in British living standards. There are “clickbait” videos on RT’s website and stranger pieces, too, like one about a petition to ban the financier George Soros from America for supposedly trying to “destabilize” the country and “drown it” with immigrants for a “globalist goal. ” Mr. Bogachikhin and Anna Belkina, RT’s head of communications in Moscow, insist it is absurd to lump together RT’s effort to provide “alternative views to the mainstream media” with the phenomena of fake news and social media propaganda. “There’s an hysteria about RT,” Ms. Belkina said. “RT becomes a shorthand for everything. ” For example, she says, while RT was featured heavily in the American intelligence report, it was largely in a annex (of a report) that was written more than four years ago, in December 2012, a fact revealed only in a footnote on Page 6. She flatly denies any suggestion that RT seeks to meddle in democratic elections anywhere. “The kind of scrutiny we’re under — we check everything. ” For RT and its viewers, the outlet is a refreshing alternative to what they see as complacent Western elitism and representing what the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov recently called a “ world order. ” With its slogan, created by a Western ad agency, of “Question More,” RT is trying to fill a niche, Ms. Belkina said. “We want to complete the picture rather than add to the echo chamber of mainstream news that’s how we find an audience. ” Nearly all the mainstream media came out against Mr. Trump during the campaign and much of the news coverage about him was negative, she said. “This is why we exist,” Ms. Belkina said. “It’s important to watch RT to hear alternative voices. You might not agree with them, but it’s important to try to understand where they’re coming from and why. ” A French legislator, Nicolas Dhuicq, who has appeared on RT and went to Crimea in 2015 as part of a delegation of French legislators, said that RT’s aim was “to make the voice of Russia heard, to make the Russian point of view on the world heard. ” Still, Mr. Dhuicq said, “the impact of RT, in my opinion, is very low. ” He added: “There is enormous paranoia when we imagine that RT will change the face of the world, influence national or other elections. ” Afshin Rattansi, who hosts a talk show three times a week called “Going Underground,” came to RT in 2013 after working at the BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera and Iran’s Press TV. “Unlike at the BBC and CNN, I was never told what to say at RT,” he said. There have been two cases of RT announcers quitting because of what they said was pressure to toe a Kremlin line, especially on Ukraine, but not in London, Mr. Rattansi said. Michael McFaul, a Stanford professor who was the United States ambassador to Russia during the Obama years, said that RT should not be lightly dismissed. “There is a demand in certain countries for this alternative view, an appetite, and we arrogant Americans shouldn’t just think that no one cares. ” But there is a considerably darker view, too. For critics, RT and Sputnik are simply tools of a sophisticated Russian propaganda machine, created by the Kremlin to push its foreign policy, defend its aggression in Ukraine and undermine confidence in democracy, NATO and the world as we have known it. Robert Pszczel, who ran NATO’s information office in Moscow and watches Russia and the western Balkans for NATO, said that RT and Sputnik were not meant for domestic consumption, unlike the BBC or CNN. Over time, he said, “It’s more about hard power and disinformation. ” The Kremlin doesn’t care “if you agree with Russian policy or think Putin is wonderful, so long as it does the job — you start having doubts, and of 10 outrageous points you take on one or two,” he said. “A bit of mud will always stick. ” Probably more important than RT, Mr. Pszczel said, are Sputnik and local language outlets sponsored by Russia, like the Slovak magazine “Zem a Vek,” known for its conspiracy theories. Sputnik is the largest source of raw news in the Balkans, he said, “because it’s a free product in local languages. ” And “then they set up some friendly association, at some small university, which holds seminars, and then a number of strange websites start promoting the product, like an industrial marketing operation. ” But RT is also helpful in another traditional Moscow effort: making friends with useful people, and not just Mr. Assange, Mr. Pomerantsev said. “RT made Mike Flynn feel good after losing his job” as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, he said, paying him a reported $40, 000 to come to RT’s anniversary celebration in Moscow and sit near Mr. Putin. And Mr. Flynn, for a time, was national security adviser of the United States. Mr. Nimmo of the Atlantic Council noted RT’s small reach in Germany, where Angela Merkel, a Putin critic, is facing a tough fight, and where there are up to 3. 5 million Russian speakers. “I strongly suspect that RT Deutsch has a trivial effect compared to Germans watching Russian television,” he said. Stefan Meister, who studies Russia and Central Europe for the German Council on Foreign Relations, agreed that “we shouldn’t overestimate RT. The main success of the Russians is the link to social media through bots and a network of different sources. ” That network, he said, is “increasingly well organized, with more strategic and explicit links between sources and actors — Russian domestic media, troll factories, RT, people in social networks and maybe also the security services. ” “Open societies are very vulnerable,” Mr. Meister said, “and it’s cheaper than buying a new rocket. ” RT is part of the reality of the 21st century, Mr. Pomerantsev said. “Everyone will do it soon. It’s the world we have to live in. ” Hacks and leaks are much more disruptive, he said. “If you can take out the electrical grid in Ukraine, that’s scary. It’s hard to get too scared about Larry King on RT. ” Mr. Pomerantsev agrees with Ms. Belkina that RT is not inventing popular mistrust about Western democracy. “The Russians are about sowing mistrust about institutions that is there already, feeding it,” he said. “How do we make our institutions more trustworthy?” | 0fake |
Trump's Indonesian business partner sees no conflicts of interest | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s Indonesian business partner dismissed concerns by ethics officials that the U.S. president-elect’s companies’ overseas business deals might be vulnerable to conflicts of interest in an interview on Wednesday. Hary Tanoesoedibjo, 51, is the billionaire chairman and chief executive of MNC Group, which is constructing two luxury resorts in Indonesia that will be managed by the Trump Hotel Collection, a subsidiary of the Trump Organization. Like Trump, Tanoesoedibjo believes his country’s politics could benefit from his business acumen and says he now devotes half his 16-hour days to tending to Perindo, the political party he founded last year, and other political efforts. “We didn’t add any new project since he decided to run for president so I don’t think there is a conflict of interest,” Tanoesoedibjo said in an interview at the Trump International Hotel in Manhattan where he was staying before traveling to Washington for Trump’s inauguration on Friday. “A conflict of interest happens when if after he won the election and then we decided to add more projects. That’s where we get to a gray area,” he said. “But our project actually has been decided long before that.” He said he signed the deal with Trump in early 2015. Trump’s unusual path to the White House as a businessman who has never previously held political office and his decision to retain ownership of his companies has drawn him into conflict with ethics watchdogs. Walter Shaub, director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, has unsuccessfully urged Trump to “divest his conflicting assets.” Trump has said the company would not make any new deals abroad while he is president and that his two elder sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, will take over his roles in running the business. Tanoesoedibjo said he met with the two brothers for two and a half hours on Wednesday morning at Trump Tower to discuss the resorts’ progress, and said Donald Jr. was expected to return to Indonesia this summer. MNC is investing between $500 million and $1 billion in the developments, one near Jakarta and the other in Bali. It is paying the Trump Hotel company to manage luxury hotels, golf courses and country clubs at the two sites. The properties should be open by early 2019, Tanoesoedibjo said. He demurred on how U.S.-Indonesia relations might change under a Trump administration except to welcome Trump’s willingness to take on the United States’ larger trading partners in pursuit of what he calls better trade deals. “When the U.S. is pushing too hard against another big country like China or maybe a European country that may create a situation where that country may shift their investment somewhere else,” Tanoesoedibjo said, “and potentially to Indonesia.” He said he would decide before the end of next year whether to run in Indonesia’s 2019 presidential election, while describing Trump’s victory as inspiring to would-be candidates with thin political experience. “Maybe some day I’ll call him for political advice,” he said. | 0fake |
Exclusive: White House doesn't foresee shutdown, Trump wants 20 percent corporate tax | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is confident it can craft a deal to avoid a government shutdown and foresees a compromise with lawmakers that will include increases in defense and non-defense spending, White House legislative affairs director Marc Short said on Thursday. In an interview with Reuters, Short also said Trump wanted a corporate tax rate of 20 percent in the tax cut package being debated in Congress despite the president saying recently that it could end up higher. Trump held a meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders of Congress on Thursday to work on bridging differences over the U.S. budget and avoid a stop in government services. “We have been willing to go along with additional spending on the non-defense side,” Short said of a potential compromise deal on government spending. “I’m hopeful that ... we find a pathway to get a two-year budget cap deal” that enables budget writers to put together a bill for fiscal year 2018 with boundaries for fiscal year 2019 as well, he said. Short said the White House stood firmly behind the goal of a 20-percent corporate tax rate as part of the planned tax overhaul currently in Congress. Trump’s recent reference to a possible 22-percent corporate tax rate was only a product of conversations he had had with lawmakers, Short said. “I think he was just reflecting what conversations he had heard from them, but that ... wasn’t intended to signal: this is an endorsement of raising the corporate rate,” he said. “When you’re seeing countries like Great Britain go below 20, you’re seeing Ireland at 12 percent, potentially going to single digits, 20 percent is about as high as we feel comfortable going.” Short said he expected Congress to approve the Republicans’ tax effort this year, though Trump may not sign it until 2018. He said the White House supported a deal agreed with Senator Susan Collins that would restore billions of dollars of subsidy payments, called cost-sharing reductions, or CSRs, to health insurers, in exchange for her support for the tax bill. “The reduction of corporate tax rates, the delivery of tax rates for middle income families, the simplification of the tax code for the price of CSR payments was a transaction we were willing to make with Susan Collins,” he said. Short said the president was eager to find a legislative solution for immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children and previously received protection under the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) program. “He is anxious to solve that problem, but doesn’t feel like the funding of our military and the funding of our government should be held hostage by that,” Short said. Democrats have made a solution for DACA a key priority, but House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday they would not shut the government over the issue. Short said he was confident that a shutdown would be avoided. “Not just markets, but Americans shouldn’t worry about it. We’re going to make sure that government stays open and funded. That’s a priority,” he said. Short said the administration planned to outline its priorities for welfare reform next year. That, along with an infrastructure bill, would be top legislative priorities in 2018, though their timing would depend on the congressional calendar, he said. Short also said the White House would support legislation that lays out how to address sexual misconduct by lawmakers. “The White House is supportive, but also I think that we recognize the ability of Congress to self-regulate,” he said. Short, who is the top interlocutor between the White House and Congress and has become a frequent guest on television to explain Trump’s policies, suggested he was staying put despite a recent report saying he could leave the administration. “I have no plans to go anywhere,” he said. | 0fake |
Iran airs 'confessions' of researcher facing death for spying | LONDON (Reuters) - Iranian state television broadcast on Sunday what it described as the confessions of an Iranian academic with Swedish residency who it said had provided information to Israel to help it assassinate several senior nuclear scientists. His wife, speaking by telephone from Stockholm, said he had been forced by his interrogators to read the confession. Iran s Supreme Court upheld last week a death sentence against Ahmadreza Djalali, a doctor and lecturer at the Karolinska Institute, a Stockholm medical university. Djalali was arrested in Iran in April 2016 and later convicted of espionage. He denied the charges. In the television report, Djalali was linked to the assassination of four Iranian scientists between 2010 and 2012 that Tehran said was an Israeli attempt to sabotage its nuclear energy program. Djalali said in the report that he had given the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad information about key nuclear scientists. They were showing me pictures of some people or satellite photos of nuclear facilities and were asking me to give them information about that, Djalali said in the television report. Vida Mehrannia, Djalali s wife, said her husband had been forced to read a pre-agreed confession in front of the camera. After three months in solitary confinement, his interrogators told him that he would be released only if he reads from a text in front of the camera, she told Reuters by telephone from Stockholm. My husband told me that they shouted at him each time he was saying something different from the text and stopped the filming, Mehrannia added. The film said Djalali had agreed to cooperate with Israel in return for money and residency of a European country. We have not received money from anyone and our lifestyle shows that. We don t have a house or a car. We got our Swedish residency after finishing our studies here, Mehrannia said. The film also contained interviews with Majid Jamali Fashi, an Iranian athlete who was hanged in 2012 over the killings of the nuclear scientists. Djalali is the second person found guilty in the same case. Djalali did not have any sensitive information about Iran s nuclear program. If he had, he would have been barred from leaving the country, Mehrannia said. Sweden has condemned the death verdict against Djalali and said it had raised the matter with Iranian envoys in Stockholm and Tehran. Seventy-five Nobel prize laureates petitioned Iranian authorities last month to release Djalali so he could continue his scholarly work for the benefit of mankind . They said Djalali has suggested it was his refusal to work for Iranian intelligence services that led to this unfair, flawed trial . The United Nations and international human rights organizations regularly list Iran as a country with one of the world s highest execution rates. Iran s Revolutionary Guards have arrested at least 30 dual nationals during the past two years, mostly on spying charges. | 0fake |
15 Secret iPhone Codes And Tricks | Share on Facebook A list of secret Apple iPhone codes that can unlock a raft of hidden features and settings has been revealed, allowing users to do anything from enhancing their call quality to checking their mobile balance. While Android is particularly well known for offering a rabbit-hole of an operating system that can be tweaked and tinkered with, Apple's iOS has kept menus and settings relatively simple and locked down. However, there is a way that users can drill down to find some gems not seen on the surface. If you want to find out how many minutes you have left on your phone tariff, what your IMEI number (something you'll need if you swap phone networks) or even find out a way to enhance your iPhone's voice quality there's a way to do it that you won’t find by going to your normal phone's settings. Redmond Pie revealed a full list of the codes and how to use them. By typing in the following secret USSD codes on the dialpad of the phone then pressing the call button you can bring up these tricks: *3001#12345#*: Field Test mode *#5005*7672#: SMS centre number *3370#: Turn on or off EFR (Enhanced Full Rate), a mode that improves your iPhone's call quality *#06#: Find out your iPhone's IMEI number *#31#: Hide your number on calls option *#43#: Check if call waiting is on or off *43#: Turn on call waiting #43#: Turn off call waiting *646#: Check minutes left on contract *225#: Find out your current mobile account balance *777#: Find out prepaid account balance *#61#: Number of missed calls *#21#: Call forwarding status *#67#: Call forwarding number *#33#: Find out what mobile services are disabled on your phone One of the most interesting of the USSD codes is the Field Test mode, which allows users to see their phone-signal strength measured in numbers rather than those five bars. You'll see something displaying such as ‘-90’, with the number going up and down depending on signal. A value above -80 is a full-bar strength, but anything below -110 is very weak. This is a more accurate way of seeing whether you have enough signal to make a call, rather than holding on to hope with one-bar. It's worth noting that you should only use these codes and play around with your settings at your own risk, if you're not sure what something does better leave it be. Related: | 1real |
Babies of obese mothers at high risk of brain damage, stroke, heart attack and asthma | Babies of obese mothers at high risk of brain damage, stroke, heart attack and asthma
Daniel Barker Tags: parental obesity , children , health risks (NaturalNews) The growing number of babies born to obese mothers throughout the world face a higher risk of developing serious health problems in adulthood, according to several recent studies. Children of obese mothers are prone to brain damage, heart disease, stroke and asthma in adulthood, warn health experts.Obese parents pass on the tendency towards obesity to their children, creating a "vicious cycle" that warrants urgent action on the part of health officials, said the researchers of the new studies.The list of health risks is surprisingly long, including diseases like cancer, and conditions such as ADHD and autism .From The Guardian :"Four studies published in the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology make clear that the risks of maternal obesity include stillbirth, dangerously high blood pressure in pregnant women, diabetes in the mother or child, and complications during childbirth."The scale of obesity in women of childbearing age and the consequent dangers to health were so great that urgent action was needed to ensure women were a normal weight before they conceived, the authors say."Mothers being very heavily overweight could lead to their children having autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or developing cancer in later life, the researchers say."Between 2011 and 2012 in the United States , nearly a third of women at peak childbearing age (20 to 39) were obese, and 60 percent of American mothers were either overweight or obese at the time they conceived.In Britain, where obesity rates among women are the highest in Europe, 20 percent of mothers were already obese when they became pregnant. In 2013, 26 percent of women in England between the ages of 35 and 44 were obese, as were 18 percent of 24- to 35-year-olds. Global obesity has reached 'pandemic proportions' "Obesity has reached pandemic proportions globally and its origins start in the womb," said Professor Lesley Regan, the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.Regan pointed to the fact that more than 25 percent of men and women in the UK are obese, and that the one in five pregnant women who are obese face an increased risk of "miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death as well as gestational diabetes, blood clots, pre-eclampsia, more complicated labours and severe bleeding after the birth."The researchers involved in the studies are concerned that the global obesity problem will only worsen, particularly in the developing world. It is estimated that more than 20 percent of women throughout the world will be dangerously overweight by 2025.One research paper warned of long-term "profound public health implications," while another called for governments to begin treating obesity as a global public health priority.There is increasing evidence indicating that obesity during pregnancy can lead to a child being predisposed not only to developing diseases like type 2 diabetes and asthma, but also neurodevelopmental disorders like cerebral palsy.The complex interaction of "neuroendocrine, metabolic, immune and inflammatory" factors in obese women are believed to affect hormonal exposure and nutrient supply to fetuses, leading to possible brain damage in unborn children. Searching for solutions in a world dominated by fast food and sedentary lifestyles The experts all agree that something should be done, but there are no simple solutions. Increased education and guidance may be part of the answer, but a number of aspects of modern day-to-day life are increasing the tendency towards becoming obese.Among these are an "increasingly commercialised food supply" (i.e. junk food), reliance on cars and public transport, dangerous and overpopulated urban environments, and the tendency to sit in front of TV and computer screens for unhealthy periods of time.Ultimately, it is the responsibility of parents to lose weight before giving birth to children and to set a healthy example for children as they grow and develop. But in a world of fast food and smartphones, this may not prove to be so easily accomplished. Sources: | 1real |
BREAKING: PRESIDENT TRUMP Signs Most Important Executive Order “To Ease The Burden” | Via: NPR | 1real |
BREAKING: FBI ARREST STOPS Horrific San Francisco “MASS CASUALTY” Christmas Day Attack By MUSLIM, Truck Driver and Former Marine Sharpshooter | Truck attacks are becoming increasingly popular with Muslim extremists as a way to threaten large groups of people in popular areas. Meanwhile, the US Appeals Court has just ruled President Trump s travel ban violates federal law and goes beyond the scope of his delegated authority. The ban, which targets people from six Muslim-majority countries, should not be applied to people with strong US connections, the court said.Breitbart News The FBI announced on Friday that it arrested California tow truck driver Everitt Aaron Jameson for plotting a Christmas terror attack on Pier 39 in San Francisco.In statements to undercover informants, Jameson outlined a plan that would have involved running civilians down with his truck, deploying improvised explosives, and using his skills as a Marine sharpshooter to increase the body count. A note he evidently intended for publication after the attack swore allegiance to ISIS and cited President Donald Trump s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a reason for his actions.FBI documents state that Jameson planned to use his tow truck for a mass-casualty attack on Pier 39 because he had been there before and knew it was a heavily crowded area. He reportedly said Christmas would be the perfect day to commit the attack. I m glad to know we Muslims are finally hitting back. Allahu Akbar! The kuffar deserve everything and more [for] the lives they have taken, he allegedly told an FBI informant after the November 2 truck jihad attack in New York City, which killed eight people. Allahu akbar! It says he was one of us. May Allah grant him Jannah firtuidus Amin, he said of New York City truck terrorist Sayfullo Saipov, indicating that he hoped Saipov would enter paradise as a reward for attacking the infidels.Jameson also reportedly spoke approvingly of the attack on a Christmas party by a husband-and-wife jihadi team in San Bernardino in December 2015 and suggested his operation would include vehicles, explosives, and firearms. He told an undercover agent that America needed another attack like New York or San Bernardino. Communicating with FBI assets he believed were representatives of the Islamic State, Jameson advertised himself as a military veteran and offered to put his skills at the service of the caliphate. In a meeting with undercover informants, he added that he was well versed in the Anarchist Cookbook, a manual for making bombs and other implements of terrorism. He also offered financial assistance to ISIS, offered to travel to Syria if needed, and said he was ready to die for the cause. He demonstrated fluency in spoken Arabic during a telephone call. I was a soldier in the kuffar army before I reverted, he said. I have been trained in combat and things of war. Inshallah, anything of that nature, as well as funding. Anything for Allah. The FBI confirmed that Jameson attended U.S. Marine Corps basic training and earned a sharpshooter rifle qualification. He was eventually discharged for fraudulent enlistment, apparently because he failed to disclose a history of asthma to the recruiters.When the undercover FBI operatives asked what he needed for the attack, Jameson outlined an ambitious plan involving M-16 and/or AK-47 rifles, timers, remote detonators, and pipe bomb materials.When a search warrant was executed at Jameson s residence in Modesto, a number of pistols, rifles, and ammunition were confiscated, along with his last will and testament and a handwritten letter he signed as Abdallah abu Everitt ibn Gordon al-Amriki. The letter was evidently meant to be published after he carried out his terror attack. It reads:I, Abdallah adu Everitt ibn Gordon, have committed these acts upon the Kuffar, in the name of Dar al Islam, Allahu Akbar! You all have brought this upon yourselves. There is no innocent Kuffar! Each and every Kuffar in this Nationalistic, Godless society has a hand in this. You ve allowed Donald J. Trump to give away Al Quds to the Jews. Both You and he are wrong, it belongs to the Muslemeen. We have penetrated and infiltrated your disgusting country. These Acts will continue until the Lions of Islam overtake you. Turn to Allah, make tawbah and fight with us, the soldiers who fight in the day and the night. Allah SWT is most forgiving. I am not. Long live Isil, Long Live Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Allahu akbar!Dar al Islam means the house of Islam. Kuffar is a derogatory term for non-Muslims. Al Quds is an Arabic name for Jerusalem. Muslemeen is another way of saying Muslim Tawbah means repent. Allah SWT is a shorthand way of saying Allah the most glorious and exalted. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the caliph or leader of the Islamic State.According to the FBI, Jameson was a voracious consumer of Islamic State propaganda online, and wrote numerous social media posts that are supportive of terrorism. | 1real |
Trump chooses congressman, former SEAL Zinke as interior secretary | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump has chosen first-term Republican U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana, a former Navy SEAL commander, as his interior secretary, a senior transition official said on Tuesday. Zinke, 55, will be nominated to head the Interior Department, which employs more than 70,000 people across the United States and oversees more than 20 percent of federal land, including national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite. Zinke’s choice was something of a surprise since some Republican officials wanted him to challenge Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Tester of Montana in the 2018 elections. Zinke emerged after Trump had toyed with the idea of nominating U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state for the position. He is a proponent of keeping public lands under federal ownership, putting him at odds with some in his Republican Party who are more favorable to privatization or placing them under the control of states. It remains unclear where Zinke would stand on opening up more federal lands to increased drilling and mining, something Trump promised he would do as president. Trump’s official energy platform calls for opening “onshore and offshore leasing on federal lands, eliminate moratorium on coal leasing, and open shale energy deposits.” A Trump aide told Reuters last week that McMorris Rodgers had been picked for the post. She had met Trump at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, shortly after the president-elect began his Cabinet search. On Tuesday, a source close to the congresswoman said she had never been offered the job. “It was an honor to be invited to spend time with the president-elect, and I’m energized more than ever to continue leading in Congress as we think big, reimagine this government, and put people back at the center of it,” McMorris Rodgers said in a Facebook post. Zinke had been an early Trump supporter, backing the New York businessman for president in May. His nomination must now be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate. “Congressman Zinke is a strong advocate for American energy independence, and he supports an all-encompassing energy policy that includes renewables, fossil fuels and alternative energy,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said before a meeting on Monday between Zinke and Trump at Trump Tower in New York. Zinke, a member of the House of Representatives subcommittee on natural resources, has voted for legislation that would weaken environmental safeguards on public land. But, unlike other candidates who were on the short list for the interior secretary job, Zinke opposes the transfer of public lands to the states, a position that echoes Trump’s. Trump has said he does not think public land should be turned over to the states and should be protected. “I don’t like the idea because I want to keep the lands great, and you don’t know what the state is going to do,” Trump said in an interview with Field & Stream magazine in January. Trump said putting states in control of public land would make it easier to sell it off for energy or commercial development. He thinks the federal government needs to focus on conservation. “I mean, are they going to sell (states) if they get into a little bit of trouble? I don’t think it’s something that should be sold,” he said. “We have to be great stewards of this land. This is magnificent land.” In July, Zinke resigned as a delegate to the Republican nominating convention because the party platform called for transferring public lands to the states. “What I saw was a platform that was more divisive than uniting,” Zinke told the Billings Gazette. “At this point, I think it’s better to show leadership.” Public land comprises more than 30 percent of Montana, according to the Montana Wilderness Association. The League of Conservation Voters, which ranks lawmakers on their environmental record, gave Zinke an extremely low lifetime score of 3 percent. The Wilderness Society, a leading conservation group, said it was concerned by Zinke’s support for logging, drilling and mining on public lands. The Interior Department also oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs and handles tribal policy. Under Obama, the department played a big role in efforts to curb the effects of climate change by limiting fossil fuel development in some areas. | 0fake |
A Tough Sell, Even in Russia: Ivan the Not-So-Terrible - The New York Times | The governor of the small Russian region of Oryol is trying to convince people that Ivan the Terrible was not so bad. Legend has it that Ivan founded the region’s capital, also called Oryol, in 1566. Now Gov. Vadim Potomsky has commissioned a bronze statue of the former czar on horseback, wielding a sword and a cross, to be erected in front of the city’s children’s theater in honor of the city’s 450th birthday. The rehabilitation campaign builds on a move by Russia’s minister of culture back in 2014 to depict Ivan as the victim of Western disinformation. The minister suggested that the name in Russian, “Ivan Grozny,” would better be translated as “Ivan the Strict. ” Ivan’s more dubious deeds include founding the first version of Russia’s secret police and beating his own son to death. The death is the subject of one of the country’s most renowned historical paintings, by Ilya Repin, something Governor Potomsky dismissed as “a work of fiction. ” The governor told the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets that, for him, Ivan is part of a triumvirate of Russia’s “three great rulers,” along with Peter the Great and Joseph Stalin. “Each of them is a unique story,” he said, “but each made a great contribution to Russian sovereignty, its might. ” The public remains unconvinced. Even the anchor of the television program “News of the Week” said recently that Russia seemed to be suffering from a “maniacal obsession” with new statues, noting that neither the Romanovs nor Stalin himself ever erected a monument to the Terrible. Critics horrified by the very idea of the statue abhor even more Governor Potomsky’s planned location. Aleksander Mikhailov, artistic director of Oryol’s children’s theater, imagined parents having to explain to young ones that the czar killed his son. “He is too controversial and tragic a figure in Russian history,” Mr. Mikhailov said. Governor Potomsky initially waved off the criticism, then said he would delay the installation a month to consult with the public. Some people in Oryol, he told the newspaper, “complain about everything. ” | 0fake |
C-Span Delivers on Sit-In, Even With Cameras Off - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — knew it had a problem. Democrats had unexpectedly sat down in the middle of the House of Representatives chamber to demand a vote on gun control legislation, and with the body officially in recess, the cable network known for “gavel to gavel” coverage of Congress, had no means to cover it. Then it found an unlikely source: the social media feeds of House members who had turned to Periscope, a live app, and Facebook Live. “As soon as we knew it was available, we went for it,” Terry Murphy, ’s vice president for programming, said on Thursday after a short night’s sleep. “We didn’t know when we got into it that we would be doing it for 24 hours. There just wasn’t much time to debate it. ” So began what was arguably the most memorable period the network has seen in years, one that Mr. Murphy estimated had probably set a record for continuous broadcast of a social media feed and that others suggested amounted to something of a declaration of independence from congressional landlords, who control the TV cameras inside the Senate and House chambers. But it was perhaps even more momentous for Periscope, which debuted just over a year ago after being acquired by Twitter. As of 5 p. m. Wednesday, Twitter messages that one or both of the live video streams broadcast by Representatives Scott Peters and Eric Swalwell of California embedded had already been viewed more than a million times, according to the company. “We always told ourselves that if we were successful, we were building a tool to give a voice to the voiceless,” Kayvon Beykpour, and chief executive of Periscope, said in an interview. “It’s showing you the truth from different people’s perspectives. It’s a really raw way of experiencing what you watch. “In this case, it’s really ironic that the voiceless were our elected representatives. ” Twitter has long had a presence in Washington, and holds regular training sessions for politicians and media organizations on how best to use its tools. After Twitter bought Periscope, the video app was incorporated into the company’s training efforts. About a month ago, Twitter held a training session with the House Democratic caucus that focused specifically on how to use Periscope. A staff member from Mr. Peters’s office attended. On Wednesday, when lost access to cameras — which are normally shut off when the House is not in session — an aide suggested that Mr. Peters turn to Periscope as a means of broadcasting what was happening on the House floor. A Facebook spokeswoman said that broadcasts by members of the House had reached more than 2. 9 million viewers on the social media site. Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s founder, wrote in a post on Thursday morning that use of Facebook Live was “bringing more openness to the political process. ” Overnight ratings were not available for . Other networks shared brief segments from the live feeds, but it was that stuck with them, overriding other coverage and cutting away only when Speaker Paul D. Ryan and other House Republicans returned to the floor around 10 p. m. for a series of votes. is no stranger to sessions — be they for a filibuster or a contentious vote — but the impromptu which Mr. Murphy said the network had no advance knowledge of, was different. A staff of around 25 people remained overnight in the Capitol and at the network’s offices a few blocks away, and the regular morning team was called in four hours early. “It was the least scripted of the sessions we’ve had to cover,” Mr. Murphy said. The fact that does not control the cameras inside congressional chambers has been a source of disquiet for the network since it arrived on the air in 1979. Every time a new leader comes to power in either chamber, Mr. Murphy said, network executives send a letter requesting greater access, including the placement of independent media cameras inside the chamber. Thus far, they have been denied. The network employs about 270 people and has an annual budget of $70 million, according to a spokesman, Howard Mortman. It enjoys a niche following: Journalists covering the federal government treat it as a lifeline, and for those addicted to politics from coast to coast, few sources can rival its unvarnished transmission. While ’s decision to stick with the protest drew a flurry of criticism on Twitter, Mr. Mortman said there had been no serious concerns raised from Mr. Ryan’s office or outside groups. “We want to show as much of Congress as we can — that’s our mission,” he said. “This clearly is a big story, and this gives us a way to show what’s happening in an area where our own cameras are not allowed. ” | 0fake |
Maintaining a Sunny Spirit in the Face of Hardship - The New York Times | Laughter saved Linda Ragoo’s face. That is what a doctor told her after she had a stroke in 2003. It happened on a Sunday, at the end of an exhausting weekend of chores, errands and obligations. Ms. Ragoo felt part of her body go numb. “I sat down by the bed and I felt my leg, like it was sleeping,” Ms. Ragoo recalled. “It’s sleeping too long. ” She was able to call one of her sisters, who rushed to Ms. Ragoo’s Brooklyn apartment and found her on the floor, unable to move, the left side of her body paralyzed. While they waited for an ambulance, Ms. Ragoo asked to use the bathroom. Her sister fetched a long stick, presumably to prod her across the floor. Ms. Ragoo cracked up at the absurdity of the moment. “My sister said, ‘Stop this nonsense, stop this nonsense,’” she said. “And I keep laughing. ” She spent the next month in a hospital. Ms. Ragoo’s mobility is still restricted by partial paralysis. But her facial muscles, built up by years of laughter, are as they have always been. Ms. Ragoo, 78, credits her jocular spirit and easygoing sense of humor in part to her upbringing in Trinidad, with its tropical weather, way of life, and holiday and carnival celebrations. In the 1970s, Ms. Ragoo went to New York in search of an even better life. She settled in Brooklyn and found work as a nurse’s aide. Though hardships and tragedy have marked her life, “I can make a joke out of nothing,” she said. Just recently, she dozed off in her recliner and somehow managed to slide off it, flopping to the floor. For her, it was a rude, yet hilarious, awakening. “I laugh at my own self when I do stupid things,” she said. “I laugh at myself many times. ” Levity not only carried Ms. Ragoo through the setbacks after her stroke, but it also helped her cope with a more painful loss. Her son Satinus, 58, had a heart attack and died in 2014. He was a nurse’s aide, like his mother. “I’m telling you, things can’t put you down,” Ms. Ragoo said of staying positive through trying times. She lives alone in a apartment in Crown Heights, which is how she likes it. There is plenty of space just for her. And she does not need much of it to flourish. When it was time to get a new mattress, she willingly downgraded from a queen to a full. As much as she relishes independence, health problems drove her to seek outside help. Ms. Ragoo has arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure and osteoporosis, as well as mobility issues caused by the stroke. Ms. Ragoo sought help from Heights and Hills, which offers support services for older adults, and has a home attendant. Each month, Ms. Ragoo receives $811 from Social Security and $612 from a pension. Because of her tight income, Ms. Ragoo could not afford an last summer. Usually a fan had been sufficient to keep her cool, but not last year. “When that heat took me, I couldn’t stand it,” she said. She mentioned her concerns to her social worker and made clear the severity of the problem. “I told her, ‘This is not funny. ’” Ms. Ragoo said. Her caseworker reached out to FPWA, formerly the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, one of the eight organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, and applied for a $600 grant in Neediest funds, which allowed Ms. Ragoo to buy an . Ms. Ragoo fondly recalls more youthful pleasures, like traveling, especially cruises, and taking trips to the casino. Ms. Ragoo has not done either in some time. But it is hard to keep her from a dance floor pulsating with salsa or calypso. Her coordination and energy are not what they once were, but she still has rhythm. “I dance with my cane,” she said. “I hold my cane and I move from side to side. Because they say if you don’t use it, you lose it. ” But she is quick to joke with people about her age. On a recent December afternoon, Ms. Ragoo declared she was just 16, despite the cane clutched to her side and dark glasses shielding her eyes after cataract surgery. “It’s the best therapy, to laugh,” she said. “You have to keep on laughing. ” | 0fake |
Was Your Dog Walked? Your Phone Can Show You - The New York Times | SEATTLE — Some parents find peace of mind in the features in smartphones that let them keep tabs on their children. There are also the dog owners who can rest easy knowing that hired dog walkers are doing their job, and that the dogs are doing their business. And then, there is the comfort of tracking your pizza delivery. When Lora Mastrangeli orders one from Pizza Hut every other week, she does not just wait for it. She stalks it. The moment her order leaves the nearest Pizza Hut, about 30 minutes from her home in Plano, Tex. the restaurant sends Ms. Mastrangeli an alert on her smartphone with a link to a map showing an image of a pizza delivery car driving toward her house. Since she knows her driver’s location, she knows precisely when to scoop her two small dogs up and sequester them in a back room to keep them from yapping at the driver. “My husband and I absolutely love it,” said Ms. Mastrangeli, who works in sales for Nordstrom. “We’re walking out the door when he pulls up. ” People were amazed six years ago when the service Uber let them track the location of their drivers on a map as they waited for a ride, rather than accepting the vague assurances of taxi dispatchers. Other tech followed with maps to pinpoint the location of all sorts of things, from shoes to food and the dog walkers. And new services from Comcast and Time Warner Cable allow customers to see the exact location of the cable repairman on the way to the house. The question, of course, is whether maps offer a bit more information but do little to improve underlying problems. Cable companies, for instance, suffer from some of the lowest customer satisfaction levels of any business. Knowing exactly where your cable guy is does little to address complaints about escalating prices. “I’m not sure that’s the root of the problem,” said Frances X. Frei, a professor of service management at Harvard Business School and author of “Uncommon Service,” a book about customer service. So does tracking your pizza on a map just make you feel better? “It’s pure psychological effect,” said Nicholas Goubert, head of project management at Here, a digital maps company that provides location data to Amazon and other businesses. “Your pizza is not going to come any sooner. But it’s moving. ” Soon UPS, the world’s largest package delivery company, may also begin showing customers exactly where their stuff is. UPS is exploring giving location maps of its familiar brown trucks to customers and could begin a trial of the service within a few months, according to a person briefed on the plan who asked for anonymity because it is still private. Executives at big, established companies concede that their moves are inspired by businesses like Uber, which have changed what customers expect from all kinds of services. “It brings that visibility and transparency that they’re starting to come to expect with the Ubers and Lyfts,” said Baron Concors, global chief digital officer for Pizza Hut, which began sharing the location of delivery drivers with customers in some markets about six months ago. “There’s a new bar for experience when it comes to delivery and transportation that everyone is going to have to meet. ” The technology behind most of this is not terribly complicated. The maps typically rely on the GPS location provided by, say, a pizza delivery driver’s smartphone and triangulate that with and cellphone tower signals to pinpoint a location. Companies like Apple, too, have made helicopter parenting easier by letting mothers and fathers track the locations of children through their smartphones. In many cases, companies that provide customers with live tracking information have a practical motivation. The service is intended to eliminate situations when someone misses a knock on the door by stepping into the shower or backyard. A missed delivery or service call is a logistical headache companies want to avoid. “If they have to come back, they lose money,” said Bryan Trussel, chief executive of Glympse, a in Seattle that is working with companies like Pizza Hut, Comcast and Time Warner. Some companies are going to bizarre lengths to provide greater transparency to customers through maps. Last year, Wag, a in Los Angeles, introduced the mobile app that includes a live map that shows the pet owner the route of the Wag walker and pooch. Joshua Viner, chief executive of Wag, said the map allows pet owners to verify that their dog is getting the amount of exercise the owner is paying for. “There’s no way to cheat the system,” said Julien LoPresti, who works in sales and operations for a technology company in New York and has used Wag to find walkers for Reptar, his Labrador mix. “It gives you extra confidence. ” In the next month, Wag will go even further by allowing walkers to commemorate where pets relieve themselves by tapping the screens on their smartphones. Corresponding emojis will materialize on the apps of pet owners. “It’s all real time — it’s almost like you’re part of the experience,” Mr. Viner said. Comcast was after a different experience when it began letting customers track the locations of technicians last year, part of a much broader initiative to improve customer satisfaction. The company used to have appointment windows when technicians could arrive at customers’ homes, which confined the customers there for a good chunk of the day. Now Comcast has cut the appointment windows to two hours. “The overall premise is we should always be respecting customers’ time,” said Charlie Herrin, executive vice president of customer experience at Comcast. About 30 minutes before the window, Comcast sends the customer a notification through the Comcast mobile app giving a narrower, window when the technician expects to arrive. About 15 minutes before the technician pulls up at the home, Comcast sends a link to a map that shows the vehicle en route. Dr. Frei, the Harvard Business School professor, said customers would be happier if Comcast were more precise with its appointment estimates from the start. “What I’d like them to do is say, ‘We will be there at 3 p. m.,’ and then what I’d like to have happen is they’re there at 3 p. m.,” she said. “I wouldn’t need any transparency. ” | 0fake |
Wells Fargo Killing Sham Account Suits by Using Arbitration - The New York Times | In congressional hearing rooms and on national television, Wells Fargo has vowed to make things right for the thousands of customers who were given sham accounts. The bank’s new chief executive, Timothy J. Sloan, in his first week on the job, said his “immediate and highest priority is to restore trust in Wells Fargo. ” But in federal and state courtrooms across the country, Wells Fargo is taking a different tack. The bank has sought to kill lawsuits that its customers have filed over the creation of as many as two million sham accounts by moving the cases into private arbitration — a secretive legal process that often favors corporations. Lawyers for the bank’s customers say the legal motions are an attempt to limit the bank’s accountability for the widespread fraud and deny its customers their day in open court. Under intense pressure to meet sales goals, Wells employees used customers’ personal information to create unauthorized banking and credit card accounts in a scandal that has rattled the San Francisco bank to its core, forcing the retirement of its longtime leader, John G. Stumpf, and enraging regulators and politicians of all stripes. The bank’s arbitration push in recent weeks is fanning those flames anew. “It is ridiculous,” said Jennifer Zeleny, who is suing Wells Fargo in federal court in Utah, along with about 80 other customers, over unauthorized accounts. “This is an issue of identity theft — my identity was used so employees could meet sales goals. This is something that needs to be litigated in a public forum. ” In arbitration, consumers often find the odds are stacked against them. The arbitration clauses prevent consumers from banding together to file a lawsuit as a class, forcing them instead to hash out their disputes one by one and blunting one of most powerful tools that Americans have in challenging harmful and deceitful practices by big companies. Strict judicial rules limiting conflicts of interest also do not apply in arbitration, enabling some companies to steer cases to friendly arbitrators, according to a 2015 investigation by The New York Times. Arbitration is also conducted outside public view, and the decisions are nearly impossible to overturn. Ms. Zeleny, a lawyer who lives outside Salt Lake City and opened a Wells Fargo account when she started a new law practice, said it would be impossible for her to agree to arbitrate her dispute over an account that she had never signed up for in the first place. The bank’s counterargument: The arbitration clauses included in the legitimate contracts customers signed to open bank accounts also cover disputes related to the false ones set up in their names. Some judges have agreed with this argument, but some lawmakers and others consider it outrageous. “Wells Fargo’s customers never intended to sign away their right to fight back against fraud and deceit,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, who introduced a bill last week that would prevent Wells from forcing arbitration in the sham account cases. Yet even as the bank reels in the court of public opinion, Wells Fargo has been winning its legal battles to kill off lawsuits. Judges have ruled that Wells Fargo customers must go to arbitration over the fraudulent accounts. In dismissing one large case seeking status in California, a federal judge ruled last year that it was not “wholly groundless” that customers could be forced to arbitrate over accounts they had never agreed to. That case is now being settled, according to legal filings. In a statement, Wells Fargo said it was working with customers to reimburse any improper fees. If the issues are still not resolved, the bank offers free mediation services. Arbitration, the bank said, is a “last resort. ” “We want to make sure that no Wells Fargo customer loses a single penny because of these issues,” the statement said. Although the extent of the scandal became known only in September, some fraudulent acts may have started a decade or more ago. And Wells Fargo has been moving disputes about unauthorized accounts into arbitration for years, which lawyers say may have helped keep the problems from bursting into public view sooner. In 2013, David E. Douglas, a Wells Fargo customer in Los Angeles, filed a lawsuit claiming that several bank employees had forged his signature and opened many sham accounts in his name to meet sales quotas. The actions he described in his complaint are precisely the kinds of illegal acts the company acknowledged this year, when it paid $185 million to settle cases brought by federal regulators and the Los Angeles city attorney. But Mr. Douglas’s testimony never reached a courtroom. A judge granted Wells Fargo’s request to move the case to arbitration, whisking it out of public view. Wells Fargo’s legal success shows the overwhelming power that arbitration clauses have in shaping disputes between everyday Americans and huge corporations. Since a pair of Supreme Court rulings in 2011 and 2013 allowed for the widespread use of arbitration, companies have had great success enforcing these clauses. Proponents of arbitration say the process is a more efficient way to settle disputes than lawsuits that end up mostly enriching plaintiffs’ lawyers. “By resolving legal disputes through arbitration, both the consumer and the business have the ability to reach a positive resolution at a lower cost,” Wells Fargo said in its statement. Arbitrators are typically lawyers or retired judges who are paid large fees to conduct hearings. The arbitrators, critics say, have an economic interest in siding with the companies, which bring them multiple cases, while individual consumers are likely to appear before them only once. At the moment, regulators can do little to prevent a bank customer from being forced into arbitration. Most Americans never bother to take their disputes to arbitration, particularly for a dispute over a small amount of money, the Times investigation showed. And that is likely to be the case for many of the Wells Fargo customers who are sent into arbitration, lawyers say. In many instances, the fees that customers were charged on the unauthorized accounts were less than $100. Few lawyers will take up individual arbitration claims when the potential damages are low. “This is meant to have a chilling effect,” said Zane Christensen, a lawyer who represented customers in a suit against Wells Fargo in federal court in Utah. “They know customers will have a hard time finding a lawyer to represent them in arbitration. ” But those damages could cost the bank a fortune if multiplied over potentially thousands of customers in a lawsuit. This is not the first time Wells Fargo has been accused of trying to use arbitration to its advantage. In June 2009, Wells was one of about 30 banks that were sued over overdraft policies designed to maximize the fees charged to customers. Wells first decided to fight the lawsuit in Federal District Court in Miami. Typically, once a bank decides to litigate a case in court, it gives up its right to go to arbitration. But after more than a year in court, Wells argued that it still had the right to arbitrate the overdraft dispute. The vast majority of the banks have resolved their parts of the overdraft case, agreeing to pay, in total, more than $1. 2 billion to affected customers. Wells, meanwhile, has filed several appeals. “Wells Fargo keeps trying to push this down the road,” said Robert Gilbert, a Miami lawyer representing bank customers in the overdraft case. Members of the Senate Banking Committee sent Wells Fargo a list of detailed questions about its arbitration history over the last nine years, including how many cases were decided in the bank’s favor. The company did not provide any specifics in its response. In the wake of the scandal, under heavy pressure from lawmakers, the bank made changes that included formally separating its chairman and chief executive roles. (Mr. Stumpf had held both.) On Thursday, the bank’s board formally approved the separation of these roles — and simultaneously gave a huge raise to the new chairman, Stephen W. Sanger, who was named to the role in October. Mr. Sanger, a Wells Fargo board member since 2003 and a former head of General Mills, will see his annual retainer bumped to $250, 000 from $60, 000. Ana Bárbara, a Mexican music star who lives in Los Angeles, sued Wells Fargo in June, saying a bank employee had created sham accounts and credit lines in her name and taken out more than $400, 000 of her money. To cover his tracks, the employee regularly stopped by Ms. Bárbara’s house and stole Wells Fargo statements from her mailbox, according to her lawsuit. Devin McRae, Ms. Bárbara’s lawyer, said he would have preferred to try the case in court, where it would generate a trail of public records. But the case was moved into arbitration in September. “I think it’s a major problem when you have a bank that is so large, doing the things that Wells Fargo did on a systematic basis, to be able to keep that under wraps,” Mr. McRae said. | 0fake |
Trump Meets With Four Candidates for National Security Adviser - The New York Times | PALM BEACH, Fla. — The sweepstakes for national security adviser expanded on Sunday as President Trump met with four candidates for the job but signaled that he may yet bring more to Florida for interviews. Mr. Trump has been searching for a replacement for Michael T. Flynn, his first national security adviser, who resigned last week at the president’s request because he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about a phone call with Russia’s ambassador. The president’s first choice to succeed Mr. Flynn turned down the job, so the White House arranged for four other contenders to fly to his resort, . Mr. Trump met with John R. Bolton, a former ambassador to the United Nations Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, a top Army strategist Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr. superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point and Keith Kellogg, a retired general serving as acting national security adviser. But Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokeswoman, said that was not the complete field. “We may have some additional names and meetings” on Monday, she said. She added that Mr. Trump might also summon back one or more of the four he talked with on Sunday for an additional talk. Mr. Trump told reporters on Saturday that he had a favorite, although he did not identify the candidate. “I’ve been thinking about someone for the last three or four days we’ll see what happens,” he said. “I’m meeting with that person. They’re all good they’re all great people. ” In private conversations, the president has praised Mr. Bolton and has noted that many people want him to pick General McMaster, although Mr. Trump seemed convinced that the general had said something unflattering about him during last year’s campaign, according to associates who asked not to be identified sharing private conversations. The White House has had trouble filling some senior positions in part because so many experienced Republicans criticized Mr. Trump during the campaign, and he has vetoed some choices over that. Ms. Sanders said Mr. Trump was entitled to have a team that was on his side. “If you don’t support the president’s agenda, you shouldn’t have a job in the White House,” she said. On a busy holiday weekend, Mr. Trump also attended part of a strategy session on finding a replacement for the Affordable Care Act. | 0fake |
TRUMP EXPOSES OBAMA’S INCOMPETENCE: Cuts EPA Budget…Still Fixes Flint’s Water Crisis | Although Obama had 3 years to take action to fix the Flint water problem, President Donald Trump has managed to do it in 2 months. The EPA has just issued a $100 million grant to the city of Flint, Michigan to replace the city s corroded and lead-polluted pipes.Critics of President Trump have lambasted him for his proposed budget cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency, saying the cuts are proof that he doesn t care about the environment.EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt released a statement saying, The people of Flint and all Americans deserve a more responsive federal government EPA will especially focus on helping Michigan improve Flint s water infrastructure as part of our larger goal of improving America s water infrastructure. Under authority granted the agency by the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016, the EPA just issued a $100 million grant to the beleaguered city of Flint, Michigan, to help in the effort at replacing the city s badly corroded and lead-tainted system of water pipes. We are excited and very grateful to receive these much-needed funds, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said. The City of Flint being awarded a grant of this magnitude in such a critical time of need will be a huge benefit. The state of Michigan also contributed $20 million to match 20 percent of the grant. Meanwhile, CNN continues with their anti-Trump narrative and insists that President Trump had nothing to do with the grant and that it actually came from an action that former President Barack Obama and the prior Congress took in 2016. They are clearly blind to Trump s promise to fix the crumbling infrastructure of our country as soon as possible, something Obama never made a priority.CNN also obsessed over Trump s proposed 31 percent EPA budget cuts, failing to mention that the president had no intention of defunding programs to help improve the water system infrastructure.Despite the fact that Flint has been dealing with contaminated water for three years, Obama s EPA did not attempt to fix the problem. Now that Trump is in office, he is taking real action to make positive changes in the lives of Flint, MI citizens.Source: Conservative Tribune | 1real |
BOMBSHELL: Trump’s Presidential Campaign Is Nearly BROKE, It’s Going To Be A Bloodbath | When Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign he bragged that because was worth $10 billion he would not have to concern himself with raising money and could self-finance his campaign. Thanks to his weak competition in the Republican primary, Trump did not have to spend much to get an advantage over rival campaigns and Super PACs, but in the general election it is unlikely that Trump can get by simply based on tweets and bombast as he did with Bush, Cruz, and Rubio.On Monday night Trump filed his finance report with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the failure of his campaign to bring in money is nothing less than amazing.In May of 2016, Trump only raised $3.1 million from contributors and loaned his campaign an additional $2.2 million. At the end of the month the campaign only had a shocking $1.3 million dollars in cash on hand.As journalists quickly pointed out, Trump s fundraising more likely resembled a House member with a semi-competitive seat or a safe Senate seat in a deep red state. The numbers are definitely not the sort of figures associated with a national presidential campaign.The results look even worse compared to Hillary Clinton. At the end of May, her campaign had $42 million on hand, an amazing disparity of $40 million between the two campaigns.And while donors have said they are still unable to determine which Super PAC to donate to in order to support Trump, the Super PAC backing Clinton, Priorities USA, had its biggest month ever with $12 million in donations.Even compared to fellow Republicans, Trump s numbers are pathetic. In May of 2012, Mitt Romney s presidential campaign and the Republican Party raised $78 million dollars. The current GOP only raised $12 million this May.Defunct campaigns like Ben Carson s currently have $7.4 million on hand, more than Trump s active campaign.There are also some weird expenditures from the Trump campaign found in the FEC reports. He appears to be redirecting some money back towards himself.His campaign paid $423,371 for the use of Trump s own house the Mar-A-Lago mansion and club in Florida.Even stranger, Trump seems to be drawing a salary from his campaign, a very unusual arrangement especially for someone claiming to be a billionaire. The filings find that Trump is regularly being paid $2,574 as part of payroll for the campaign.Featured image via Flickr | 1real |
Christmas market opens in Algerian capital | ALGIERS (Reuters) - A small Christmas market has opened in Algeria s capital, catering to a rising number of Christian African migrants as well as diplomats and locals in the overwhelmingly Muslim country. Around 99 percent of Algeria s population is Sunni Muslim but the number of Christians has been rising due to an influx of migrants from sub-Saharan countries such as Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. The market, organized by the Caritas charity, is also a sign of stable security in a country that has rebounded from a decade of Islamist militant violence during which 200,000 people died. Diplomats used to hunker down in fortified embassies, rarely venturing out, but now live alongside Algerians in residential quarters. No militant attack has been reported in Algiers for more than 10 years. Caritas staged a similar Christmas market last year but kept it low profile. This year it advertised the market in advance, calling for a living together between Christians and Muslims. No official figure is available for the number of African migrants, but some estimates put it at around 100,000. It is not about making money, but rather about using the money to help the most vulnerable, whether Algerians, African migrants or Syrians, Caritas Algeria director Maurice Pilloud said. Veiled Muslim women mix with foreigners at the market in Algiers El Biar district, where honey, chocolate, cakes, jewelry and trinkets are sold. Many donations came from Muslims, said Pilloud. The market offers the chance for young people to make a contribution to society in a political system where the ruling party has dominated all aspects of the oil-producing North African state since independence in 1962. Charitable work remains most attractive for a majority of young Algerians who shun political action because it doesn t bring change, said Cherif Lounes, 47, who was visiting the market along with his mother. We need 50 Caritas associations in Algeria to help the vulnerable, whether Algerians or migrants, added Saida, his 79-year-old mother. | 0fake |
President Obama: Surely, Trump Can Only Be President On A Saturday Night Live Skit (VIDEO) | Only hours before he is set to deliver the last State of the Union Address of his historic presidency, President Obama found time to lampoon Donald Trump s chances of becoming president.The Today Show asked President Obama if he could possibly imagine a scenario where Trump wins on Election Day in November, only to receive a ten word quip in response. Well, I can imagine it in a Saturday Night skit, Obama hilariously said.Then President Obama took a serious tone and warned that anything is possible. After all, who would have ever predicted that George W. Bush would use the conservative-leaning Supreme Court to steal the 2000 Election? That s why Obama warned Americans to not be complacent, essentially telling them that staying home on Election Day could give Trump the victory ever has nightmares about. But Obama was also expressed faith that Americans would reject Trump and his hateful rhetoric. I m pretty confident that the overwhelming majority of Americans are looking for the kind of politics that does feed our hopes and not our fears, that does work together and doesn t try to divide is that isn t looking for simplistic solutions and scapegoating. Vice-President Joe Biden was also interviewed by Today, and he warned that allowing Trump to become president would only make America weaker. He is divisive I think he d have to acknowledge that he s very divisive and that s not healthy. We always do best when we act as one America. We always do poorly when we appeal to our fears and our differences. Here s the video via Today.Trump currently enjoys a wide lead in New Hampshire and has regained the lead in some Iowa polls over Ted Cruz. It s not decided yet, but Trump appears to be heading toward becoming the Republican presidential nominee and he ll either face Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders in a general election that is sure to be one of the nastiest presidential contests in history. Some Democrats have suggested that they will stay home if their preferred Democratic candidate is not on the ballot. And that is precisely the kind of complacency and irresponsibility that President Obama just warned against because that kind of divide is exactly what would let Trump become the leader of the free world with a Republican-dominated House and Senate instead of keeping him in Saturday Night Live skits where he belongs.Featured Image: Instagram | 1real |
Breitbart News Daily: Pat Buchanan on Trump’s First 100 Days - Breitbart | On the Tuesday edition of Breitbart News Daily, broadcast live on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 from 6AM to 9AM Eastern, Breitbart Alex Marlow will continue our discussion of the first 100 days of the Trump administration. [He’ll be joined by the renowned conservative writer and historian Patrick J. Buchanan. Buchanan, who was the subject of a recent Politico profile, will weigh in on Trump’s first 100 days. As the opening paragraph of Politico’s article details, Buchanan is nothing short of a living legend whose keen insights into the populist nationalist movement predate Trump’s political ascendancy by decades: His first date with his future wife was spent in a New Hampshire motel room drinking Wild Turkey into the wee hours with Hunter S. Thompson. He stood several feet away from Martin Luther King Jr. during the “I Have a Dream” speech. He went to China with Richard M. Nixon and walked away from Watergate unscathed. He survived too, and sat alongside Ronald Reagan at the Reykjavík Summit. He invaded America’s living rooms and pioneered the rhetorical combat that would power the cable news age. He defied the establishment by challenging a sitting president of his own party. He captured the fear and frustration of the right by proclaiming a great “culture war” was at hand. And his candidacy in 2000 almost certainly handed George W. Bush the presidency, thanks to thousands of Palm Beach, Florida, residents mistakenly voting for him on the “butterfly ballot” when they meant to back Al Gore. We’ll also hear from Rep. Louis Gohmert ( ) and White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Live from London, Rome, and Jerusalem, Breitbart correspondents will provide updates on the latest international news. Breitbart News Daily is the first live, conservative radio enterprise to air seven days a week. SiriusXM Vice President for news and talk Dave Gorab called the show “the conservative news show of record. ” Follow Breitbart News on Twitter for live updates during the show. Listeners may call into the show at: . | 0fake |
30th Infantry Division: “Work Horse of the Western Front” ~ 1951 US Army; The Big Picture TV-211 | Published on Oct 27, 2016 by Jeff Quitney The Big Picture TV Series playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
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‘The 30th Infantry Division –“Old Hickory” as this combat infantry division was affectionately called by military people both in and out of it. This National Guard Division is shown in North Carolina and Tennessee, and in combat. It rightfully earned its name as “the Work Horse of the Western Front.” Colonel Quinn appears and explains the clothing, equipment and food available to the combat infantryman.’
“The Big Picture” episode TV-211
Public domain film from the US National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied. The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30th_In… )
The 30th Infantry Division was a unit of the Army National Guard in World War I and World War II. It was nicknamed the “Old Hickory” division, in honor of President Andrew Jackson. The Germans nicknamed this division “Roosevelt’s SS.”. The 30th Infantry Division was regarded by SLA Marshall as the number one infantry division in the European Theater of Operations (ETO), involved in 282 days of intense combat over a period from June 1944 through April 1945…
The 30th Infantry Division arrived in England, 22 February 1944, and trained until June. It landed at Omaha Beach, Normandy, 11 June 1944, secured the Vire-et-Taute Canal, crossed the Vire River, 7 July, and, beginning on 25 July spearheaded the Saint-Lô break-through of Operation Cobra.
During Operation Cobra, on both 24 and 25 July, the 30th encountered a devastating friendly fire incident. As part of the effort to break out of the Normandy hedgerows, U.S. Army Air Force bombers from England were sent to carpet bomb a one by three mile corridor of the German defenses opposite the American line. However, Air Force planners, in complete disregard or lack of understanding of their role in supporting the ground attack, loaded the heavy B-24 Liberator and B-17 Flying Fortress bombers with 500-pound bombs, destroying roads and bridges and complicating movement through the corridor, instead of lighter 100-pound bombs intended as antipersonnel devices against German defenders. Air planners switched the approach of attack by 90 degrees without informing ground commanders, thus a landmark road to guide the bombers to the bombing zone was miscommunicated as the point to begin the bombing run. Start point confusion was further compounded by red smoke signals that suddenly blew in the wrong direction, and bombs began falling on the heads of the U.S. soldiers. There were over 100 friendly fire casualties over the two days, including Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair, commander of Army Ground Forces.
The 30th relieved the 1st Infantry Division near Mortain on 6 August. The German drive to Avranches began shortly after. The 30th clashed with the elite 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, and fierce fighting in place with all available personnel broke out. The 30th frustrated enemy plans and broke the spearhead of the enemy assault in a violent struggle from 7–12 August. After the liberation of Paris, the division drove east through Belgium, crossing the Meuse River at Visé and Liège on 10 September. Elements of the division entered the Netherlands on 12 September, and Maastricht fell the next day. Moving into Germany and taking up positions along the Wurm River, the 30th launched its attack on the heavily defended city of Aachen on 2 October 1944, and succeeded in contacting the 1st Division on 16 October, resulting in the encirclement and takeover of Aachen…
After a rest period, the 30th eliminated an enemy salient northeast of Aachen on 16 November, pushed through Alsdorf to the Inde River on 28 November, and then moved to rest areas. On 17 December the division rushed south to the Malmedy-Stavelot area to help block the powerful enemy drive in the Battle of the Bulge… Share this: | 1real |
FLINT RESIDENTS TOLD TO PAY BILLS FOR POISON WATER Or They May Have Their Children Taken Away | You seriously can t make this up. This Democrat run city is officially out of control. We reported before that the EPA knew about this crisis long before they told anyone, yet the media and the Left continues to try to pin the blame squarely on Michigan s Republican Governor. This latest threat is just another black eye for the officials handling the Flint, MI water crisis As the water crisis in Flint deepens, it is becoming apparent that the effects of the lead-infested water are not just a health hazard, but the situation has the potential of ruining many more lives outside of the poison issue. There is no denying that the water in Flint is undrinkable and that it is contaminated with lead and other substances, and it is clear that the government of Flint is responsible for the problem.However, the city s government continues to charge people for the poison water and then threatening to foreclose their home or take their children if they refuse to pay. Michigan law states that parents are neglectful if they do not have running water in their home, and if they chose not to pay for water they can t drink anyway, then they could be guilty of child endangerment.Activists in Flint say that some residents have already received similar threats from the government if they refuse to pay their bills.Flint residents have recently filed two class action lawsuits calling for all water bills since April of 2014 to be considered null and void because of the fact that the water was poisonous. We are seeking for the court to declare that all the bills that have been issued for usage of water invalid because the water has not been fit for its intended purpose, said Trachelle Young, one of the attorneys bringing the lawsuit, in court. Essentially, the residents have been getting billed for water that they cannot use. Because of that, we do not feel that is a fair way to treat the residents, Young added.Recent estimates have indicated that it could take up to 15 years and over $60 million to fix the problem, and the residents will be essentially forced to live there until the problem is solved. Despite the fact that the issue is obviously the government s responsibility, they have made it illegal for people to sell their homes because of the fact that they are known to carry contaminated water. Meanwhile, residents are still left to purchase bottled water on their own, in addition to paying their water bill.Although this problem is finally getting national media attention in Flint, they aren t the only city with contaminated water supplies. In fact, a recent report published by The Guardian showed that public water supplies across the country were experiencing similar issues.This crisis highlights the many dangers of allowing the government to maintain a monopoly on the water supply and calls attention to the fact that decentralized solutions to water distribution should be a goal that we start working towards.Via: DC Clothesline | 1real |
Oil has been spilling into the Pacific Ocean since last month and its being totally ignored | VIDEOS Oil has been spilling into the Pacific Ocean since last month and its being totally ignored This is in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest, which is seen as “one of the most pristine wilderness environments on earth” By Chris "Kikila" Perrin - Friday, November 18, 2016 8:53 AM EST
Bella Bella, British Columbia — When is environmental damage too much? When is it acceptable? In what is being called “ a relatively tiny ” marine oil spill, for the Heiltsuk First Nations of the Central Coast of BC, the question is being asked in quite real terms, forcing government to answer the questions that it might have preferred to have evaded.
Since running aground in mid-October , a small boat has been leaking oil into the Pacific Ocean, and along BC’s Central Coast. Despite the fact that this spill comes in the aftermath of the Royal Visit to the region — a visit that sought to place the health of the coastline and all the life that dwells there within the global lens — there appears to be very little international interest. Making matters worse, there appears to be little interest from Canadian lawmakers on how best to reduce the potential for disasters like this.
Along the Central Coast of British Columbia, the Great Bear Rainforest is seen as “one of the most pristine wilderness environments on earth.” Stretching approximately 400 kilometers along this sparsely populated area, the Great Bear Rainforest has long represented the very idea of conservation and intrinsic preservation to Canadians and environmentalists around the world.
Along with the Kermode Bear , the area made National Geographic’s “ Places of a Lifetime ” list and has been called the planet’s last large expanse of coastal temperate rain forest by people like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Natural beauty, conservation projects , and provincial parks are not, however, all the region is known for.
Of all things, the Central Coast offers access to the Pacific Ocean. It also provides a more-or-less direct line for fossil fuel exportation from various LNG (liquefied natural gas) sites around the province, as well as tar sands oil from the neighbouring province of Alberta.
North of Bella Bella, the town of Kitimat serves as the proposed terminal destination of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline , a project that has seen a great deal of protest that, in many ways, echoes the issues coming to a head in Cannon Ball, North Dakota. One of the most attractive aspects of the region, insofar as fossil fuel extraction is concerned, is the access it offers to Asian markets , pitting the desires of big oil corporations against those of First Nations and environmentalists , alike.
Even with the legislative death of Northern Gateway, the region continues to be the focal point for resource extraction. October’s oil spill — which is ongoing — provides a visceral reminder of what is at stake in such discussions, pushing many local residents to demand a full tanker ban along the Central Coast .
Yet, while the Coastal Rainforest is inundated with thousands of litres of oil, the federal government seems content to remain reactive . Rather than agreeing to the suggested ban, the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instead proposed a $1.5 billion (CDN) fund to help deal with oil spills after they occur.
Reactive policies like this leave the fragile ecosystems found in the Central Coast region to suffer contamination before they are dealt with, and offer no change for the way issues of sovereignty are evaluated between First Nations and the colonial Canadian government.
Since his election in 2015, PM Trudeau has taken several quick steps back from his promises to respect First Nations’ sovereignty and deal with environmental issues . Although this “ relatively tiny marine oil spill” can be seen as just that, a minor environmental issue that will be cleaned up with more federal money, there is a deeper implication that can be seen — one that pits ongoing environmental degradation and cultural assimilation and genocide against neoliberal economic policy . | 1real |
‘My African-American’: Watch Donald Trump’s Racist Meltdown (VIDEO) | Donald Trump pointed out a black person in the crowd at a rally in Redding, CA, and said, Look at my African-American. Trump s bizarre comment comes a day after Secretary Hillary Clinton eviscerated him in a foreign policy address and labeled him as unfit for the presidency. Clinton pressed her attack earlier the next day with a release pointing out that Trump literally said all those things after he claimed she had simply made up his strange positions on world affairs.The Clinton campaign noted, Some of the comments she referenced are so ignorant, incoherent or outrageous, it could be hard to believe they actually came out of the mouth of the GOP s presidential nominee. But they literally did. It also follows a week in which he was criticized by President Obama, who while not using his name also ripped apart his divisive rhetoric and ideas while touting the economic recovery in Elkhart, Indiana. Obama said Trump s proposal to roll back regulations on Wall Street was crazy, and that his plan to deport 11 million immigrants was simply a fantasy. Obama noted, If that is what you are concerned about, the economy, the debate is not even close. On the same day, Trump doubled down on his criticism of federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over the Trump University case in which former students allege they were swindled out of their money. Trump repeatedly claimed, in an interview with CNN s Jake Tapper, that the judge could not be impartial because of his Mexican heritage even when he was told that the man is an American citizen born in Indiana.Hillary Clinton responded to Trump s smear of the judge s racial background, pointing out the is a man born in Indiana, which last time I checked was part of America. Trump s remarks on the judge were rejected by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who endorsed Trump for president.Featured image via YouTube | 1real |
U.S. Congress members decry 'ethnic cleansing' in Myanmar; Suu Kyi doubts allegations | YANGON/NAYPYITAW (Reuters) - Members of the U.S. Congress said on Tuesday operations carried out against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar had all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing, while the country s leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressed doubts about allegations of rights abuses. The U.S. Senate members also said they were disturbed by a violent and disproportionate security response to Rohingya militant attacks that have driven more than 600,000 people from Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh. Human rights monitors have accused Myanmar s military of atrocities, including mass rape, against the stateless Rohingya during so-called clearance operations following insurgent attacks on 30 police posts and an army base. Myanmar s government has denied most of the claims, and the army last week said its own probe found no evidence of wrongdoing by troops. We are not hearing of any violations going on at the moment, Suu Kyi told reporters in response to a question about human rights abuses at the end of the Asia-Europe Meeting, or ASEM, in Myanmar s capital Naypyitaw. We can t say whether it has happened or not. As a responsibility of the government, we have to make sure that it won t happen. Nobel laureate Suu Kyi said she hoped talks with Bangladesh s foreign minister this week would lead to a deal on the safe and voluntary return of those who have fled. Suu Kyi s less than two-year old civilian government has faced heavy international criticism for its response to the crisis, though it has no control over the generals it has to share power with under Myanmar s transition to power after decades of military rule. While a top UN official has described the military s actions as a textbook case of ethnic cleansing , U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on a visit to Myanmar last week refused to label it as such. In early November, U.S. lawmakers proposed targeted sanctions and travel restrictions on Myanmar military officials. Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, who was among the sponsors of the legislation introduced in the Senate, led a congressional delegation that visited Rakhine this week, but was blocked from traveling to the violence-hit north of the state and to Rohingya camps. The group also traveled to Cox s Bazar district in Bangladesh, where Rohingya refugees are huddled into makeshift camps and fed by overstretched aid agencies. Many refugees have suffered direct attacks including loved ones, children and husbands being killed in front of them, wives and daughters being raped, burns and other horrific injuries. This has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing, Merkley told reporters in Myanmar on Tuesday. We are profoundly disturbed by the violent and disproportionate response against the Rohingya by the military and local groups, he said. The delegation called for Myanmar to allow an investigation into the alleged atrocities that would involve the international community. We want to emphasize that the world is watching, Merkley said, adding that it was important Myanmar allow anyone who wants to come back to return to their homes and their farms. Merkley said the delegation was not here today to recommend what the U.S. government would do or should do, when asked about the legislation introduced in the Congress. Myanmar officials have so far said they plan to resettle most returnees in new model villages , rather than on the land they previously occupied, an approach the United Nations has criticized in the past as effectively creating permanent camps. Individuals cannot be coming back simply to return to camps where there would be continued discrimination, restrictions on full participation in the economy and society, said Merkley. He warned that isolating people in camps creates a two-tier society that is fundamentally incompatible with the future of democracy and it guarantees perpetuation of suspicions and misunderstandings and conflicts. Speaking earlier on Tuesday, Suu Kyi said discussions would be held with the Bangladesh foreign minister on Wednesday and Thursday about repatriation. Officials from both countries began talks last month on how to process the Rohingya wanting to return. We hope that this would result in an MOU signed quickly, which would enable us to start the safe and voluntarily return of all of those who have gone across the border, Suu Kyi said. The Rohingya are largely stateless and many people in Myanmar view them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Suu Kyi said Myanmar would follow the framework of an agreement reached in the 1990s to cover the earlier repatriation of Rohingya, who had fled to Bangladesh to escape previous bouts of ethnic violence. That agreement did not address the citizenship status of Rohingya, and Bangladesh has been pressing for a repatriation process that provided Rohingya with more safeguards this time. It s on the basis of residency...this was agreed by the two governments long time ago with success, so this will be formula we will continue to follow, Suu Kyi said. Earlier talks between the two countries reached a broad agreement to work out a repatriation deal, but a senior Myanmar official later accused Bangladesh of dragging its feet in order to secure funding from aid agencies for hosting the refugees. | 0fake |
Gingrich slut-shames Megyn Kelly | OUT OF LEFT FIELD Gingrich slut-shames Megyn Kelly Adele M. Stan: Misogyny isn't just baked into the Trump brand, it is the Trump brand Published: 54 mins ago
(American Prospect) — When, as a campaign surrogate and once-powerful white man, you answer allegations that your candidate may be a sexual predator with a sex-laced attack on your female interviewer, you’re probably a misogynist. A desperate misogynist.
That’s what former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is looking like this morning.
During a Tuesday discussion of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s sinking poll numbers, Gingrich accused Fox News Channel host Megyn Kelly of being “fascinated with sex” when she dared to mention that Trump’s fortunes began falling after the now infamous Access Hollywood video, featuring Trump boasting about his self-proclaimed prerogative to sexually assault women, became public on October 7, and nearly a dozen women came forward to allege that Trump had either assaulted them or otherwise taken liberties with their bodies. | 1real |
YOU WON’T BELIEVE Who Rachel Maddow Blames for Her Trump Tax Dud [Video] | 1real | |
Scientists Find A Plant That Could Treat Diabetes And Kill Cancer Cells | in: Natural Medicine Bitter melon is a fruit that grows abundantly in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. Traditionally it has been used to treat diabetes and other more mild diseases or illnesses. More recently, bitter melon juice was shown to kill pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in mice in a study done by the University of Colorado. Considering the results were seen in both in vitro and in vivo tests, the effectiveness of bitter melon juice in treating pancreatic cancer, and potentially other cancers, at a clinical level are promising.[ 1 ] “IHC analyses of MiaPaCa-2 xenografts showed that BMJ (Bitter Melon Juice) also inhibits proliferation, induces apoptosis and activates AMPK (adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase) in vivo . Overall, BMJ exerts strong anticancer efficacy against human pancreatic carcinoma cells, both in vitro and in vivo , suggesting its clinical usefulness.” Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to treat due to the fact that it is often discovered late, leaving very little time to treat. Since traditional therapies (chemotherapy, radiation, surgery etc) were not showing promising results and littler advancement was being made, researchers have been looking elsewhere to find treatment. Interestingly, cannabis, specifically cannabinoids, have been shown to induce apoptic (programmed) death of human pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and stop pancreatic tumor growth in vivo.[ 4 ] Cannabis is perhaps one of the most popular treatments being aggressively pursued right now given its promising results both in labs and anecdotally. Many cancerous tumors have insulin receptors which move glucose to cancer cells helping them to grow and divide. Studies have shown that insulin encourages pancreatic cancer cells to grow in a dose dependant manner, since bitter melon has been shown to help regulate insulin levels, this could help prevent pancreatic cancer over the long-term. The Colorado University study was led by Dr. Rajesh Agarwal. They examined effects of bitter melon on 4 different lines of pancreatic cancer cells (in vitro) and in mice. For the in vivo studies, mice were injected with pancreatic tumor cells and were randomly divided into one of two groups. One group of mice received water, which was the control group, and the other group was given bitter melon juice for six weeks. [6] Researchers studied the tumors at the end of the study and results showed that bitter melon juice not only inhibited cancer cell proliferation but also induced apoptosis (programmed cell death). Compared to the control, tumor growth was inhibited by 60% in the treatment group and there were no signs of toxicity or negative effects on the body. With toxicity and negative effects being a huge role in traditional mainstream treatments, this was positive to see. Diabetes A number of clinical studies have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy of bitter melon for treating diabetes. Since it is believed that diabetes is a precursor for pancreatic cancer, researchers felt bitter melon could treat diabetes as well after seeing pancreatic cancer results. In 2011, results of a four week long clinical trial were published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology that showed modest hypoglycemic effects and significant fructosamine management for those taking 2000mg/day of bitter melon. As published by the study: “Bitter melon had a modest hypoglycemic effect and significantly reduced fructosamine levels from baseline among patients with type 2 diabetes who received 2,000 mg/day. However, the hypoglycemic effect of bitter melon was less than metformin 1,000 mg/day.”[ 3 ] Another study published in 2008 in the international journal Chemistry and Biology indicated that compounds in bitter melon improved glycemic control, helped cells uptake glucose and improved overall glucose tolerance. This study was done in mice and led to promising advancements in treating diabetes and obesity with bitter melon.[ 4 ] In contrast, a study published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology in 2007 did not show significant benefit of the treatment of diabetes by bitter melon but 2 years later in the British Journal of Nutrition it was stated that “more, better-designed and clinical trials are required to confirm the fruit’s role in diabetes treatment.” Since that 2007 study, more studies have been done to show beneficial effects which perhaps was a result of better design. Conclusion When it comes to bitter melon juice, the current research available is showing strong results for specific types of cancer cell destruction, diabetes treatment and potential prevention of pancreatic cancer. Further research and clinical trials would be helpful to better understand how effective this plant can be and in what specific cases. It remains a very promising option that could be explored under the correct supervision. Other Uses of Bitter Melon Bitter melon has been used as a traditional medicine for a long time. It has been used to treat: colic, fever, burns, chronic cough, painful menstruation and skin conditions.[ 5 ] | 1real |
Britain's aid minister apologizes over undisclosed Israel meetings | LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s international development minister Priti Patel apologized on Monday for failing to disclose meetings with senior Israeli officials during a private holiday. The meetings were a potential breach of ministerial protocol. Patel said she met with senior Israeli figures, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Foreign Ministry Director General Yuval Rotem and opposition leader Yair Lapid. She apologized for failing to follow the usual procedures that ministers inform Britain s Foreign Office before conducting official business overseas and said she regretted suggesting Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had been aware of her trip. I can see how my enthusiasm to engage in this way could be mis-read, and how meetings were set up and reported, Patel said in a statement. I am sorry for this and I apologize for it. Prime Minister Theresa May s government is already under the microscope over the fallout from a broader parliamentary sexual harassment scandal which last week forced Britain s defense minister Michael Fallon to resign. May s most senior minister Damian Green is also under investigation from Britain s Cabinet Office after claims by a former senior police officer that pornography was found on one of his work computers and that he made an inappropriate sexual advance on a young woman. He denies any wrongdoing. Other political parties are also under scrutiny. Labour s spokeswoman for international development Kate Osamor said that Patel should resign or face an investigation by the Cabinet Office for breach of the ministerial code. A government spokesman said May accepted Patel s apology and met with her on Monday to remind her of the obligations under the ministerial code. After details of Patel s meetings in Israel were first reported last week, Patel told the Guardian newspaper Johnson knew about the trip. In a clarification on Monday she said that this was not the case and that he did become aware of the visit, but not in advance of it . Patel said she regrets the lack of precision in the wording she used in these statements, and is taking the opportunity to clarify the position. (This version of the story corrects title of Israeli foreign ministry official in third paragraph) | 0fake |
LOL! DONALD TRUMP JR. Has HILARIOUS Response To Dinesh D’Souza’s Tweet About Donna Brazile Fearing For Her Life For Crossing Hillary | In her new book Hacks , Donna Brazile expressed concern for her safety after DNC staffer s mysterious murder:I felt some responsibility for Seth Rich s death. I didn t bring him into the DNC, but I helped keep him there working on voting rights. With all I knew now about the Russians hacking, I could not help but wonder if they had played some part in his unsolved murder.But Brazile says she had a spook, with connections to the intelligence community, who told her after the killing that she needed protection for herself, including cameras, alarms and backup power at her house, and that she heeded his advice.Brazile was so concerned with Rich s death that she used her brief, only phone call from Hillary Clinton after the election loss to bring him up. She asked Clinton to use some of the millions of dollars the campaign had in order to set up a reward fund to find his murderer. But Hillary said she really had to go. I knew the campaign had over $3 million set aside in a legal fund. Could she help me get this lawsuit started? And don t forget the murder of Seth Rich, I told her. Did she want to contribute to Seth s reward fund? We still hadn t found the person responsible for the tragic murder of this bright young DNC staffer. You re right, she said. We re going to get to that. But she really had to go. She had made the call and checked it off her list, and I accepted after we said our goodbyes that I might never hear from her again.Dinesh D Souza tweeted in response to the excerpts from Brazile s book about her fears about crossing Hillary: When Donna Brazile feared for her life for crossing the Clintons you know you are dealing with an unscrupulous gang of thugs When Donna Brazile feared for her life for crossing the Clintons you know you are dealing with an unscrupulous gang of thugs pic.twitter.com/Ze2omu1ypG Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) November 5, 2017Donald Trump Jr., whose epic tweets have become must reads for anyone who loves a good laugh, had this hilarious response about Brazile s fear of Hillary Clinton (think Vince Foster) to Dinesh D Sousa s tweet: I assume she was very fearful of involuntary suicide??? https://t.co/sMM45gnTUE Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 5, 2017 | 1real |
Japan and Russia Might End World War 2 Soon! – The Asia-Pacific Perspective | Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Broc West joins us once again for our ongoing look at news from across the Asia-Pacific. This time we cover: how countries across the Asia-Pacific are inching out from under the American umbrella; how the Japanese and the Russians may (or may not) be on the verge of formally concluding a WWII peace treaty; and Australia and Indonesia’s potential joint exercises in the South China Sea.
CLICK HERE for show notes and mp3 audio of this podcast | 1real |
Media Says Trump Cannot Use Anonymous Sources, But They Can! | 21st Century Wire says Is there any wonder people are sick of the mainstream media?In stunning showing of arrogance, the mainstream media attacked President Donald Trump earlier in the week for basing his wiretapping claims on anonymously sourced reports. They must have forgotten that they too have relied on the very same reporting technique when covering some of the most contentious issues of the past few years.The hypocrisy is almost enough to turn your stomach. Stuart J. Hooper breaks it down in the following video report: READ MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Trump FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
Trump's Virginia comments last straw for disenchanted CEOs | NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several U.S. chief executives had been considering resigning from Donald Trump’s business advisory councils for months after the president said he would pull out of the Paris climate accord and ban transgender people from the military, sources told Reuters on Wednesday, long before Trump’s comments on racial violence this week pushed them over the edge. Trump disbanded two high-profile advisory groups on Wednesday, after the head of his Strategic and Policy Forum advised the White House the group was breaking up, and a trickle of departures from his American Manufacturing Council threatened to become a mass exodus. “He was at 95 percent already,” a source close to Larry Fink, head of investment firm BlackRock Inc (BLK.N), said of Fink’s leaning toward resigning from the Strategic and Policy Forum. “I think that (Trump’s latest comments) just made it 120 percent.” A number of CEOs started to consider more seriously whether to disband after Trump’s initial remarks blaming violence at Saturday’s white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on “many sides,” which was taken to include not only white nationalists but also anti-racism activists who opposed them. Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N) CEO Kenneth Frazier, an African-American, was the first to leave the manufacturing council on Monday over Trump’s weekend reaction. Trump then attacked Frazier on Twitter, prompting other CEOs to consider quitting also. Frazier’s resignation was followed by the CEOs of Under Armour Inc (UAA.N) and Intel Corp (INTC.O) later on Monday. Trump’s fiery comments on Tuesday, doubling down on his initial response to the Virginia rally, unnerved CEOs already doubting the utility and public relations value of remaining on Trump’s councils, sources close to several of the CEOs told Reuters. Soon after Trump’s comments on Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) CEO Jamie Dimon, who serves on the Strategic and Policy Forum, started pushing for the forum to take some kind of action, a person close to him said. Dimon had previously expressed exasperation with politics in Washington, saying in July that it is “almost an embarrassment being an American citizen traveling around the world.” Sensing a breakdown in the group, Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of money manager Blackstone Group (BX.N) and chairman of the Strategic and Policy Forum, convened a call on Wednesday for its members. After some debate, “the momentum was such that there wasn’t much room for dissent,” said one source familiar with the discussion. The decision to disband was agreed and Schwarzman called the White House to inform the president, the source said. Shortly after, Trump tweeted that he was disbanding the two groups. The leader of the manufacturing council, Dow Chemical Co DOW.N CEO Andrew Liveris, had planned a call with remaining members to try to salvage the group on Wednesday, according to an email seen by Reuters. The call never took place, superseded by Trump’s dissolution of the group. Sources familiar with the discussions of the boards of Merck and Intel said that they backed their CEOs’ decisions to leave because they did not believe stepping down from Trump’s councils would have a negative impact on their businesses. “I don’t think these are personal decisions,” said Blain Rethmeier, a Republican strategist who worked on the Trump transition and consults with companies in California. “I think these are made through the eyes of what’s in the best interest of the company, and the brand risks of what it means to be involved with the council became too much.” | 0fake |
After speech fiasco, UK minister says ruling Conservatives must stay cool | LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s ruling Conservative Party must remain cool-headed , business minister Greg Clark said on Thursday, after a speech by Prime Minister Theresa May at their annual conference was ruined by a prankster, letters falling off a slogan and coughing fits. The BBC reported that while ministers were rallying around the beleaguered May and praising her guts and grace in persisting with the hour-long speech despite the mishaps, some Conservative members of parliament were discussing amongst themselves whether to ask her to resign. Asked about such sentiment on BBC Radio 4, Clark said: The view of the party, both parliamentary colleagues and activists, is that they regard, correctly, the responsibility of the Conservative Party to be effective and cool-headed in government. | 0fake |
The Biggest Secret: How Reptilian-Human Hybrids Run Our World | “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King
Controversy has become the mantra of the whirlwind that is David Icke ’s life over the past few decades.
Since the early 90’s, he has challenged people’s parameters of reality suggesting that all is not what it seems in regards to how our world is run.
David’s verdict is clear; the people that lie at the top of our power structures are hiding a sinister secret, one that would make anyone sound crazy if it were verbalized.
Since the dawn of civilized man, the ruling class have been controlled by extra-terrestrial/ dimensional beings, with an agenda which ultimately establishes the human race as mindless and robotic slaves to a system based on fear and control.
It is easy to see why this theory has attracted so much back-lash.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King Controversy has become the mantra of the whirlwind that is David Icke’s life over the past few decades. Since the early 90’s, he has challenged people’s parameters of reality suggesting that all is not what it seems in regards to how our world is run.
David’s verdict is clear; the people that lie at the top of our power structures are hiding a sinister secret, one that would make anyone sound crazy if it were verbalized.
Since the dawn of civilized man, the ruling class have been controlled by extra-terrestrial/ dimensional beings, with an agenda which ultimately establishes the human race as mindless and robotic slaves to a system based on fear and control.
It is easy to see why this theory has attracted so much back-lash.
Icke made an infamous appearance on a national television talk show in 1991 where he announced to the world that he was being channeled information which warned him of impending devastation by natural disasters.
The ridicule which proceeded after the interview was said by Icke to be a nightmare for him and his family. He couldn’t walk down the street without being laughed at.
Icke later states that the laughter had “set him free” in a sense, allowing him to move forward with his messages to the world without now having worry about what people thought about him.
In the decade that followed Icke pumped out book after book, traveling the world giving long lectures on the nature of reality, testing people’s truth’s in regards to who is really running our world (4).
Today Icke leads a similar schedule, having just completed his 8 hour arena world tour which was sold out in multiple countries.
During the extended lecture he touches upon topics such as the holographic universe, the pseudo moon matrix, and his most infamous theory regarding a reptilian hybrid race that is controlling our world.
To begin to explain the complex theory, Icke discusses the current fear state of our world.
“The fear of what other people think is the state of perception that stops people [from] making a difference… you can only make a difference in a world of uniformity if you operate outside of that uniformity… we either take that on or we don’t, in which case nothing changes. “We are now at this place where we can go down one track and experience freedom like we’ve never even understood what freedom is. We go down the other one, the one that the control structure wants, then we’re headed for an Orwellian-fascist global state.” David Icke, The Lion Sleeps no More (3). Icke proposes that mankind has been manipulated to become “unconscious” through the use of programming by media and politics, the tyrannical control over our food, water, and air supply, the dumbing down of the masses by pharmaceutical drugs and alcohol, and the list goes on.
“But the manipulation doesn’t stop there”, as Icke states about exploring the never ending depths of the rabbit hole.
Quetzalcoatl – the Mesoamerican human-eating, reptilian deity
The ruling class, the bankers, the royal family, the presidents and prime ministers , have created the illusion of being separate ruling bodies when in fact they have always been on the same “team” of sorts.
There is a bloodline that has been strategically kept intact for ages. The Burkes Peerage and Baronetage, a comprehensive aristocratic genealogy resource, reveals that all 44 U.S. presidents have carried European royal bloodlines into office over the course of history.
This includes Bill Clinton , the Bush family , Barack Obama, John Kerry, and so on and so forth (6).
Portion of the global elite’s family tree
If we truly live in a democratic system, how is it that every single person brought into office has been of French and European royal descent? What are the chances of this considering the U.S. fought for their independence of Europe in the 1700s?
The Burkes Peerage makes a strong suggestion that elections are not really based on a public voting system, but rather they are based upon the highest percentage of royal genes.
To make things even more peculiar is the fact that Brad Pitt, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, and Tom hanks (some of Hollywood’s biggest stars) also descend from this lineage. What could all of this imply?
Icke goes on to illuminate the theory of quantum physics, which states that our physical reality is a projection within our mind, and that at the most basic quantum level, the solidity of matter is false, existing as vibrations instead of atoms.
When the light from matter reflects into our eyes, the cells pick up the light (which travels as a wavelength measured from 390nm-700nm, the visible light spectrum) and transmutes the vibrations or wave-forms into an image within the brain.
This is the same for sound; it is a vibration until it is decoded by the brain (Suddenly The Matrix plot doesn’t seem so far-fetched).
The human brain can only see an extremely limited spectrum of energy, as we know there are a plethora of different forms of energy in our universe and thousands of different frequencies around us at any given moment that we cannot see, such as radio and radiation waves.
Icke suggests that ET’s and other beings exist in our universe, but they operate at a frequency just above what the human mind is said to be able to detect(3). This could explain the strange sightings of UFO’s that seem to appear and disappear in an instant.
Could it be that the UFO’s or ET’s are advanced enough that they can raise or lower their frequency to come in and out of the visible light frequency spectrum?
This is something that Icke says the ruling elite are aware of, knowledge that is used to manipulate mankind into thinking that our experience is limited to a 3D reality.
Icke says the reptilians control the globalists extra-dimensionally through the manipulation of human DNA
It is no secret today that the world is ruled by money and power. Corporations and banks have more power than the people do, and this is something that is beginning to become recognized by a large majority of the population.
There is a world government which oversees the regulation of the entire planet and all of its systems, says Icke. This world government is called the Illuminati by many, although there are multiple names for the different levels of this organization.
Behind the closed doors at the highest levels of government, secret societies rule with malevolence. The problem is that anyone who learns this information and speaks out publicly as a leading force against these secret societies is quickly silenced.
John Kennedy’s assassination is a perfect example of this. In his famous last speech, not too long before he was shot, he touches upon the subject of the secret ruling class,
“The very word ‘secrecy’ is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and secret proceedings… “For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence – on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day.
“It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific, and political operations.” – John F Kennedy (8)
In his arena tour, Icke discusses the disturbing events that take place behind closed doors at the annual meeting of the global leaders.
“They follow a religion that dates back to the beginning of civilization”, he states. The secret societies take part in and worship a pocket of consciousness, that most call Satanism, in which they perform esoteric rituals that entail ceremonial chanting, gratuitous sexual activities, and even blood sacrifice.
Icke alludes to this in his seminar correlating the globalist cult to the chain of missing children and underground world of sex trafficking.
The Catholic Church is a big player in this disturbing hidden world, Icke says. Earlier in 2013, Pope Benedict XVI became the first Pope to resign since the 1400s.
Some argue that the real reason was due to Benedict being blackmailed for surfacing information about the Catholic Church’s ritual abuse of children and homosexuality within the Vatican (7).
Neil Brick, a victim of satanic ritual abuse, founded S.M.A.R.T (Stop Mind Control and Ritual Abuse Today) in 1995, an organization which aims to expose and put to an end to the ritual abuse of children by the Vatican and other secret power circles.
Neil states that thousands of children are captured each year and are manipulated through mind control to perform grotesque acts involving sex and torture (5).
Chrystine Oksana’s 1994 book, “Safe Passage to Healing”, expands on this topic:
“Ritual Abuse usually involves repeated abuse over an extended period of time. The physical abuse is severe, sometimes including torture and killing. The sexual abuse is usually painful, humiliating, intended as means of gaining dominance over the victim. “The psychological abuse is devastating and involves the use of ritual indoctrination. It includes mind control techniques which convey to the victim a profound terror of the cult members… most victims are in a state of terror, mind control and dissociation.” — Chrystine Oksana, Safe Passage to Healing Many have come forward with unsettling stories about their abuse by different power circles such as the Vatican or the secret men’s clubs like the one held annually at Bohemian Grove in California.
This information may be difficult to process for most. Human beings are naturally compassionate for one and other; we don’t want to believe that these sorts of things happen, especially not by the hands of the people that we’ve “elected” to power.
So what could be the true reason behind these real-life horror movie stories? Icke says that it goes far beyond the physical constraints of the visible light spectrum.
WATCH THE VIDEO:
Alex Jones’ secret footage of a Bohemian Grove Ritual
“We are clearly massively missing the point. The vast majority who investigate this will not go any further…because a.) Their belief systems won’t let them and b.) They fear what other people will think about them. There is the level we see unfolding in the news, and then there is the other dimensional non-human level.
The rabbit hole goes deeper and deeper .
“It is all about the control and programming of perception… at one level we see the dark-suits sitting at the big round table making the decisions, then at the next we have the secret societies, and then we go beyond the frequency of visible light… Satanism is a network that interacts with the beings that are controlling our vibrational state from a frequency above us.”
“Wolfgang and the Devil”, Michael Pacher, 1483 — Note the reptilian form the devil takes on
Icke says that these extra-dimensional beings that the globalists worship stem from the constellations Orion, Sirius, and Draco. Thousands of years ago, the reptilian beings intervened on planet Earth and began interbreeding with humans.
Not physically, however, but rather through the manipulation of the human coding, or DNA. Icke states that it is no coincidence that humans have fundamental reptilian genetics within their brain. He refers to an excerpt from the Bible, which hints at the crossbreeding of men and “gods”,
“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the songs of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bear children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” – Genesis, 6:4
Icke connects more biblical stories to the intervention of the reptilian race. He alludes to the “fall of man,” the story of how Adam and Eve became manipulated by the serpent.
The reason, he goes on to say, that 95% of human DNA and a large majority of our brain goes unused is due to this intervention of the reptilian race, placing a limitation on our potential as conscious beings.
These beings were more advanced in the technological sense, seeing our DNA as software which could be tainted with, creating a hybrid middle man to control the human population within the visible light spectrum.
Half human and half reptilian, they were perceived as demi-gods at the time by the people . Icke explains that the Caduceus, the common medical symbol we see today, is based around this DNA manipulation.
The Caduceus contains two serpents spiraling around a scepter that has wings, in the shape of the double-helix DNA strand.
Because these hybrids at the time possessed knowledge that most didn’t, they were able to slip into positions of power, specifically in the ancient areas of Sumer, Babylon, and Mesopotamia.
As these areas began to separate and colonize elsewhere, the reptilian bloodlines spread out, becoming the royal families of the world.
This is said to be why the royal family maintains their genetics. Similarly, the ancient Chinese emperors believed they had the divine right to rule because they were connected to the “serpent gods”.
Icke says there is a common theme between royalty and serpent worship around the world. This can be seen in early images of ancient cultures such as the Hindus, Cambodians, Greeks, Nordics, Africans, Native Americans, Koreans, and Australians to name a few (1).
Icke recounts in his seminar about his discussions with Credo Mutwa , a South-African based Zulu shaman, during which Mutwa tells of African legends about the Chitauri, the reptilian like “gods” who ascended from the heavens in monstrous vessels which burned through the atmosphere.
These so called gods became the dictators of the people, taking away the potentiality and power of the human race (2, 3).
“One other thing that our people say is that the Chitauri prey upon us like vultures. They raise some of us. They fill some of us with great anger and great ambition. And they make these people they’ve raised into great warriors who make terrible war.
“But, in the end, the Chitauri do not allow these great leaders, these great war chiefs and kings, to die peacefully. “The warrior chief is used to make as much war as possible, to kill as many of his people and those he calls enemies, and then, in the end, the warrior chief dies a terrible death, with his blood being spilled by others.” (2), Credo Mutwa on the reptilian-hyrbid leaders.
Over time these bloodlines created a sort of trans-national web of control, and as history progressed they rooted themselves deeper and deeper into the systems and structures that were developed by man.
Today they make up the secret societies (Illuminati, etc.) which pull the strings in regards to the direction that society follows.
Read: New (Reptilian) World Order — Complete History of Reptilian Control
They have created the ultimate prison, one without bars with the illusion of freedom keeping the masses from wanting to escape. They have created illusory lines separating countries to cause segregation among the people who are ignorant to the truth.
They have created massive distractions with media, politics and entertainment, and they have dumbed down the general population through the poisoning of our food, air, and water supply (3).
So what is the ultimate goal of these hybrid bloodlines? Some argue it was originally for our planet’s supply of gold, which they need to stabilize the atmosphere of their own planet. Others suggest that it more has to do with tyranny.
The New World Order (NWO) isn’t a new concept to most. In the early 90’s President Bush publicly announced that the NWO was the eventual goal for the United States. A NWO is not the peaceful state of freedom that these leaders try to present it as.
The NWO is an Orwellian state based around absolute control in which the population is maintained under 500 000 million people. It takes away the power of the public, turning them into mindless robots who do the bidding of the fortunate ruling class; a more extreme case of the current state of the world.
It is a one world government that calls all the shots. This is what the hybrids want; power and control. Whatever the intention is behind the control structures, it is obvious that it is not in harmony with the well-being of mankind or the planet.
Icke ends his seminar with a glimpse of hope for humanity, stating that its time for humanity to get up off of our knees and to take matters back into our own hands,
“What if vast numbers of people say ‘well we’re not doing it’? They’d have no power whatsoever. Their power comes in our acquiescence. What we need isn’t compliance, what we need is a global non-comply-dance. [They] cannot grant our freedom, nor can [they] take it away.”
David Icke’s theories may be difficult to grasp for some, but what is undeniable is the fact that when you listen to his propositions, he makes a damn good argument with his case. In the end it is up to you to decide what truth you wish to believe.
We encourage you to do your own research. This is a time of great change in the world. The people have begun to wake up, deciding for themselves what resonates as truth and what doesn’t.
We live in an era of mass information sharing, thanks to advent of the internet. People are connecting from all over the world to share knowledge and create change on a massive scale. The most important thing for each of us to do during this time is to become informed as much as possible.
Ultimately it is we who have the power to create what we want as a society. When we tune into our true potential, anything is possible.
Fear will not create this change; it will only feed the old systems which the ruling class have already established. Love will be the forerunner for the fast approaching new Earth.
Collective-Evolution
SOURCE | 1real |
SUPREME COURT: ABERCROMBIE & FITCH LOSES CASE BROUGHT BY HEADSCARF-WEARING MUSLIM WOMAN | This decision by the Supreme Court is confusing in that Christians are shut down for so many things but the A & F corporates need to hire hijab-wearing Muslim woman even though it goes against their policy. Why the double standard?The Supreme Court ruled Monday for a Muslim woman who did not get hired after she showed up to a job interview with clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch wearing a black headscarf.The justices said that employers generally have to accommodate job applicants and employees with religious needs if the employer at least has an idea that such accommodation is necessary.Job applicant Samantha Elauf did not tell her interviewer she was Muslim. But Justice Antonin Scalia said for the court that Abercrombie at least suspected that Elauf wore a headscarf for religious reasons. That is enough, Scalia said in an opinion for seven justices.The headscarf, or hijab, violated the company s strict dress code for employees who work in its retail stores.Via: DFP | 1real |
Trump attends 'Villains and Heroes' costume party dressed as...himself | NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attended a “Villains and Heroes” costume party at a major donor’s Long Island home on Saturday night, but declined to don any garb that was in keeping with the theme. Trump entered the party hosted by the Mercer family, one of his biggest donors, at their home in the village of Head of the Harbor in St. James, N.Y., wearing a suit and a blue and white checked tie. Security guards at the event however were dressed as biker gang members Hell’s Angels. Trump walked into the home and gave reporters, who were not allowed inside, the thumbs up and posed briefly for photos, but did not respond to questions except to mouth “me,” pointing to himself when asked who he was dressed as. Trump spoke briefly at the party, thanking the Mercer family, according to a member of his press team, staying for just under two hours. It was his only outing from his Manhattan home on Saturday. Early on Sunday, he slammed the latest “Saturday Night Live” on Twitter, calling it “unwatchable”. “Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can’t get any worse. Sad,” Trump wrote about Alec Baldwin’s recurring appearances on the late night sketch show in which the actor portrays Trump. None of Trump’s immediate family members attended the Long Island party, but his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, was on hand, dressed as Super Woman. Trump’s designated White House strategist Steve Bannon was also on hand, but appeared not to be in costume. Music by Adele, Lady Gaga, Shakira, Sia and Céline Dion emanated from the Christmas light decorated home. A wifi network set up for the party used the password “HeroesWin!” Robert Mercer, the billionaire at whose mansion on Long Island’s tony North Shore the party was held, is co-chief executive of Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund. Daughter Rebekah Mercer sits on Trump’s transition team. Trump is in the midst of choosing cabinet members. Mercer initially supported Ted Cruz for the Republican nomination before putting his support behind Trump in the November presidential election. | 0fake |
Why Comey Reopened the Hillary Investigation (The real reasons) | Posted 10/31/2016 10:54 am by PatriotRising with 0 comments
This last Friday it became public record that FBI Director James Comey reopened the Hillary Clinton email server investigation after repeatedly testifying before Congress and the world up to last July that he’d closed the case , after in his words not finding sufficient evidence of “any criminal wrongdoing ” to indict her in spite of her four years as Secretary of State egregiously breaching our national security , committing obstruction of justice and willful tampering with evidence, deleting 30,000 emails after receiving a court subpoena constituting destruction of evidence, not to mention repeatedly engaging in perjury before Congress and the FBI.
But obviously, a federal investigation still in process in late June never stopped serial rapist-crime boss Bill Clinton’s illegal ambush at the Phoenix airport of Comey’s boss US Attorney General Loretta Lynch “clearing” the way for Hillary to proceed without consequence to be anointed as the next US figurehead puppet president by the ruling elite. Because it’s so blatantly obvious to the entire world that Hillary is guilty as sin, Comey’s whitewash didn’t go over well with either Americans or longtime FBI agents who reacted angrily to Comey’s over-the-top corruption. Subsequently, in recent months Comey has had a virtual mutiny on his hands as in the FBI boss has lost all credibility, respect, and moral authority.
A former federal attorney for the District of Columbia Joe diGenova spelled it all out in a WMAL radio interview last Friday just hours after the news was released that Comey had sent a letter informing Congress that the case is being reopened. DiGenova said that with an open revolt brewing inside the FBI, Comey was forced to go public on Friday with reopening the investigation. The former DC attorney added that the FBI investigators discovered more emails on a phone confiscated from the former New York Congressman and separated husband Anthony Weiner that also included his wife and longtime Hillary’s right-hand woman Huma Abedin’s communications that allegedly bear pertinent relevance to the Hillary case. Funny how things have a karmic way of coming full circle – the Clintons first introduced Weiner and Abedin 15 years ago and they married a half dozen years ago.
In a separate FBI investigation involving Weiner’s alleged sexting messages with a 15-year old minor , the phone in question was handed over to the FBI. The investigating teams of both the Weiner and Hillary cases compared notes and apparently additional emails not already issued by WikiLeaks or already in FBI possession recently came to light on Weiner’s phone . The legions of rank and file FBI agents were already fuming over Comey’s complete ethical and legal lapses in his choice not to indict Hillary. Joe diGenova believes that FBI personnel forced Comey’s hand to reopen the investigation after giving him the ultimatum that if he failed to do so, the FBI defiantly would. According to diGenova, this latest plot twist only proves that:
The original investigation was not thorough, and that it was an incompetent investigation.
Otherwise, had a real investigation been conducted, that Weiner phone used by both Anthony and Huma would have been picked up by the FBI and its contents thoroughly scrutinized long before now.
In addition to stating the obvious, that the higher-up feds had already made the decision to not consequence Hillary for her crimes, speculating on why that phone was not already submitted to the FBI as evidence, the former DC attorney concluded:
There could be one explanation: Huma Abedin may have denied that any other phone existed, and if she did, she committed a felony. She lied to the FBI just like General Cartwright , and if she did, she’s dead meat, and Comey knows it, and there’s nothing he can do about it.
Finally, diGenova dropped one more bombshell in Friday’s interview. An inside source has revealed to him that the laptops belonging to key Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson, both wrongly granted immunity , were not destroyed after all as previously reported, but have been secretly kept intact by investigating FBI agents refusing to destroy incriminating evidence as part of the in-house whitewash. Additionally like their boss, Hillary’s aides also sent classified material using private servers. On top of that, longtime aide Cheryl Mills on multiple occasions has perjured herself lying under oath for the Clinton crime family, tasked with “cleaning up” (aka covering up) their countless scandals over the past several decades. Indeed the whole Clinton entourage not already “mysteriously” winding up in the growing Clinton dead pool are all unindicted criminals protected by the corrosively corrupt DC cronyism where backroom deals (a la Bill’s airport ambush) are brokered based on whatever dirt’s been gathered and used as bargaining blackmail chips against all parties involved. That’s how the Washington crowd stays immune from any and all accountability as well as stays alive. Violate that crime syndicate code of conduct and you lose your life as more recent victims earlier this year have.
In a “leaked” memo to his FBI that surfaced on Fox Friday night, Comey outlined his reasons for reopening the case in light of the new information the director believes would have ultimately been leaked to Congress and the public anyway. So in full damage control/CYA mode, the beleaguered director now going public really had no choice in the matter. His underlings were chomping at the bit to both out and oust him. In an obvious attempt to weakly claim some moral high ground, Comey wrote in his memo:
I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record.
Though his leadership and character are perceived by the vast majority of both FBI personnel as well as American citizens to presently lay in ruin as a pathetically shameful stain and humiliating joke on both the FBI organization and Washington in general, James Comey appears to be feebly attempting to save his own career and reputation for appearing now to “come clean.” But make no mistake, his moral turpitude displayed throughout this Hillary debacle from early 2015 to now has over-exposed him as a total lackey and fraud, so at this late stage of the game, redemption is not even an option. But the criminal misconduct, rampant corruption and diabolical evil committed by those at the highest puppet levels of federal power, and especially the elite puppet masters controlling them, their sins produce far more devastating consequences than this morally lacking man in the middle of this latest controversy.
Because there is no way that the FBI will properly conclude this part 2 of the Hillary investigation saga before the November 8 th election, Hillary, and her Democrats are predictably crying foul , demanding that the FBI immediately disclose what it has, which of course is a moot point that won’t happen. It seems highly unlikely that the email texts from Abedin and Weiner found on his phone would not contain clear criminal evidence that implicates Hillary. Since Hillary was the globalist choice after Obama was selected in 2008, it seems unlikely that the puppet masters would not permit this latest development to even occur. But then perhaps the ruling elite is pulling the plug on Hillary, concluding that she simply carries too much liability baggage with her deteriorating health condition and never-ending scandals, maybe the globalists are rethinking an alternative replacement like her obnoxiously aggressive VP candidate, the Jesuit-trained and educated Tim Kaine.
That said, there are some cynics who believe that this recent odd turn is the last ditch desperado attempt being staged to overturn Trump winning by a landslide. This conjectured scenario goes something like this: a few days prior to the election the FBI will once again “clear” Hillary of all charges. This, in turn, would offer her the last minute much needed boost being able to cash in on her worn out persecution complex , plagued forever by her “right wing conspiracy” theory against the “much maligned” woman of destiny.
In response to all her scandals, Hillary’s M.O. has always been to falsely blame some villainous sinister force. This year it’s been Putin hacking into her emails, and Trump, Putin, and Assange colluding and plotting behind her back. She’s always been as paranoid as Richard Nixon , attempting to deflect the heat she draws from her own skullduggery lies by constantly pointing fingers to externalize blame onto others. It’s a deeply rooted pathological complex that certain tightly screwed sociopaths possess.
This latest sudden turn of events obviously has James Comey incurring the wrath of Hillary Democrats as well as the Justice Department. By disclosing the reopened investigation so close to the election date that undoubtedly casts some influence on the potential outcome, Comey is defying his AG boss while clearly violating DOJ written policy . Lynch herself even tried to quash Comey’s letter to Congress. But as diGenova alluded, by Comey’s own past misdeeds (and those of his boss and Obama as well), the FBI director placed himself between this rock and a hard place by his own slipshod, half-ass probe failing to acquire Weiner’s phone the first time around.
The entire sordid affair of this year’s totally rigged political election – pre-fixed in Hillary’s favor – blatantly reveals to America the gross misnomer of the US “justice” system being two-tiered, one for elitist crime cabal bosses like Hillary and the other for the rest of us 99% no longer protected in a totalitarian police state by our once rule of law the US Constitution. Regardless of what happens in the future, the truth genie’s already been let out of the bag, and for eyes open enough to see, it’s floating in the Washington cesspool of filth, debauchery and deception regularly perpetrated by our “entrusted perps” we have as our so called leaders.
Moreover, this year’s unending batches of Wiki-leaked DNC/Hillary emails and Project Veritas undercover campaign videos confirm that the entire US political, as well as economic system, is morally and financially bankrupt, irreparably broken and in need of complete overhaul. Voter fraud and election fraud are rampant. Soros funded electronic voting machines that are preprogrammed to vote for Hillary are operating in 16 key battleground states. America’s internal house now is in total disarray, badly in need of a deep cleaning purge like never before. Mainstream media is strongly biased against Trump in its blind support for Hillary . As Secretary of State she treasonously sold out our nation, placing us all at high security risk and under foreign interest control at the hands of high rolling bidders so she and her fat cats can get richer as fellow partners-in-crime from places like Saudi Arabia and Israel, destroying our once sovereign country while aiding, abetting, financing and supporting our enemies the global terrorists around the world. She helped create ISIS and plans world war against Russia, China and Iran. The traitors in our government and their globalist puppet masters – the Rothschilds, Rockefellers , the Bushes and Clintons all need to be rounded up, imprisoned and tried at The Hague for both treason and their endless crimes against humanity.
The Best of Joachim Hagopian
Joachim Hagopian [ ] is a West Point graduate and former US Army officer. He has written a manuscript based on his unique military experience entitled “Don’t Let The Bastards Getcha Down.” It examines and focuses on US international relations, leadership and national security issues. After the military, Joachim earned a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and worked as a licensed therapist in the mental health field for more than a quarter century. In recent years he has focused on his writing, becoming an alternative media journalist. His blog site is at http://empireexposed.blogspot.com . Previous article by Joachim Hagopian: Another US False Flag? Do you enjoy reading Patriot Rising? | 1real |
Puerto Rico Relief Measure Clears Senate, Goes to Obama - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — Just two days before Puerto Rico plans to default on a large debt payment, the Senate on Wednesday passed and sent to the White House a relief measure to help the financially desperate island surmount its fiscal crisis, ending a grueling, monthslong effort to rescue the commonwealth. The Senate, eager to follow the House out of town for a long Fourth of July weekend, voted 68 to 30 for the legislation on Wednesday evening after a test vote that morning showed by a wide margin that critics in both parties did not have the numbers to block passage. President Obama will sign the measure, which his Treasury secretary, Jacob J. Lew, had negotiated and lobbied for since December. “I could write a bill that I think would be a better bill, but I don’t know that anyone could write a better bill that would pass the Congress that also solves the problem,” Mr. Lew said in an interview. The rescue package will not prevent Puerto Rico from missing the payment due on Friday on a $2 billion debt, and Republican congressional leaders labored to the end to reassure conservatives that the bill is not a bailout. Instead, the legislation would allow the island’s government to restructure its $72 billion total debt so it can manage payments, and create a bipartisan oversight board mostly of outsiders to guide what is sure to be a painful recovery process. Crucially, given the imminent missed debt payment, the bill also would bar lawsuits by creditors for nonpayment retroactive to December — to provide Puerto Rico “the breathing room,” as Mr. Lew put it, for its government and the control board to restructure the crippling debt and devise a new budget plan. The Senate majority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, opened the day’s debate by describing what he saw as the high stakes. “The U. S. territory of Puerto Rico is in crisis, it owes billions of dollars in debt, and it could be forced to leave residents without essential services like hospitals and public safety resources without prompt congressional action,” he said. “This bill won’t cost the taxpayers a dime,” Mr. McConnell added. “What it will do is help Puerto Rico restructure its financial obligations and provide oversight to put into place reforms. ” Final Senate approval was thrown into some doubt in recent days because the House passed the bill last week and then left for its holiday. That meant that any changes the Senate made would force the bill’s return to the House, extending the legislative process and delaying action until House members return next week. Yet a number of senators were demanding changes. senators from Ohio and West Virginia wanted an unrelated amendment to protect coal miners’ pensions and health benefits, which are threatened by the industry’s economic travails. Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, opposed much of the Puerto Rico bill, and other Democrats found fault with various provisions. The oversight board, which at least initially will include four Republican and three Democratic appointees, was criticized as undemocratic for giving too little representation to the 3. 5 million Puerto . Senator Bernie Sanders, Democrat of Vermont, compared the board to “a colonial master” for the island. Democrats also objected to provisions setting a lower minimum wage for young workers and limiting overtime pay on the island, attacking them as counterproductive to a stronger economy. The Senate voted down opponents’ motions against the bill. If the Senate had failed to clear the measure for Mr. Obama’s signature, it would have been the second time in two days that legislation was blocked in the polarized Congress. On Tuesday, Democrats blocked a measure to finance efforts against the Zika virus — another crisis facing Puerto Rico — because Republican congressional leaders had made changes to the bill in final negotiations, from which Democrats were excluded. In the case of the Puerto Rico relief bill, the compromise was worked out between Republicans and the Obama administration, led by Mr. Lew. Yet, as the bill hung in the balance on Tuesday, both Mr. Lew and Puerto Rico’s governor, Alejandro García Padilla, lobbied senators to urge their support. Mr. Lew said the bill’s loss would mean “descent into chaos. ” Top Democratic leaders announced publicly late Tuesday that they would support the legislation. On the final vote, dissenters included both liberal and conservative senators. What made the issue problematic in both parties was the deep unpopularity of perceived federal bailouts after the 2008 financial crisis, and the disconnect of most Americans from Puerto Ricans. “I’ve been having town hall meetings in Oregon recently. No one has asked a question about Puerto Rico, and we have a very small population of Puerto Ricans,” said Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. “But I also think that Congress has a responsibility to back American citizens. That’s what this is about, backing American citizens. And that’s important wherever they live. ” | 0fake |
Morocco arrests six suspected Islamic State militants | RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccan authorities said on Monday they had arrested six suspected Islamic State militants who had been planning attacks. The arrested belonged to a group linked to Islamic State that was dismantled this month which had been active in eight towns and cities and which had planned terrorist operations, an official statement said. One of the six arrested was an expert in explosives, the statement said. Eleven other militants had already been arrested earlier this month. Moroccan authorities say they have dismantled dozens of jihadist cells since 2002, including about 50 with alleged links to Islamic State. | 0fake |
Maher: Maddow’s Tax Story Was ’Worse Than a Nothingburger,’ ’This Is Getting Played’ - Breitbart | On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher stated that MSNBC host Rachel Maddow’s Trump tax return story was “worse than a nothingburger, it was a help Trump burger. ” Maher said, “I’m a big fan of Rachel Maddow. I want her on the air. ” He added that the tax return story “turned out to be a big nothingburger, worse than a nothingburger, it was a help Trump burger. ” Maher further stated that the amount of taxes Trump paid is “well within respectful. This is probably the best tax return he’s ever filed, which makes me think this came from Donald Trump. … This is getting played. ” Maher concluded, “[L]et’s not weaponize Rachel Maddow. ” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett | 0fake |
Trump: U.S. appeals court should go his way on immigration order | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he needed a U.S. appeals court considering the legality of his immigration order to go his way, saying a lot of “bad people” are thinking of coming to the United States. Trump made the comments during an appearance at the White House in which he also criticized Senate delays of his Cabinet nominees, including Scott Pruitt for the Environmental Protection Agency. | 0fake |
Iran non-interference in Lebanon is key for regional stability: France | PARIS (Reuters) - France s foreign ministry said on Monday it was an important condition for the stability of the region that Iran not interfere in Lebanon s domestic affairs. We wish that all those who exert an influence in Lebanon allow all the political actors in this country to exercise fully their responsibilities, foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne told reporters in a daily briefing. Mr Saad al-Hariri called on Iran yesterday to not interfere in the affairs of Lebanon and its neighbors. We believe that this is an important condition for the stability of the region. | 0fake |
Trump says tariffs on steel imports 'could happen' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, asked by a reporter on Wednesday if he would impose tariffs on steel imports, said it “could happen.” Trump initiated a ‘Section 232’ review of the U.S. steel industry that allows for the imposition of tariffs or quotas on imports if they are found to threaten national security. His Commerce Department has not yet issued its findings. | 0fake |
President Donald Trump’s Cabinet Complete with Swearing-In of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer | WASHINGTON, DC — Vice President Mike Pence presided over the of the eighteenth United States Trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, on Monday in the White House Indian Treaty Room, declaring, “And with this ceremony, President Donald Trump’s cabinet is finally complete. ”[Pence acknowledged several of the about 50 guests in attendance, including Sen. Pat Roberts and Sen. Bob Dole, then stated, “To hear Bob Lighthizer tell it, he learned everything that he knows from Bob Dole, serving with him for nearly a in his Senate office. ” The vice president said with the appointment of Lighthizer, President Trump is keeping his promise to “fight for trade that puts America first. ” He called Lighthizer “one of the leading experts on trade in all of America. ” Pence detailed some of the new trade representative’s career. After working as a private practice lawyer, Lighthizer joined the Senate Committee on Finance, eventually taking on the role of chief counsel and staff director. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan appointed Lighthizer as deputy U. S. Trade representative. Pence continued: In this capacity, he directly contributed to the renewed growth and prosperity of that era by negotiating more than two dozen bilateral trade agreements with nations all across the wider world. For the past 30 years, Robert has represented the American businesses that are the beating heart of our economy as a trade litigator. From manufacturing to agriculture, to financial services, Robert Lighthizer has distinguished himself as a tireless defender of America’s workers and America’s future, and now he’ll be doing it for the United States of America. The vice president expressed the great confidence he and President Trump have in Lighthizer’s ability to help them “restore trade that is both free and fair,” which “benefits the American people above all else. ” Lighthizer thanked the vice president, Sen. Roberts, and Secretary Wilbur Ross. He then said to his mentor, “But mostly Sen. Dole, who I — when I had my hearing, I said — ‘I wouldn’t be here but for you.’ And he said, ‘No, no, no.’ I said, ‘People say that, but it’s, in fact, true this time. ’” He added, as a student of presidential history, when the dust settles, “The Trump administration will be ranked as one of the greatest in American history. ” Lighthizer expressed gratitude that he had been chosen to serve the president on the important issue of international trade. He added: I further believe that when my grandchildren, who are here today, talk to their grandchildren, they will say that President Trump permanently reversed the dangerous trajectory of American trade, put America first, made our farmers, ranchers, and workers richer and the country safer. And I hope I can make some small contribution to that accomplishment. Several members of Lighthizer’s family were in attendance for the ceremony, including children and grandchildren. Sen Pat Roberts, the Senate Agriculture Committee chairman, also attended and gave remarks ahead of the vice president. The Kansas senator said he spoke for farmers, ranchers, and people throughout rural and America who have been going through a rough patch these days. Roberts also acknowledged Dole and the 15 years he has served as mentor to his dear friend Lighthizer. Commerce Secretary Ross, Peter Navarro, and Kellyanne Conway were also in attendance. Dole and Pence stood beside Lighthizer as he signed his commission document. President Trump’s cabinet, including Lighthizer, is listed on the White House website. Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana. | 0fake |
THE BRUTAL TRUTH About The Mooching Bum Who Wanted To Be Your Next President…And Tax You To Death | Here s the brutal truth on the socialist who wanted to be your next president and take your hard earned money:Sanders spent most of his life as an angry radical and agitator who never accomplished much of anything. And yet now he thinks he deserves the power to run your life and your finances We will raise taxes; he confirmed Monday, yes, we will. One of his first jobs was registering people for food stamps, and it was all downhill from there.Sanders took his first bride to live in a maple sugar shack with a dirt floor, and she soon left him. Penniless, he went on unemployment. Then he had a child out of wedlock. Desperate, he tried carpentry but could barely sink a nail. He was a shi**y carpenter, a friend told Politico Magazine. His carpentry was not going to support him, and didn t. Then he tried his hand freelancing for leftist rags, writing about masturbation and rape and other crudities for $50 a story. He drove around in a rusted-out, Bondo-covered VW bug with no working windshield wipers. Friends said he was always poor and his electricity was turned off a lot. They described him as a slob who kept a messy apartment and this is what his friends had to say about him.The only thing he was good at was talking non-stop about socialism and how the rich were ripping everybody off. The whole quality of life in America is based on greed, the bitter layabout said. I believe in the redistribution of wealth in this nation. So he tried politics, starting his own socialist party. Four times he ran for Vermont public office, and four times he lost badly. He never attracted more than single-digit support even in the People s Republic of Vermont. In his 1971 bid for U.S. Senate, the local press said the 30-year-old Sanders describes himself as a carpenter who has worked with disturbed children. In other words, a real winner.He finally wormed his way into the Senate in 2006, where he still ranks as one of the poorest members of Congress. Save for a municipal pension, Sanders lists no assets in his name. All the assets provided in his financial disclosure form are his second wife s. He does, however, have as much as $65,000 in credit-card debt.Sure, Sanders may not be a hypocrite, but this is nothing to brag about. His worthless background contrasts sharply with the successful careers of other outsiders in the race for the White House, including a billionaire developer, a world-renowned neurosurgeon and a Fortune 500 CEO.The choice in this election is shaping up to be a very clear one. It will likely boil down to a battle between those who create and produce wealth, and those who take it and redistribute it.Via: IBD | 1real |
WATCH DINESH D’SOUZA Totally Embarrass Liberal Caller On C-SPAN: “First of all…” [Video] | If you want to try to dispute Dinesh D Souza s arguments, you should probably start by actually reading his book This is a classic because the woman is so clueless about Obama 2016 and projects what the left does onto the right.Available nationwide, Dinesh D Souza s new book The Big Lie exposes the Left s biggest lie yet: their orchestrated campaign to paint conservatives as Nazis to cover up their own fascism.To cover up their insidious fascist agenda, Democrats loudly accuse President Trump and other Republicans of being Nazis an obvious lie, considering the GOP has been fighting the Democrats over slavery, genocide, racism and fascism from the beginning. | 1real |
FILMMAKER DINESH D’SOUZA: Eight Things I LOVE About America! | FILMMAKER DINESH D SOUZA S Eight things I LOVE about America! To make us love our country, Edmund Burke once said, our country ought to be lovely. Burke s point is that we should love our country not just because it is ours, but also because it is good. America is far from perfect, and there is lots of room for improvement. In spite of its flaws, however, American life as it is lived today is the best life that our world has to offer. Ultimately America is worthy of our love and sacrifice because, more than any other society, it makes possible the good life, and the life that is good. America provides an amazingly good life for the ordinary guy Rich people live well everywhere. But what distinguishes America is that it provides an impressively high standard of living for the common man. America offers more opportunity and social mobility than any other country, including the countries of Europe America is the only country that has created a population of self-made tycoons. Only in America could Pierre Omidyar, whose parents are Iranian and who grew up in Paris, have started a company like eBay. Work and trade are respectable in America Historically most cultures have despised the merchant and the laborer, regarding the former as vile and corrupt and the latter as degraded and vulgar. Examples: ancient Greece and medieval Islam But the American founders altered this moral hierarchy. America has achieved greater social equality than any other society True, there are large inequalities of income and wealth in America. These gaps in material wealth exist on every inch of the globe. But Americans are socially more equal than any other people, and this is unaffected by economic disparities. Alexis de Tocqueville noticed this egalitarianism a century and a half ago and it is, if anything, more prevalent today. For all his riches, Bill Gates could not approach the typical American and say, Here s a $100 bill. I ll give it to you if you kiss my feet. Most likely, the person would tell Gates where to go! The American view is that the rich guy may have more money, but he isn t in any fundamental sense better than anyone else. In America the destiny of the young is not given to them, but created by them In most countries in the world, your fate and your identity are handed to you; in America, you determine them for yourself. America is a country where your life is like a blank sheet of paper, and you are the artist. This notion of being the architect of your own destiny is the incredibly powerful idea that is behind the worldwide appeal of America. America has gone further than any other society in establishing equality of rights Sadly, there is nothing distinctively American about slavery or bigotry. Slavery has existed in virtually every culture, and xenophobia, prejudice and discrimination are worldwide phenomena. Western civilization is the only civilization to mount a principled campaign against slavery; no country expended more treasure and blood to get rid of slavery than the United States. While racism remains a problem, this country has made strenuous efforts to eradicate discrimination, even to the extent of enacting policies that give legal preference in university admissions, jobs, and government contracts. It is extremely unlikely that a racist society would have permitted such policies in the first place. America has found a solution to the problem of religious and ethnic conflict that continues to divide and terrorize much of the world Visitors to places like New York are amazed to see the way in which Serbs and Croatians, Sikhs and Hindus, Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants, Jews and Palestinians, all seem to work and live together in harmony. How is this possible when these same groups are spearing each other and burning each other s homes in so many places in the world? The American answer is, do not extend rights to racial or ethnic groups but only to individuals; in this way, all are equal in the eyes of the law, opportunity is open to anyone who can take advantage of it, and everybody who embraces the American way of life can truly become American. America has the kindest, gentlest foreign policy of any great power in world history Critics of the United States are likely to react to this truth with sputtering outrage. Quoting a laundry list of American sins. What the critics leave out is the other side of the story. Twice in the 20th century, the United States saved the world first from the Nazi threat, then from Soviet totalitarianism. What would have been the world s fate if America had not existed? After destroying Germany and Japan in World War II, the United States proceeded to rebuild both countries, and today they are American allies. Now we are doing the same thing in Afghanistan and Iraq. For the most part America is an abstaining superpower; it shows no real interest in conquering and subjugating the rest of the world. (Imagine how the Soviets would have acted if they had won the Cold War.) On occasion the United States intervenes to overthrow a tyrannical regime or to halt massive human rights abuses in another country, but it never stays to rule that country. In Grenada, Haiti and Bosnia, the United States got in and then it got out. U.S. troops build hospitals, orphanages and schools across the globe. Almost everyday American planes dropped food and medical supplies to avert hardship and starvation. What other country does these things? What other superpower in history has such moral restraint on its unequaled power? -list by D. D Souza | 1real |
Britain's Boris Johnson 'could have been clearer' on jailed aid worker in Iran | LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that his remarks about a jailed aid worker in Iran could have been clearer, after opponents said his comments might provoke the Islamic Republic to hand the dual national a longer jail term. As Prime Minister Theresa May heads toward a 2019 EU divorce that will shape Britain s prosperity and global influence for generations, her minority government has stumbled into several controversies that risk undermining her remaining authority. In the latest misstep, Johnson came under pressure to retract remarks made on Nov. 1 that Iranian-British aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been teaching people journalism before her arrest in April 2016. Zaghari-Ratcliffe s employer, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said Johnson s comment was incorrect, while opposition British lawmakers said the remarks could land the aid worker a longer term in jail. Johnson called Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday to discuss the case, and made clear that he had been seeking to make the point that he condemned the Iranian view that training journalists was a crime, a spokesman said. The UK government has no doubt that she was on holiday in Iran when she was arrested last year and that was the sole purpose of her visit, Johnson told parliament. My point was that I disagreed with the Iranian view that training journalists was a crime, not that I wanted to lend any credence to Iranian allegations that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been engaged in such activity, he said. I accept that my remarks could have been clearer in that respect and I am glad to provide this clarification. Johnson said he would travel to Iran in the coming weeks and discuss all consular issues there, and would try to meet Zaghari-Ratcliffe while there. May s spokesman expressed confidence in Johnson, adding that the he was doing a good job . Monique Villa, Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO, said Zaghari-Ratcliffe was a project manager in the media development team. Villa said Zaghari-Ratcliffe was not a journalist and had never trained journalists in Iran. We welcome UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson s clarification of his comments, Villa said. It s time now for the Foreign Secretary to meet Nazanin in jail. Johnson is not the only one distracted. At the weekend, May s deputy, Damian Green, denied an allegation made in The Sunday Times newspaper that police found pornography on one of his computers in the Houses of Parliament in 2008. On Monday, international development minister Priti Patel apologized for failing to disclose meetings with senior Israeli officials during a private holiday. Besides her government s sometimes contradictory signals on Brexit, May has faced criticism from opponents for her handling of other issues: from a deadly apartment block fire in June to a sexual harassment scandal in parliament that prompted Michael Fallon, her loyal defense secretary, to resign. In my lifetime, I have never experienced a British government which seems to be so shambolic, said Simon Hix, a professor of political science at the London School of Economics. They are in the midst of one of the greatest challenges of the last 50 years Brexit and they have sexual harassment scandals in parliament, the Paradise Papers and then now on top of that the behavior of May s ministers. On Tuesday, Johnson came under pressure from opponents to retract his comments about Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is serving a five-year jail sentence after being convicted of plotting to overthrow Iran s clerical establishment. She was brought again into court on Saturday, three days after Johnson s remarks, and accused by a judge of spreading propaganda against the regime . The British Foreign Office quoted Zarif as saying that Johnson s comments had nothing to do with the weekend court appearance. The charges against Zaghari-Ratcliffe were denied by her family and the Foundation, a charity organization that operates independently of Reuters News. By suggesting Nazanin was in Iran teaching people journalism , Boris Johnson has endangered the cause to secure her release, Tulip Siddiq, a lawmaker for the opposition Labour Party, said. | 0fake |
U.S. state election officials still in the dark on Russian hacking | ANAHEIM, Calif. (Reuters) - The federal government has not notified U.S. state election officials if their voting systems were targeted by suspected Russian hackers during the 2016 presidential campaign, and the information will likely never be made public, a top state election chief told Reuters. “You’re absolutely never going to learn it, because we don’t even know it,” Judd Choate, state election director for Colorado and president of the National Association of State Election Directors, said in an interview on Thursday during the group’s summer conference. Nearly 10 months after Republican Donald Trump’s upset presidential victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, Choate said he had not spoken to a single state election director who had been told by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security if their state was among those attacked. The lack of information-sharing on the election breaches reflects the difficulty state and federal officials have had in working together to protect U.S. voting from cyber threats. All U.S. elections are run by state and local governments, which have varying degrees of technical competence. DHS told Congress in June that 21 states were targeted during the 2016 presidential race, and that while a small number were breached, there was no evidence any votes were manipulated. Other reports have said 39 states were targeted. Choate said he had heard both numbers mentioned. Several lawmakers, including Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, have expressed frustration at DHS’ refusal to identify which states had been targeted. Arizona and Illinois confirmed last year that hackers had targeted their voter registration systems. In a statement, the DHS did not refute that states had not been notified if they were targeted, adding the agency informed the owners or operators of systems potentially victimized “who may not necessarily” be state election officials. DHS was working with senior state election officials “to determine how best to share this information while protecting the integrity of investigations and the confidentiality of system owners,” the agency said. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that the Kremlin orchestrated an operation that included hacking and online propaganda intended to tilt the November election in Trump’s favor. Several congressional committees are investigating and Special Counsel Robert Mueller is leading a separate probe into the Russia matter, including whether Moscow colluded with the Trump campaign. Russia has denied election meddling and Trump has denied any collusion. The four-day conference of election directors was originally supposed to be about issues like voter registration, but took a sharp turn following the election hacking. “After the 2000 election, we all had to be lawyers,” Choate said. “And now after the 2016 election, we all have to be cyber security experts.” DHS representatives at the event fended off questions about whether the federal government would be prepared to mobilize sufficient support for the states in the event of a catastrophic cyber attack near or during the 2018 elections. “We want to make sure we learn from the missteps that may have happened in 2016 and we want to make sure we continue building on the things we did that were right,” Robert Gatlin, a DHS cyber official, said during a panel discussion. Gatlin said the agency was working with U.S. intelligence agencies to “downgrade” more classified information so it could be shared with the states. Information about cyber attacks is typically guarded by a high classification because it may involve nation-state involvement or contain sensitive sources and methods, he said. Legislation recently approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee would require the director of national intelligence to sponsor top-secret security clearance for eligible election officials in each state, something the National Association of Secretaries of State has advocated. The bill would also require DHS to submit a report to Congress detailing cyber attacks and attempted cyber attacks by foreign governments on U.S. election infrastructure during the 2016 election. Choate said communication about cyber threats had improved with federal agencies since the election and the decision by the outgoing Obama administration in January to elevate voting systems to a “critical infrastructure designation.” Prior to the election, some state officials worried that closer oversight of election systems represented a dangerous federal intrusion into local affairs. | 0fake |
The High Price of Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Life - The New York Times | On Thursdays, the nonprofit organization Footsteps hosts a group for its membership of formerly Jews, who mostly refer to themselves as “off the derech. ” “Derech” means “path” in Hebrew, and “off the derech,” or O. T. D. for short, is how their families and friends refer to them when they break away from these impermeable communities, as in: “Did you hear that Shaindel’s daughter Rivkie is off the derech? I heard she has a smartphone and has been going to museums. ” So even though the term is burdened with the yoke of the very thing they are trying to flee, members remain huddled together under “O. T. D. ” on their blogs and in their Facebook groups, where their favored hashtag is #itgetsbesser — besser meaning “better” in Yiddish. Sometimes someone will pop up on a message board or in an email group and say, “Shouldn’t we decide to call ourselves something else?” But it never takes. Reclamations are messy. At the session I attended, 10 men and women in their 20s and 30s sat around a coffee table. Some of them were dressed like me, in jeans and American casualwear, and others wore the clothing of their upbringings: long skirts and shirts for women black velvet skullcaps and long, virgin beards and payot (untrimmed side locks) for men. Half of them had extricated themselves from their communities and were navigating new, secular lives. But half still lived among their Hasidic and sects in areas of New York City, New Jersey and the Hudson Valley and were secretly dipping their toes into the secular world — attending these meetings, but also doing things as simple as walking down the street without head coverings, or trying on pants in a clothing store, or eating a nonkosher doughnut, or using the internet. They had families at home who believed they were in evening Torah learning sessions, or out for a walk, or at synagogue for evening prayers. On the coffee table were two pizzas, one kosher, one nonkosher. The kosher pizza tasted better, but only a couple of people ate it. The group was facilitated by a Footsteps social worker, Jesse Pietroniro, and kind, who had told me that he had his own conflicted religious upbringing. He allowed the attendees to democratically settle on a loose theme for the evening. One woman in her early 20s brought up sexuality. She had started to date and wasn’t quite sure what the norms were. A young man talked about how hard it was for him to interact with women casually outside his community, since he was taught that sexual desire outside the intent to procreate means that one is a sexual predator, so anytime he was attracted to someone, he worried he was going to do something untoward, or that he was a kind of monster. The young woman who had suggested the theme said she didn’t know when exactly to submit to kissing — the first date? The second? Is she a slut if she kisses at all? Is it still bad nowadays to be a slut? She’d heard girls talking on the subway and calling each other sluts, and they were laughing. Are there rules for this? A few of them made sex jokes. The O. T. D. ers, newly alive in a world of puns and innuendo, love a sex joke. The social worker narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips and tapped a finger to his chin and nodded and opened the question up to the group. (I was allowed to document the meeting on the condition that I wouldn’t publish anyone’s name or descriptive information.) Another woman in her early 20s, sitting on the sofa in jeans with one leg slung over its arm, told us she had spent most of her life being molested by her father. She told the group that recently she had taken to advertising online, saying she followed the laws of family purity — going to a ritual bath after menstruation, not having sex during her “unclean” week — and that she was available for sex in exchange for money. men visited her at all hours, and they cheated on their wives, having sex with this ritually pure young woman in her apartment. When the men finished, they told her what a shame it was that she was off the derech, that she seemed nice, that she should try again at a religious life. A man, 30ish, still with a beard that he now trimmed closely to his face, talked about staying with his religious wife, who knew he was no longer religious but wouldn’t join him on the other side. He knew the marriage should be over, but he wouldn’t leave, and he couldn’t bring himself to cheat on her, and he wanted to know if he was unable to cheat on her because he was bound up by his religious values or because he was innately a good person. Another married man said that you don’t need to be taught in a religious context not to cheat on your wife — it’s a tenet of secular marriage as well, and what the whole operation often depends on. “I guess I just don’t know if I’m a good person because I’m a good person,” said the guy who wanted to cheat but might not, “or if I’m a good person because I was taught to be a good person. ” They went around in circles for many minutes, most of them summoning scriptural sources on whether morality is inherent, then other sources to make or disprove that point, then laughing at the fact that they’d summoned Scripture. The married man who was deciding if he should have sex outside his marriage put his head in his hands, then through his hair and made a great, guttural noise of frustration. They all took a breath and laughed at themselves again, and then they went silent, and in their silence was their uncertainty, now familiar, of whether these questions would ever be answered, and if they could talk enough about it to the point where they would ever feel normal. God, would it ever feel normal? Footsteps was started in 2003 by a college student named Malkie Schwartz, who grew up in the Lubavitch sect in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and who knew after high school that she wanted to step off the community’s moving walkway to marriage and motherhood. She moved in with a grandmother who wasn’t religious and enrolled at Hunter College on the Upper East Side. But just because she left her community didn’t mean that she felt part of the secular one. She started Footsteps as a group right there at Hunter and told a couple of formerly religious friends what she was doing. About 20 people showed up to the first meeting. Soon they had a G. E. D. study group — and a group, so that they could learn about sex education, which was normally taught to the only in the days leading up to their weddings. Footsteps became a chrysalis for them through which they would leap into their new lives, just as soon as they figured out exactly how to live them. Schwartz eventually left the organization in the hands of nonprofit professionals — Footsteps was a chrysalis for her, too — and went to law school. Today, Footsteps is a 501( c)(3) with an executive director, social workers, scholarships, programs and special events like fashion nights, at which members learn about modern style outside the realm of dresses and suits and hats. communities, whose leaders stand vigil against outside influences, know about Footsteps about half the people I met in Footsteps first heard of it when they were accused by someone in their family of being a member. It’s hard to talk about O. T. D. ers as a group, because like the rest of us, like people, too, they are individuals. No two people who practice religion do it exactly the same way, despite how much it seems to the secular world that they rally around sameness and no one who leaves it leaves the same way, either. In the region of New York City, New Jersey, and the Hudson Valley that Footsteps serves, 546, 000 Jews live in one of about five different sects. With a few exceptions, like the Skver sect in New Square, N. Y. which has actual boundaries and operates its own schools, the live not in cloistered neighborhoods, but among secular America in Crown Heights, Flatbush and Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and beyond. Perhaps it’s easiest to think of them as living in a different dimension — occupying the same space but speaking a different language (Yiddish, for the most part) attending different schools, seeing their own doctors, handling judicial issues among themselves and eating their own food from their own markets. So once they leave, if they leave, they learn how ill equipped they are for survival outside their home neighborhoods, and that has a lot to do with the ways that communities are valuable and good: the daily cycle of prayer and school and learning how people share goals about family and values how neighbors support one another during times of need. Once that’s gone, and all a person has is her mostly education and little familial support and no real skills, life gets scary. For those who leave and are married with children, the community tends to embrace the spouse left behind and help raise funds for legal support to help that person retain custody of the children. You could be someone with a spouse and children one day and find yourself completely alone the next. I learned about Footsteps in 2015, after the very public suicide of one of its young members. Her name was Faigy Mayer, and on a hot night in July, she went to the top of 230 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron district, where there’s a rooftop bar, and jumped. In death, she became something of a brief symbol (and also a lightning rod) for the O. T. D. movement, with her story plastered across local papers, many illustrated by a Facebook image of her holding a paintbrush and standing in front of a newly painted mural that said “Life is Beautiful. ” As news of her death broke in the New York tabloids and the Jewish papers, seemingly all the and Orthodox people I know (who number in the hundreds — but more on that later) converged on my Facebook page to wonder if the suicide of Faigy Mayer was a case of mental illness or if suicidal tendencies were a condition inherent to the kind of person who would leave a secure and comfortable community in favor of a large world with no guarantees, a world that you’d been warned would reject you. What kind of person wants to leave safety and start from the beginning, sounding different from everyone else, not knowing what to say, not knowing how to make a living — not knowing how to read past a level, because English is taught as an afterthought, if at all, in many of these schools? The conversation on my Facebook page was like the ones that happen between Republicans and Democrats after mass shootings: Half the posts said that we should not be looking at religious society as a cause of mental illness. The other half responded that in many communities, the mentally ill don’t get help not because it isn’t available to them but because there’s a stigma of bad genetics that could make a person less attractive in later marital matchmaking. And does someone have to be mentally ill to feel hopeless after being rejected by her family? Does someone have to be extraordinarily sick to succumb to the despair she feels after having ventured out into a world where she is all alone, without the skills to survive? “I can’t think of many members who haven’t, at one time or another in their journeys, contemplated suicide because they have felt they have no other options,” says Lani Santo, the executive director of Footsteps. Meaning, by the time Faigy died, they were used to this. On the night of her death, the lights stayed on at Footsteps, and members came in for an impromptu group. The social workers reached out to the members they knew to be struggling and encouraged them to come in and talk. They planned a memorial for a few weeks later. There were two notable O. T. D. deaths in the last few years. A year and a half before, it was Deb Tambor, who overdosed on pills and vodka, surrounded by the pictures of the three children she lost custody of when she left her Skver sect in Monsey. A year after that, Joey Diangello, 34, overdosed after becoming a powerful force in protesting child abuse in communities he said he was raped in a ritual bath by an adult when he was 7. After I heard about Faigy’s death, I interviewed people who knew her, hoping to be able to paint a portrait I ultimately couldn’t. Her family relationships had been too contentious, and only a few of her family members would speak with me. Her friends told me different stories, but ultimately, the only thing I could say about her was that she was sick and didn’t get the care she needed. On the night of a Footsteps Thanksgiving celebration, I returned home to news that Faigy’s older sister, Sara, who was religious and had just been released from a psychiatric facility, had hanged herself in her parents’ home. Shmuly was among the Footsteps members who knew Faigy. By the time of her memorial service, he had been O. T. D. for several years, having understood since elementary school that there was a world beyond 60th Street in Borough Park, Brooklyn. All he ever wanted was to know more about it. He was afraid of being married off after high school and so went to Israel for yeshiva (and then to India and then to Thailand) and staved off marital offers, until one day he found Footsteps and enrolled in the G. E. D. course there. Shmuly had known he wanted to go to college ever since he was $7 best sellers he found on the rack at Duane Reade. He loved the story “The Cop and the Anthem,” by O. Henry he read the abridged version of “The Call of the Wild” over and over. But his school would not release his transcripts for college applications, and so he spent a year of intense study in the computer labs at Footsteps, starting with the English language and basic long division and ending with his G. E. D. He couldn’t learn enough about philosophy and art. He loved the like secessionist art and Dadaism he loved the tension between the old and new ideas of the art world, and how certain art was rejected as if it were corrupting or dangerous. He enrolled at Hunter College to study art history. He’s 27 now, tall and smiley and and polite. His English is noticeably inflected with Yiddish: His T is aspirated and dentalized instead of glottalized — in “certain” and “button,” he pronounces the T, whereas most Americans just swallow it in the back of our mouths. His O vowel is less diphthongized than most American speech, and he tends to avoid contractions. He says words like “hair” and “bear” as “hear” and “beer. ” It doesn’t bother Shmuly that he sounds different “Yiddish is very hipster now,” he says. I also met Malky, who knew Faigy Mayer but hadn’t been close with her. Malky was from a prominent family who lived in an Israeli community so strict that when tourists walked through in short sleeves and shorts, they literally stoned them. In the summer, Malky would complain about the black tights she had to wear, how hot a Middle Eastern July could be, and her mother would say, “Well, hell is hotter. ” When they moved to the States, Malky taught art classes to children and wore skirts that were not black, and this marked her as a difficult marital match. Finally her parents found someone who would marry her, but Malky took one look at him and said no. It wasn’t her choice, though. Her parents, whom she loved very much, promised her to this man anyway. “Who’s going to want you?” she remembers her father, who was equally bereft, telling her. “You’re 22. You’re wearing green skirts. We had no choice. ” Malky planned to kill herself before her wedding. Six weeks before the big day, or her “deadline,” as she calls it, she read an article in an Israeli newspaper about Footsteps. She called the group and told the counselor who answered that her parents were going to marry her off, and the counselor asked, “Well, what do you want?” Nobody had ever asked her this before. She went through with the wedding, because she loved her family and couldn’t imagine that they didn’t deep down know what was best for her in a way that she didn’t. Her parents told her that she would get used to the man once she was married. On her wedding night, as her husband approached her, Malky ran to the bathroom and cut her gums, smearing the blood on her underwear and coming out and saying she couldn’t consummate the marriage because she had her period. The day after her wedding, Malky went to her parents’ house, and her mother shaved her head, a custom in some sects. Malky begged her mother to let her come home, but her mother pleaded with her to make her marriage work. Malky continued to refuse her husband, and after seven weeks, she again found Footsteps. She left her husband, got a divorce and went to live on her own, but she remains vexed by her love for her family and her fear of embarrassing them. She’s an artist now, but for the longest time she wouldn’t put her name on her paintings or participate in an art show, because she knew how much that would damage her family’s reputation. On Friday nights she covered her head and walked over to her parents’ house, where her nieces and nephews would ask where her husband was and why she didn’t have children. She still goes every Friday night, but they don’t ask anymore. “Do you know when people are in love and they say, ‘This person is going to kill me, he’s not good for me,’ and then they never want to break up?” she asked me. She cried and shook her head helplessly. When we spoke, her hair was curly, and highlighted, but still growing in after being shaved. “This is what I have with my family. It’s like, I love them so much, but they are horrible for me. They stop me in everything in my life. ” Three and a half years ago, Shmuly and Malky met at a birthday party, and they became friends and running partners. Shmuly realized he thought of Malky as more than a friend, but Malky wouldn’t consider a romantic relationship with him she told me she couldn’t allow herself to belong to a man ever again. My mother became Hasidic when I was 12, after years of only desultory High Holy Days observance (my parents were divorced) and I was sent to yeshiva high school and Orthodox summer camps. My sisters followed and became religious, too none of us were ever forced into any of it, which is why my sisters’ religiousness baffled me. My mother has long told me that she did it because she wanted her daughters to have a life that wasn’t cheap and immodest — that she found secular culture was becoming too crass my sisters tell me it makes their lives more meaningful. Almost 30 years later, I still challenge them on this in a way that they must find tedious but are kind to me about. It was clear to everyone that religious practice just never took with me, and I waited out my time in my house until the day I left for college, when I swore I’d never wear a skirt again or rush around in anticipation of sundown on a supposed day of rest. I swore I would rid myself of the vestiges of what was taught to me, which was to be afraid of an angry God who made me a certain way and then disavowed that way in the hope that I’d be some ideal of a person who committed arbitrary acts of blind devotion — eating kosher food only not turning the lights on during Saturdays not wearing linen and wool together, which is an actual and serious Torah law. I’ve been only marginally successful in keeping this oath. I was taught that I was innately bad and that I had to work at these rules in order to become something approaching good. In the ’u200bOrthodox school I attended in ninth grade, I was taught to use the bathroom quickly, lest my exposed unmentionables lead me to sinful acts of . I left that school, but in a more modern one, I received more or less the same lessons. I was taught that humans were the ultimate intellectuals, unless you asked questions that extended beyond what was in the Torah. I was taught that if I ever ate a legume or a piece of risen wheat on Passover, my children would be cut off from their legacy as Jews. No one knew for sure what that meant, but over the years, the collected guesses I got from teachers included: infertility, miscarriage and having to watch my children die before I did. I no longer keep a strict version of Passover, yet each time a legume passes my lips during those eight days, I wonder if I should be hedging my bets, and so an internal war flares inside me over some hummus. After years of confused and at times contentious discussion, my husband and I now identify as something like Conservative Jews we are incredibly ambivalent but active (read: ) members of a synagogue. When I left Orthodoxy, there was some shock of into regular society, even though I never really left it. I had negotiated to keep a TV in my mother’s house, and my mother, may God and all the rabbis whose graves she prays over bless her a million times, understood that fundamentalism wasn’t something I could get behind. So I watched “Beverly Hills, 90210,” and “Twin Peaks” and “A Different World” to see how regular secular Americans related to one another. I had friends who weren’t as lucky — some who had to change out of pants into skirts as they rode the elevators up to their apartments as teenagers some who still can’t visit their parents on a holiday if they’re going to drive. And yet even under my O. T. D. circumstances, so much of my previous life remained part of me that even when I didn’t wear a skirt and even when I didn’t observe Shabbat and even when I just went right out and ate nonkosher foods like shrimp, the fears and worries persisted that I was doing something wrong, that I had only departed because there was something lazy about me, that I was too prone to evil inclinations. Even in my lucky circumstances I am left with flickers of superstition and magical thinking, no matter how long it has been since I’ve realized that most of what I was taught as a child is not something I agree with as an adult. And still, every night, I place my hand over my sleeping children’s eyes and I recite the Shema bedtime prayer on their behalf. Every year, I fast on Yom Kippur and apologize for the ways I can’t bring myself to be what I was told God wanted. I do it just in case, or because I’m a coward, or at least because I’m not as courageous as your Footsteps member. All of which is to say that I don’t know if it will ever feel normal. On the night Faigy Mayer died, her body lay on Fifth Avenue until it was wrapped up with all the blood and tissue around it, according to Jewish tradition, and sent to Borough Park to her bewildered parents and their local funeral home. Women from the community stayed with her body all night, washing and guarding it. Others would organize weeks’ worth of meals for the family, and the community would come to their home to pray for seven days. The morning of Faigy’s funeral, her father stood up next to the wooden box that held her body. Her O. T. D. friends weren’t allowed into the service at first, but one of them spoke to the bouncerlike guy at the front and assured him, in Yiddish, that they didn’t want any trouble. They just wanted to mourn their friend. Before Faigy’s father began the eulogy in Yiddish, he addressed them, notable for their lack of black hats and their lack of beards. “Thank you very much for coming,” he said. “I didn’t prepare anything in English, and I’m sorry. ” After the funeral, the cedar box that held Faigy’s body was taken to New Jersey, off a main road in view of a bottling plant, where she was buried among other Hasidim, which, it seems safe to say, is exactly where she never wanted to be. The gravestone carries an acrostic of her name, talking about how she suffered, how good she was. One line reads, “May the psalms she read with such devotion bring peace to her dear soul. ” When I visited the site, next to her was a freshly filled grave with a temporary marker for her sister, Sara. The two graves were a sight that, though I knew to expect it, made me step backward and put one hand to my mouth. I said Kaddish from muscle memory, though I’m sorry for it, because I feel fairly certain Faigy wouldn’t have wanted that, either. When her friends left her funeral, one of them noted what a “pageant” the whole ceremony was, and then they went to a pizza place that she loved, to remember her. Some of them later took a train to the city, to the place where Faigy’s body had landed, the site of her last stand against this life. They grew quiet and somber all over again, and they found themselves wondering if you could ever really escape the circumstances you were born into. What if it doesn’t get besser? What if hell is hotter? They had only one another to help answer these questions. In that way, Footsteps is a lot like the organized religion it’s designed to help its members transition out of: Each exists to make sense of an utterly baffling world. But whereas religion seeks to reassure you that you’re not alone, Footsteps seeks to reassure you when you realize that you are. Malky had planned to go to dinner the next night, with Shmuly and another friend, at the French restaurant Daniel for her birthday. Malky and Shmuly loved learning about new foods and wine outside ritual use. But the day came, and Malky felt that having such an extravagant meal in light of the news was unseemly. When she called the restaurant to reschedule, however, she learned that it was booked so far out that they weren’t taking new reservations. They kept the date. That night, they luxuriated in the lives that they were somehow still living, having come out on the other side of something. So much had happened to them, but they were young, and one day, the years of living the lives they wanted would outnumber the years they’d lived the lives they didn’t want. They drank five bottles of wine among the three of them, and when it was time to go home, Malky and Shmuly decided to take a yellow cab back to Brooklyn instead of a train. They stopped first to drop off Malky before heading to Shmuly’s house, but when Malky got out of the car, she asked Shmuly if he wanted to come upstairs with her. He left the car, and she took his hand and led him up the stairs, and he has remained there, with her, ever since. | 0fake |
Sticker Shock, and Maybe Nausea, Hamper Sales of Virtual Reality Gear - The New York Times | SEATTLE — For a technology to crack the mainstream, there is an unspoken understanding: It shouldn’t make the people who use it want to throw up. And yet there was a reminder, at last week’s International CES trade show in Las Vegas, of how far virtual reality has to go until everyone is ready to fasten goggles to their faces. At a news conference, Intel, the chip maker, provided virtual reality headsets to about 250 attendees so they could watch a video from the perspective of sky divers hurtling out of a helicopter in wingsuits. Intel also passed out motion sickness bags to everyone, in case anybody felt inclined to vomit, an unfortunate side effect of turbulent virtual reality experiences for some people. Laura Anderson, an Intel spokeswoman, said the company had provided the bags “out of an abundance of caution and to be tongue in cheek about our immersive experience. ” No one used the bags, she said. It is time for a reality check for virtual reality, one of the most hyped technologies of last year. Sales of the most capable headsets have been sluggish by most estimates, held back by high costs, a lack of content, and the complexity and awkwardness of the products. Less expensive mobile headsets that use smartphones as their screens are selling better, but are far more limited in what they can do. Many technologists and early adopters of virtual reality remain unchanged in their conviction that the technology will eventually change how entertainment, including games and movies, is experienced by the masses. The major virtual reality headsets from Oculus, HTC and Sony went on sale to the public only last year, and those who thought they would find a large audience within months of release had unrealistic expectations, virtual reality’s advocates say. “This is going to be a long slog, as the technology continues to improve, more content becomes available and awareness increases,” said Jan Dawson, an analyst at Jackdaw Research. Virtual reality now appears to be headed for a phase in the evolution of new technologies known as the “trough of disillusionment,” said Sunny Dhillon, a venture capitalist at Signia Venture Partners, which has invested in virtual reality . According to the technology research firm Gartner, this stage of the hype cycle for new technologies comes after a period of inflated expectations, but before a phase in which their benefits become commonly accepted. The excitement around virtual reality took a huge leap in March 2014 when Facebook announced it planned to acquire Oculus for $2 billion and the social network’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, suggested that virtual reality could be the next big thing in technology after mobile. That deal sparked a wave of creating products for virtual reality and a related technology called augmented reality, which overlays digital imagery on a view of the real world, as seen through smartphones and headsets. Last year, $1. 48 billion was invested in in that category, compared with $331 million the prior year, estimated Pitchbook, a financial data firm. Many of those were funded before major headsets went on sale to the public. Entrepreneurs raising money in the future are likely to encounter tougher questions about what kind of use their products are getting. “All the major headsets have launched — the numbers are coming in,” said Alex Rosenfeld, the founder of Vrideo, a that acted as a hub for virtual reality videos. “You’re going to have some companies here that don’t survive. If the industry is going to continue to attract dollars, there’s going to have to be real numbers. ” Vrideo was one of those that did not make it. Mr. Rosenfeld announced at the end of November that he was shutting the company down. He said investors were skeptical about whether Vrideo could compete against larger players like Google’s YouTube and Facebook not pessimistic about the overall future of virtual reality. The companies that make the major headsets do not report their sales, and all of them said they were pleased with the results so far. SuperData Research, a technology research firm, estimated that Oculus had sold 360, 000 headsets and HTC 450, 000 since their products went on sale in March and June, respectively. Both of those headsets require PCs with powerful processors. The firm estimated that Sony, which began selling a virtual reality headset in October, has sold about 750, 000. Sony’s headset was seen as a potentially big boost to the virtual reality industry because it is less expensive than rival headsets and relies on a PlayStation 4 console, more than 53 million of which have already been sold. A bundle with the PlayStation VR headset and specialized controllers sells for $500, while comparable bundles from HTC and Oculus sell for just under $800 each. Less expensive Sony and Oculus headsets are available without controllers designed for virtual reality. Still, the Sony sales were fewer than SuperData and others had expected. “The holidays were pretty disappointing for many in the industry,” said Doug Renert, a venture capitalist with Tandem Capital. “I’m not all that surprised. ” In a bright spot, Samsung said last week at CES that is had shipped more than five million of its Gear VR headsets, which act as a cradle for a mobile phone, with lenses that create a image from the phone’s screen. Samsung often runs promotions in which it gives away a headset with the purchase of a Samsung smartphone. Price drops on technology are likely to be a big factor in mainstream acceptance of virtual reality. Starting Monday, a company that makes gaming PCs, CyberPower, will begin selling a $499 computer that can play virtual reality content when used with an Oculus headset. That is hundreds of dollars less than the normal cost. Ergonomic challenges with virtual reality headsets are likely to take longer to overcome. The more powerful headsets must be tethered by thick cables to PCs or consoles, which can tangle up players’ legs when these rigs occlude their view of the real world. Some players have come up with clever solutions to this problem by repurposing Ikea lamps to dangle the cables above their heads. At CES, a called Sixa showed a wireless adapter called Rivvr that eliminates the need for those cables. “With wireless, V. R. will be ready for the mass market,” said Mykola Minchenko, chief executive of Sixa, which plans to sell its adapter for $200. Mr. Renert, the venture capitalist, said his firm had invested in several working in virtual reality, including Sixa, despite slow sales of headsets, though the companies are working on technologies in other categories, too. He is confident that virtual reality will one day be a mainstream technology, comparing its evolution to devices from Apple that were flops and hits. “We’re not at the Newton stage, but I don’t think we’re at iPhone stage,” Mr. Renert said. | 0fake |
Families Bearing Up a Year After Slayings in a Charleston Church - The New York Times | CHARLESTON, S. C. — A year ago, the nation was transfixed by a different horrific crime, the shooting deaths of nine church members during Bible study at the Emanuel A. M. E. Church here. With the backdrop of the Orlando shootings, survivors and family members of the victims of the Charleston slayings on June 17, 2015, sat down to reflect on forgiveness, race relations, gun violence and the suspect, Dylann S. Roof, called Prime Evil by some of the survivors. On Friday, they joined parishioners from Emanuel A. M. E. Church, political leaders and congregations from around the region for a memorial service at the TD Arena in Charleston, where a year earlier President Obama delivered a eulogy that culminated with his singing “Amazing Grace. ” The conversation, led by Michael Schwirtz and Chris Dixon of The New York Times, included: Felicia and Tyrone Sanders, the parents of Tywanza Sanders, 26, who was killed. Felicia Sanders was present at the shooting, shielding her granddaughter from the assailant. Polly Sheppard, a retired nurse who survived the attack. The children of Ethel Lance, who was killed. They are the Rev. Sharon Risher, Esther Lance, Nadine Collier and Gary Washington Daniel Simmons Jr. the son of the Rev. Daniel L. Simmons, who was killed. Michael Schwirtz: Nadine, you gained some fame and notoriety when you stood up in court during the bond hearing and publicly forgave Dylann Roof. Do you have any regrets about that statement? Nadine Collier: I stand behind it. All the way. I don’t have no regrets at all. I just believe in God. And didn’t have that hatred in my heart. Esther Lance: I don’t forgive him because my heart ain’t there. It ain’t going to be no time soon. I can’t forgive him. The Rev. Sharon Risher: Forgiveness is a personal journey for everybody. I have not gotten to that point where I could forgive Dylann Roof. That’s just me. Being in clergy, I’m mandated to forgive, yet I understand that God is a loving god and that he gives everybody an opportunity to reach that path of forgiveness. Felicia Sanders: Forgiveness is not for the person. The person doesn’t care whether you forgive him or not. Forgiveness is for you. Forgiveness is growth. If you don’t have any forgiveness in you, it makes you stagnate. You will never grow. You’re giving the individual the power over you, so that means you’re still a victim to the person. I want to say that we refuse to be a victim. I want him to know, Prime Evil to know, that just because you took our loved ones, you don’t have us. I believe we can get more done now than before. Tyrone Sanders: I want to put on the record that I’m not there yet. I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive. Mr. Schwirtz: Is there any wisdom or insight you have gained over the last year and what challenges are you still trying to overcome? Daniel Simmons: Over the past year, there are a lot of things that transpired positive and negative for all of us. One of the things that happens out of tragedy — as people we have a choice of whether we’re going to be active or how we’re going to respond. So one of the great things, and I’m so proud of my daughter, is that we began a nonprofit, the Hate Won’t Win movement. It’s a nonprofit that’s going to provide opportunity, services programs, initiatives about crimes, violent crimes, gun control and empowerment initiatives. Everybody is doing something, whether it’s going back to school with their children, providing scholarships, whether it’s changing their lifestyles to have an opportunity to give back, to speak in different places, to travel to talk about their personal experiences, to sit down and do an interview with The New York Times. God chose the right place, the right families and the right individuals and most importantly the time. God does what he hates to accomplish what he loves. Mr. Schwirtz: Reverend Risher, what has it been like to be directly involved with the gun issue, pressing for legislation. Have you felt any frustration? Ms. Risher: Right after June 17, I became very vocal and involved in advocacy groups on gun control. So I’ve been on Capitol Hill, I testified before the judiciary committee in Oregon. I have lent my voice to different bills. This is what that year has brought for me, an opportunity and a platform to beg our American people to look at the gun laws, look at background checks. It’s long hard frustrating work, the results aren’t something tangible that you can put your hands on, but laws are being changed and the attention to gun reform is out there. I’m always optimistic. Mr. Schwirtz: The shooting prompted fierce debate over the issue of race in South Carolina and culminated with the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the State House grounds. How has the issue evolved over the last year? Ms. Risher: The racial tension and history of Charleston is there. It took hundreds of years to build it it will probably take hundreds of years for people to look at Charleston, South Carolina, as a different place. Mr. Sanders: I had a Confederate flag, like about 10 doors down from me. I was tempted to go on the porch and ask them to take it down. But I said, ‘No I’m going to go ahead and leave them alone just like Ms. Polly says.’ If you leave them alone they’ll eventually settle down. And they took it down. They’ve got the state flag up now. Chris Dixon: Did you expect the Confederate battle flag at the State House to come down? Mr. Sanders: I was in awe because I didn’t expect it to happen. But that flag coming down won’t bring my son back. Or my aunt or the other seven. Mr. Dixon: How has the shooting changed Charleston and the way people relate or interact with each other? Mr. Sanders: If they know who I am, they’re a little kinder. When I went back to work, it seemed I got a lot of embracing from the white guys. Ms. Sanders: I still think that there is a lot of unity. I’ve met so many people within this year that I would have never met. So many people still coming giving their condolences. That’s unity right there. I see a lot more smiles. Ms. Sheppard: The same. People are a little kinder to each other. Ms. Sanders: June 17, 2015, was the first racism I’ve ever encountered. And I got it all at once. Ms. Sheppard: There’s unity in more ways than one. If you look on Sunday you’ll see about seven or eight of those trucks with those Confederate flags going across the bridge. So they’re unifying, too. Mr. Schwirtz: Can you speak about your relationship with Emanuel? Are any of you still active in the church? Ms. Sanders: I’ve been trying to go. It’s not easy. It’s a preparation for me. When I go there, I have to not eat at night or drink anything in the morning so that I won’t have to go downstairs to the bathroom. Emanuel is not Emanuel no more. Emanuel is the new Emanuel. The church for some reason thinks it’s about the church. The fellowship hall, where it all happened at, they didn’t give it no respect. I was in line to go into my son’s funeral. And I heard somebody say, ‘Oh, you should go downstairs now, it smells like blood.’ How do you think that made me feel? Ms. Sheppard: This happened on Wednesday and they were back in church on Sunday, which I thought was terrible. Ms. Simmons: I don’t feel the church should have been opened that soon. Because when I went to the church a couple of days after, I could still sense and smell blood. So it wasn’t a good feeling for me. It was one of my weakest moments I’ve experienced throughout this whole process. Ms. Collier: The last time I was there was Aug. 30, 2015, my mother’s birthday. And I haven’t been back since. Growing up I was on choir at the church. Since this happened, it’s like, everything, my whole life changed. My mom was assassinated for the church. My momma when she was not ushering, we got a little seat we sit at, two three rows from the back. I’d come around and sit on the side of her. Can you imagine me coming in and sitting in the front? It just freaks me out. Took everything out of my body just to do that on her birthday. I haven’t been back. | 0fake |
WATCH: Joy Reid DESTROYS Trump Supporter Who Claims Trump’s Campaign Isn’t Racist (VIDEO) | Steve Cortes, an avid Trump supporter, appeared on AM Joy where he claimed that Donald Trump s campaign is an incredibly non-racist campaign. Well, any fan of the show s host Joy Reid knows that she is not going to just accept a claim like that on her show. What you seem to be saying, is that it is okay to laugh at this idea of people who are outright racists who are part of the coalition of Donald Trump, Reid said. You seem to be saying, we don t care, we want to ridicule the idea that this is bad, and we don t care if it grows our coalition. Cortes upset that Reid brought up David Duke support s for Trump s campaign because Trump has renounced Duke s endorsement. Cortes apparently doesn t seem to understand that Duke s endorsement itself does not necessarily matter. The fact that the white supremacist movement in the United States supports Trump because of his policy proposals and rhetoric. The only true way to actually denounce these people would be to scrap Trump s entire platform and adopt one that racists would not be fond of. That, or drop out of the race altogether.Cortes then says that compared to previous Republican elections, Trump s campaign is incredibly non-racist. I would remind you that Donald Trump, particularly compared to past Republican presidential candidates, is running an incredibly non-racist campaign, Cortes said. He s gone into the barrio and he is going into the inner-city and you can laugh, but we are appealing directly to people of color. The rest of the panelists on the show laughed at Cortes assertion. Then why is it that Donald Trump is the most disliked and despised Republican candidate among people of color that we have had, probably in a generation? Reid asked. People who say that racism is not central to this campaign: let me explain this to you, wrtiter and journalist Tour stated. This is a campaign that started with birtherism, continues with the wall, we re going to ban all Muslims and we re at war economically with the Chinese. Is there any person of color who the campaign is not at war with? I can t find one! Studies have shown that roughly half of the Republican Party s membership is racist. There is no getting around that fact. Trump s campaign has appealed to that base throughout his campaign with vile, even hateful rhetoric. No matter what Trump s supporters say those are the facts.You can watch the segment below:Featured image from video screenshot | 1real |
ISIS loses grip on Mosul: Special Forces surround jihadists | ISIS loses grip on Mosul: Special Forces surround jihadists November 04, 2016 Iraqi security forces launch a rocket towards Islamic State militants during clashes at the frontline in Ali Rash village, southeast of Mosul, Iraq, November 3, 2016. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
Iraqi special forces have recaptured six districts of eastern Mosul, a day after ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi told jihadists they must fight to the death. Counter Terrorism Service troops have ISIS almost surrounded in Mosul, Iraq. CTS special forces took over the neighborhoods of Malayeen, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds and Karama. CTS officer: Units may try to push all the way to the Tigris river. Senior officer: Iraqi troops had also taken two thirds of another Mosul district, Intisar. Lieutenant-General Qassem Jassim Nazzal: Islamic State fighters "are trying to get away.” Iraqi Official: "They're criminals, let the dogs eat them.” Iraqi regular troops and special forces, Shi'ite militias, Kurdish peshmerga fighters, backed by US Special Forces/Delta Force launched their assault on Mosul, three weeks ago. Mosul is still home to nearly 1.5 million people. Mosul resident: ISIS fighters were deploying artillery and rocket launchers in and near residential areas. Some are hidden in trees near the Wahda district in the south. Others are deployed on the rooftops of houses taken over by the militants in the Ghizlani district. Mosul resident: "We saw Daesh (Islamic State) fighters installing a heavy anti-aircraft machine gun alongside a rocket launchpad, and mortars as well.” Hashid spokesman: Progress made on closing western flank, but not complete, ISIS fighters were seen leaving Mosul in cars on Thursday.
(ALI RASH/ERBIL, IRAQ) Iraqi special forces recaptured six districts of eastern Mosul on Friday, a military statement said, expanding the army's foothold in the Islamic State stronghold a day after its leader told his jihadist followers there could be no retreat.
An officer in the elite Counter Terrorism Service said CTS troops launched a major operation against the militants, who are now almost surrounded in their last major urban redoubt in Iraq.
CTS special forces took over the neighborhoods of Malayeen, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds and Karama, the statement said, inflicting heavy losses on the militant fighters and raising the Iraqi flag over buildings.
One special forces officer told Reuters the CTS units may try to push all the way to the Tigris river, which runs through the center of Mosul.
Iraqi television footage from the east of the city showed grey smoke rising, and a Reuters reporter in the village of Ali Rash, 7 km (4 miles) to the south east, heard helicopter gunships and cannon fire. Volleys of automatic rifle fire, possibly from the militants, were also audible.
A senior officer in the village said Iraqi troops had also taken two thirds of another Mosul district, Intisar, in the same eastern section of the city.
Islamic State fighters "are trying to get away", Lieutenant-General Qassem Jassim Nazzal told Reuters. | 1real |
OOPS! HYPOCRITE HILLARY Uses FLINT WATER CRISIS To Prop Up Campaign…Ignores Major 1992 Clinton Water Pollution Scandal | Only Hillary would go to Flint, MI to use the water crisis in a city run by Democrats to prop up her campaign. Americans should have known that with the extensive list of scandals in Hillary s past, there had to be a water pollution scandal. Well, as it turns out there is and it s a whopper! Hillary Clinton has turned the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan, into a central issue for her campaign and will look to capitalize on that focus when she faces Bernie Sanders at Saturday s Democratic debate in the troubled city, but in the 1992 Democratic primary, it was Bill Clinton who was on defense for standing by as Arkansas water was polluted.Former senator Tom Harkin (D., Iowa) went after Clinton during a candidate forum that year for putting himself forward as an environmentalist even though Arkansas was an environmental disaster during his tenure as governor. Mr. Clinton, that was a very nice, flowery little speech, but we have to start reading the records and not the lips, said Harkin, who went on to point out that Arkansas was rated last in environmental policy during his governorship.Here s video of the interaction:Harkin also said that Clinton s Environmental Protection Agency was a joke and that it was loaded with representatives of the biggest polluter in Arkansas. That polluter was Tyson Foods, a powerful political backer of Clinton that contaminated the drinking water supply of more than 300,000 people with roughly 500,000 tons of chicken waste that was dumped into streams. The presence of fecal bacteria in the water caused entire towns near Tyson plants to be plagued by chronic dysentery and salmonella.In one case, it took Clinton 17 months after being notified by health inspectors that a Tyson plant was leaking 1 million gallons of sewage into a town s water supply to take any action.This turned into a major issue in the 1992 campaign, and not just for Clinton s opponents.After Clinton won his party s nomination, CNN sent a reporter to Arkansas to examine just how bad the environmental situation was.Here s video of the lengthy report:The report found that state agencies were aware that 3,700 miles of Arkansas waterways were at risk of being destroyed by agricultural source pollution and that it took Clinton until 1990 to create a task force to address the problem.One scientist who focused on the quality of Arkansas water expressed his belief to CNN that the only reason Clinton formed the task force was because of his presidential aspirations. I think there is a direct connection between the current emphasis on animal waste and runoff and his bid for the presidency, said hydrologist Skip Halterman.Clinton is also criticized by CNN for giving a third of the seats on the task force to members of the poultry industry that was a major source of political contributions for Clinton. Via: WFB | 1real |
Ann Coulter Reveals The DISGUSTING Thing That Made Her Love Trump (AUDIO) | It might be hard to believe from the amount of praise she shells out for Republican nominee Donald Trump, but believe it or not, conservative pundit Ann Coulter wasn t always a fan of the business mogul until he showed America just how racist he truly was.In a recent appearance on the Off Message podcast, Coulter told Politico s Glenn Thrush that she was upset The Donald has softened (and repeatedly flip-flipped) his position on immigration a sign that he was giving into the pressure of the amnesty crowd that was taking control over his campaign.During the podcast, Coulter expressed great resentment toward Trump s new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, who she is blaming for the GOP nominee s recent shifts on some of his most offensive and controversial policies. Just to show you just how much Coulter loves Trump for his racist, xenophobic policies, she once said that Trump s proposal to ban all Muslims from coming into the United States was the best birthday gift ever. In fact, Coulter admitted that she hadn t even liked Trump she originally thought he was a boorish vulgarian until he came forward with his disgusting plans for immigration. Coulter reminisced about the correspondence she used to have with Trump s then-campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski: I was worried, the first few weeks after he announced, and I haven t told the other people this I would email in a point or two now and then, and whatever. Whenever I would email Corey, whatever, Stop re-tweeting ugly photos of opponents wives, or whatever it was, what the final point was [was] always, Don t let him back down on immigration. And Corey was getting a little exasperated with me and kept saying, He s not backing down. Then he came out for the Muslim ban on my birthday, Dec. 8, my best birthday gift ever. I finally emailed Corey and said, OK, I think he s not backing down. But now that Trump has been going soft on his plan to deport 11 million people, Coulter is upset and being rather vocal that she thinks it s a mistake. Coulter must be devastated that her political soulmate is backing down on her, because at one point of the podcast, she said this: I worship him like the North Koreans worship the Dear Leader yes, I would die for him. Which totally makes sense, because Coulter soon revealed that she and Trump actually have a lot in common they both lack empathy and will just say whatever the f*ck they want: I didn t get the gene that makes me care about what other people think. I m much like Trump that way. I don t really care. They re just words. You can listen to the full, bizarre interview below:Featured image via screenshot | 1real |
'Rain begins with a single drop:' Saudi women rejoice at end of driving ban | RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian women rejoiced at their new freedom to drive on Wednesday, with some taking to the roads even though licenses will not be issued for nine months. Hundreds of others chatted with hiring managers at a Riyadh job fair, factoring in the new element in their career plans: their ability to drive themselves to work. Saudi Arabia will never be the same again. The rain begins with a single drop, Manal al-Sharif, who was arrested in 2011 after a driving protest, said in an online statement. King Salman announced the historic change on Tuesday, ending a conservative tradition which limited women s mobility and was seen by rights activists as an emblem of their suppression. Saudi Arabia was the only remaining country in the world to bar women from driving. At the jobs fair, Sultana, 30, said she had received four job offers since graduating from law school two years ago but turned them down because of transport issues. My parents don t allow me to use Uber or Careem, so one of my brothers or the driver would need to take me, she said, referring to dial-a ride companies. I m so excited to learn how to drive. This will be a big difference for me. I will be independent. I won t need a driver. I can do everything myself. She plans to start taking driving lessons when her family travels abroad for vacation. Other women weren t waiting. Internet videos showed a handful of women driving cars overnight, even though the ban has not been officially lifted. The move represents a big crack in the laws and social mores governing women in the conservative Muslim kingdom. The guardianship system requires women to have a male relative s approval for most decisions on education, employment, marriage, travel plans and even medical treatment. The new initiative recalls previous modernizing milestones that unnerved conservatives at first but were eventually accepted, such as the 1960s start of state education for girls and the introduction of television. The decree is expected to boost the fortunes of 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has ascended to the heights of power in the kingdom with an ambitious domestic reform program and assertive foreign policy. A muted response from Saudi s clergy, which has long backed the ban, suggested power shared between the Al Saud dynasty and the Wahhabi religious establishment could be shifting decisively in favor of the royals. Many younger Saudis regard Prince Mohammed s ascent as evidence their generation is taking a central place in running a country whose patriarchal traditions have for decades made power the province of the old and blocked women s progress. Sharif, the activist, described the driving ban s removal as just the start to end long-standing unjust laws (that) have always considered Saudi women minors who are not trusted to drive their own destiny. A driving instructor at a government-run center said women called all day to inquire about registering a license, but he had received no instructions yet from the government. Um Faisal, a mother of six, said her daughters would get licenses as soon as possible. Years ago, there wasn t work outside the house. But today women need to get out and go places. This generation needs to drive, she said, clad in a long black abaya. The Saudi ambassador to Washington said on Tuesday women would not need their guardians permission to get a license, nor to have a guardian in the car when driving. In a country where gender segregation has been strictly enforced for decades in keeping with the austere Wahhabi form of Sunni Islam, the decree means women will have regular contact with unrelated men, such as fellow drivers and traffic police. Other rules have loosened recently, with the government sponsoring concerts deemed un-Islamic by clerics, allowing women into a large sports stadium for the first time and permitting them to dance beside men in a central Riyadh street over the weekend. Amnesty International welcomed the decree as long overdue but said there was still a range of discriminatory laws and practices that needed to be overturned. That risks inflaming tensions with influential Wahhabi clerics with whom the ruling Al Saud has enjoyed a close strategic alliance since the kingdom s founding. The state-backed Council of Religious Scholars expressed support for the king s decree. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, who has repeatedly opposed women working and driving and said letting them into politics may mean opening the door to evil , has yet to comment. Some Islamist clerics are currently in detention in Saudi Arabia following an apparent crackdown on potential opponents of the kingdom s rulers this month. Bernard Haykel, professor of Near East studies at Princeton University, said the driving announcement may help explain that. They might have raised a storm against the government by mobilizing opposition in the name of religion. They have been stymied, he said. Still, some men expressed outrage at the about-face by prominent clerics, who in the past have sometimes justified the driving ban by saying women s brains are too small or that driving endangered their ovaries. Whoever says this is permitted is a sinner. Women driving means great evils and this makes them especially sinful, one Twitter user wrote. Kawthar al-Arbash, a member of the Shura Council, a government advisory body, acknowledged that resistance, saying: That s how things go. Everything new is accompanied by fears. | 0fake |
[VIDEO] OBAMA TELLS HOMETOWN KENYANS: “I’m A Pretty Good President, And If I Ran For A Third Term, I Could Win” | We re not sure what s funnier, the fact that he talks about being a pretty good president or that he actually thinks anyone believes him when he says he can t run again because the Constitution prohibits it, saying: the law s the law. When did this President ever let a little thing like the Constitution or the law get in the way of his agenda? | 1real |
Feds: 275,000 born to illegals in 1 year | Feds: 275,000 born to illegals in 1 year 7% of all U.S. births, would fill city size of Orlando Published: 1 min ago
(WASHINGTON EXAMINER) Moms in the United States illegally gave birth to 275,000 babies in 2014, enough birthright U.S. citizens to fill a city the size of Orlando, Florida, according to an analysis of data from the National Center for Health Statistics.
The data showed that newborns to illegals accounted for 7 percent of all births in 2014, according to the analysis from the Pew Research Center. | 1real |
WHY DID HARRY REID LIE ABOUT THE “ACCIDENT” He Had That Left Him Blind In One Eye? | Dirty Harry must ve jarred something in his head that makes him unaware that he s lying in public. He used to be pretty good at hiding it Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is changing the story about how he sustained those gruesome New Year s Day injuries that have left him blind in one eye.Previously, Reid claimed that an exercise band he was using broke. I was doing exercises that I ve been doing for many years with those large rubber bands and one of them broke and spun me around and I crashed into these cabinets and injured my eye, (emphasis added) Reid said at a press conference on January 22.(You can see the video of that press conference here.)But now, in an interview conducted by Fusion (a joint venture between ABC and Univision), excerpts of which have been released today, Reid tells Univision anchor Jorge Ramos that the exercise band slipped, rather than broke. [T]he [elastic band] strap had no handle on it, slipped, spun me around, uh, about, oh I guess four feet (Reid points with his right hand to the wall of the interview room) and so I smashed my face into a cabinet, Reid tells Ramos.Reid s latest version of the incident, as told to Ramos, differs from previous versions advanced by his team in another very significant way. Sources familiar with the incident said Reid was exercising in his bathroom, with the exercise band attached to the shower door, Politico reported on January 22. (emphasis added)As Breitbart News reported previously, that version of the story, almost certainly told to Politico by Reid s staffers with his approval, is not credible.Now, however, Reid tells Ramos a different story. The exercise band was not attached to the shower door in his bathroom, Reid says, but was instead attached to a big metal hook that came out from the wall in an unspecified room in his new Nevada home.Here s a partial transcript of the excerpt of the interview released by Fusion:Ramos: You said recently that the accident had nothing to do with your decision to retire.However, we are seeing the consequences of what happened.What really happened?Was it really with an elastic band?Reid: Yeah, I had a big, that thick (Reid gestures with his hands), that I had been using for about four years and I was, you know, trying to maintain my, uh, firmness, and, uh, that was my weight training. I was doing that in my new home here in Nevada and a big metal hook that came out from the wall that was hooked there that the strap had no handle on it, slipped, spun me around, uh, about, oh I guess four feet (Reid points with his right hand to the wall of the interview room) and so I smashed my face into a cabinet so hard that uh Ramos: It looked like somebody had hit you.Reid: I am so fortunate that, um, it wasn t over just a fraction of this way and hit me in the temple.Ramos: How s your eye?Reid: I am sightless in my right eye.Watch the full video of the excerpts of the Fusion interview here:Ramos then switched gears and asked Reid about the most difficult moments of [his] 28 years in the Senate. Ramos failed to ask some key follow up questions about Reid s New Year s Day injury incident.For instance, Ramos failed to ask Reid if the accident took place in his bathroom, as Reid s office had previously claimed. According to Reid s latest version of the story, we do not know in which room of his house he now claims he sustained these injuries.Breitbart News has asked Senator Reid s office, which has carefully controlled the release of information about his New Year s Day injuries, to comment on his changed version of the story of his New Year s Day injuries, but has received no reply.Via: Breitbart News | 1real |
Billie Joe Armstrong: A Punk Seeks Serenity Inside the Chaos - The New York Times | Billie Joe Armstrong may be punk rock’s biggest triple threat: the frontman of Green Day, which was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the and sometime star of “American Idiot,” the Broadway musical on its way to becoming an HBO movie and the lead of “Ordinary World,” an indie film out Friday, Oct. 14. What he is not, though, by his own admission, is a social media maven. “I’ll try to catch up,” he said. “I get into Instagram, and the next thing I know, someone will say, it’s all about Snapchat now! It’s like, oh God, leave me in the Stone Age — I got one foot in the Stone Age and the millennium right now. ” Mr. Armstrong’s straddled take on culture is laid out on “Revolution Radio,” the new Green Day album, and the first since 2000 that the band — including the bassist Mike Dirnt and the drummer Tré Cool — with an engineer. “It feels more independent than we’ve ever been,” Mr. Armstrong said in a phone interview. He’s also branching out — sort of — with “Ordinary World,” in which he plays a dad who throws himself a 40th birthday party. “My thing was keeping my stubble on for the movie,” he said. “I had to make sure I shaved it in the right way, once every three days. And I wanted to show my gray that I have growing in. ” A still boyish 44, Mr. Armstrong — who went through rehab for substance abuse in 2012 after an onstage outburst at a pop festival — is grappling with his shifting generation. The cover for “Revolution Radio” is a boombox on fire. “It’s like that feeling of what’s obsolete,” he said, “like we’re turning into a graveyard. ” He paused. “Ooh, that was good — graveyard! I’m going to say that so many times in the next few days. ” He hopes to reprise the role of St. Jimmy, the bad influence, in HBO’s “American Idiot,” a rock opera based on the 2004 Green Day album. He credits the ambition of “Idiot” with the new heights of success in his career. But, he added: “I’m not royalty. I’m the king of nothing. I’m in the same high school rock ’n’ roll band I’ve been in since I was 16. ” Here are edited excerpts from the conversation. This is your first leading film role. Did you do any actorly things to prepare? Not like anything weird — I wasn’t exactly doing any, like, mime. Me and Lee Kirk, the director, we spent a lot of time together fleshing the character out, putting it more in my language. I just went from experiences on my own, and I just tried to be as honest as I could. Acting for the stage, you project to the back of the room, especially a character like St. Jimmy. This is all about the subtleties of acting to the camera, which is difficult for me, because I’m anything but subtle. And you were playing opposite some very seasoned improvisers, like Fred Armisen and Judy Greer. Did that throw you? It felt pretty intimidating, just because I have so much respect for those people. They’re brilliant people they’re not like at what they do, they’re all the way good at what they do. Everybody wanted to make things really relaxed and fun. A couple of the guys that played dads in the movie came in, and we just acted out some of the scenes, which is super awkward at first, doing something you’ve never done, but eventually I got comfortable with it. We’re seeing more and more of that nontraditional father onscreen. Can you relate? It’s a different take on parenting, especially people that were maybe Generation X kind of people and are raising kids now. We’re not our dads. I think there’s more sensitivity training that’s involved in being a parent nowadays. My kids are 21 and 18 — that was a trip. I was a very young dad. And your sons are both musicians. Do you jam with them? A little bit. Mostly they show me music that they’re into, they do a lot of demos and things like that on their own. My youngest son, Jakob, he’s becoming a really good songwriter. He writes songs that are straight from the heart. Joey’s band, they’re really good, and they’re different. It’s not about being, like, a rock star. If there’s anything I share with them, it’s the joy and the love of music. You started in the punk scene as a teenager, when it’s a lot about youthful anger. What does it mean to you to be part of a punk scene now? I think punk is a lot more than just anger, and rage. It’s like the weirdo that gets to find their voice for the first time. It could be someone that wants to have their own fanzine, and write about things they believe in, and despite the odds, do it anyway. Green Day records in general are about feeling kind of lost, and a bit stupid, in the midst of chaos and media and everything that’s changed. And the bottom line for this album is to find something that’s attainable, some kind of peace or serenity inside that chaos. The song “Ordinary World” is basically what that’s about. “Say Goodbye” is about watching how Ferguson is this military state, and you see all these tanks and tear gas. “Revolution Radio” mentions that, too. It’s just reflecting what I see, and maybe coming up with a caricature of it. You touch on difficult topics on the album — “Bang Bang” is a song from the perspective of a mass shooter. Is that fun to play? Yeah, and hard — it’s fast. It’s a release for everyone that’s singing it in the crowd. When you grow up in an era of social media and manifestoes and mass shootings and narcissism and that sort of evil side of American life, what do you say about something like that? You’re just left speechless. The best way I’m able to talk about it is when I do it in a song, and that’s sort of my release, and that’s what ends up coming along in our crowds these last few years. Has your songwriting process changed in sobriety? I’ve just become more focused I’ve learned to stop when I’m blocked. Either you go and make the bigger mess right now, or that song doesn’t want to be written right now, your brain’s not ready for it. Sometimes I just gotta know when to back off something. The fact that I’m clearheaded — I just love making stuff. A song like “Revolution Radio,” it’s so subtle and it’s so nerdy. The song’s got the intro, and it’s got a that goes into the chorus, and I decided to not do that going into the chorus in the second verse. It makes the song unpredictable. For me, that’s like the greatest song I’ve ever done. It’s super nerdy, but that’s what I love about writing. Why do you think “American Idiot” has had such a long life, in so many forms? Because people are able to interpret it anyway they want any time there’s any kind of injustice that’s going along, in America, you can adapt it somehow, go listen to that record, and it makes sense. There’s a lot more transparency now. In Pennsylvania, there was a small theater group with an cast that did “American Idiot” for Black Lives Matter. When I saw that, I was like: “Yeah, this is why I do this stuff!” Because people take it and make something of their own out of it. | 0fake |
Democrats are actually more enthusiastic than Republicans about trade | Rank-and-file Democrats and independents are considerably more likely than Republicans to take a rosy view of foreign trade, and have been for several years, according to Gallup polling data.
This in tension with the impression you would get from reading articles about the congressional politics of Trade Promotion Authority, where the vast majority of opposition is coming from Democrats, with Republicans singing the virtues of free trade.
Part of the issue here is that Gallup is asking, in general, whether foreign trade is more of an opportunity for the US or more of a threat. The congressional debate is about a specific economic agreement, some of whose provisions are only loosely related to trade.
Another possible explanation is that trade is currently identified in the public's eye with Barack Obama, who has been heavily promoting the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But the timing on this doesn't quite work out — enthusiasm for trade among self-identified Republicans has been in a long-term decline since the early days of the Bush administration. It's perhaps related in some more generic sense to conservatives' greater nationalism. | 0fake |
On Campus, Trump Fans Say They Need ‘Safe Spaces’ - The New York Times | ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Amanda Delekta, a sophomore at the University of Michigan and political director of the College Republicans, was ecstatic when her candidate, Donald J. Trump, won the presidential election. But her mood of celebration quickly faded when students held an evening vigil on campus — to mourn the results — and her biology teacher suspended class on the assumption, Ms. Delekta said, that students would be too upset to focus. She was outraged. “Nobody has died,” Ms. Delekta said. “The United States has not died. Democracy is more alive than ever. Simply put, the American people voted and Trump won. ” She circulated an online petition and accused the university president of catering to the liberal majority by suggesting that “their ideology was superior to the ideology of their peers,” as she put it, when he sent out an email publicizing the vigil and listing counseling resources for students upset by the election. Three days later, she was invited to meet with the president in his office. “I was completely shocked that he even read the letter,” she said. “That was definitely a new thing. It was very exciting. ” Conservatives and liberals on campuses across the country have been clashing throughout the campaign — and throughout this year of protest. But the conflict has gained new intensity since the election, and students, faculty and administrators say they expect tension to get worse once the presidential baton is passed on Inauguration Day in January. Conservative students who voted for Mr. Trump say that even though their candidate won, their views are not respected. Some are adopting the language of the left, saying they need a “safe space” to express their opinions — a twist resented by protesters. Administrators are struggling to maintain a balance between political factions. But some college presidents have entered the fray with statements that seem more sympathetic to the left, in some cases provoking a backlash. To Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University, and a veteran of student protests in the 1960s, it all seems familiar — and a possible harbinger of conflict to come. Dr. Gitlin said that the ’60s, about which he wrote an influential book, were often seen as a radical decade, but that it was more accurate to call it a polarized time. Conservatives were strong on campus, particularly in the early part of the decade, he said, and it was only later that the academic culture came to be viewed as majority liberal. “I was at Michigan for two years in ’63 to ’65, so I can tell you there was a very widespread movement,” Dr. Gitlin said. For conservative students like Ms. Deletka, the messages from university officials, seemingly assuming that everyone on campus was upset about the election result, were particularly offensive. At Columbia, the provost, John H. Coatsworth, sent out an email on Nov. 21 that began, “The presidential election has prompted intense concern for the values we hold dear and for members of our community who are apprehensive about what the future holds. ” The day after the election, Biddy Martin, president of Amherst College in Massachusetts, called for tolerance and acknowledged that some people might be rejoicing. But she also said in a speech on campus: “In the mirror we see virulent forms of racism, misogyny, homophobia and other ills and we see them celebrated by some as though the expression of our worst impulses were the definition of human freedom. ” Amherst also saw a bit of a controversy surrounding a professor who was singled out for his views. The professor, Hadley Arkes, an emeritus professor of political science, pulled out a bottle of champagne in his political science class to celebrate Mr. Trump’s election. An editorial in The Amherst Student newspaper criticized him for bringing alcohol to class, and suggested that college officials hold him “accountable” for supporting a candidate the paper’s editorial board thought was bigoted, homophobic and misogynist. “There are students on this campus whose lives and civil liberties will be compromised in the next four years,” the editorial said. “Not only does Amherst’s nonpartisan stance invalidate their struggles, but brash and insensitive political partisanship creates irreparable scars. ” Dr. Arkes said that he had offered students in his class a spectrum of ways to express their feelings postelection. For students who were grieving, he recited the Kaddish, the Jewish mourner’s prayer. For those who were celebrating, he quoted Churchill about not gloating: “In victory, magnanimity. ” Finally, in what he said was intended as a comic gesture, he pulled out the champagne. But mindful that he might be accused of offering an alcoholic beverage to underage students, he did not uncork it. Now it seemed, he said, that some people just could not take a joke. “There is no urbanity or humor — or the wit to deal with challenge, grave or light,” he wrote in an email. “They can respond only in ‘boilerplate,’ quite predictable reflexes — so predictable that I did predict it easily. ” The mood is muted at more conservative campuses, students and professors said. Erika Meitner, a creative writing professor at Virginia Tech, said that there was a strange quietness on her campus, and that she was not sure whether to think of it as détente or the calm before the storm. Ms. Meitner said that as a leader of small poetry seminars, she knew a lot about her students’ private lives. So she has been struck by how they have kept their reactions to the election to themselves. “It’s really weird, because I know all of their breakups,” she said. “I know when their cat died, because they write poems about this. ” Tim Sands, the president of Virginia Tech, was one of the rare college presidents who explicitly suggested in his postelection message that students might have a range of emotions about the outcome, or as he put it, be experiencing feelings “from vindication to shock, from outright fear to enthusiasm. ” Michigan students say that before the election, attitudes were less intense. “It was more like friendly banter, little side comments, but it wasn’t really serious,” said Anna Giacomini, an elected representative to the student government for the liberal arts college at the university. Now tensions are heightened. According to a campuswide message from Mark Schlissel, the university’s president, bias incidents have been reported. A student walking near campus was threatened with being lit on fire because she wore a hijab. Other students were accused of being racist for supporting Mr. Trump. A few days ago, Ms. Delekta and two fellow Republican students sat down at a local restaurant, Sava’s, to talk about the campus mood with several students with views. The conversation soon grew tense as the students were unable to agree on almost anything. Ms. Delekta described how she had been offended when a classmate wondered why as a “white female,” she had not voted for Hillary Clinton. She resented what she saw as identity politics on campus. “My identity is so much more than my race and my gender,” Ms. Delekta said. “We’re all so much more similar than we think. ” She was able to separate Mr. Trump’s policies from his personal attitudes toward women, she said later. “I’m not electing a grandpa or a babysitter,” Ms. Delekta said. Ibtihal Makki, a senior in a pink hijab who is studying biopsychology and neuroscience and is chairwoman of a student government diversity committee, objected to conservatives on campus saying they needed safe spaces to express their views. “To turn around and say that they need safe spaces after their candidate won I think is ironic and hypocritical,” Ms. Makki said. In the past, she added, conservatives did not understand the need for safe spaces, “because they never needed it, because they don’t have any of the identities that made them feel that way. ” White conservatives like Ms. Delekta, Ms. Makki said, are not as vulnerable as someone with dark skin or who is wearing a hijab, because she cannot be identified as a conservative by any outward signs. Another student, Maryam Ahmed, said she had been one of about 1, 000 students who marched in the campus vigil the day after the election. She said the marchers were positive but feared for their safety. Her friends were passing on text messages — which turned out to be false — warning that white militias were going to invade the streets of Ann Arbor. “There was definitely a divisiveness that came on campus postelection,” she said. “The election was like a needle poking into a bubble. ” She said she was hopeful the climate would improve, but added: “I could be wrong. It could get worse. ” When Ms. Delekta met with Michigan’s president, Dr. Schlissel, she brought Enrique Zalamea, president of the College Republicans, along with her. They proposed a kind of unity campaign for campus, in which students would march with signs saying, “I am a Wolverine,” to stress their similarities. And they suggested some sessions on inclusivity and diversity. Dr. Schlissel told them that it was too early for such activities, and that they should allow a period first, Ms. Delekta said. She was deeply disappointed. “That’s not my personality,” she said. Dr. Schlissel declined to comment on the mood on campus, but a spokeswoman, Kim Broekhuizen, said Ms. Delekta’s account of the meeting was accurate. Still Ms. Delekta was heartened by the meeting, seeing it as a sign that conservatives might be invited into the fold. She is hoping to score tickets to the inauguration, the beginning of a new era, she believes, for better. But she will not be surprised, she said, if tensions flare anew. “It’s going to be right back in the media,” she said. “I think people are going to start to get worked up again, whether it be in excitement or frustration and fear. ” | 0fake |
AGAIN? Baltimore Cops Shoot 13-Year-Old Boy With BB Gun (PHOTOS/VIDEOS) | Baltimore Police officers shot a 13-year-old boy who was carrying a toy BB-gun. The shooting occurred just as the city hit the one-year anniversary of demonstrations after the killing of Freddie Gray and concerns about police brutality and training swept the country.A 13-year-old boy was shot by a police officer in Baltimore on Wednesday, after the officer saw what he believed to be a semi-automatic handgun, officials said.What officers thought was a handgun ultimately proved to be a replica BB gun, Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis told reporters.The boy was expected to survive his injuries, Davis said. My thoughts and prayers are with him, Davis said. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. Baltimore Police later released this photo of the BB gun:Police also took in the boy s mother, and video footage was released of that:.@namenzie Correction: Boy shot by cops is not dead. Grainy/compressed vid of mother "taken in." #BaltimoreUprising pic.twitter.com/4wvdasXhjZ Nicola_A_Menzie (@namenzie) April 27, 2016A police commander was caught on video alleging that the gun looked 1,000 percent real. NEW: Man records police commander explaining this afternoon's shooting of 13 yr old. "That gun looked 1000% real" pic.twitter.com/FEtYNE8LUX Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) April 27, 2016Crime reporter Justin Fenton noted that the shooting comes on a violent week in Baltimore, where 16 people have been shot with 9 killed over the last three days.Even though the shooting has not yet been completely investigated, the police commissioner told the Baltimore Sun there is no reason to believe that these officers acted inappropriately in any way. It is a message that echoes several similar statements issued by police departments seeking to defend their own, only to have supplementary video footage or testimony contradict the claims of officers on the ground.Recently the family of 12-year-old Tamir Rice entered into a legal settlement with the city of Cleveland after the child was shot and killed while holding a toy gun. In that case, police claimed the boy was reaching into his waistband, which prompted the lethal shooting. Surveillance footage proved this was inaccurate, but the officer involved, Timothy Loehmann, was not indicted.Featured image via Facebook | 1real |
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Comment on You Are What You Read: Research Reveals The Importance Of What You’re Reading by Du er, hvad du læser. | Dyslexic workers | According to a new study published in the International Journal of Business Administration in May 2016, your love for “light reading,” and web-based aggregators like Reddit, Tumblr and BuzzFeed may not be doing you any good. The researchers concluded that what students read in college directly affects the level of writing they achieve . In fact, students who pick up academic journals, literary fiction, or general nonfiction wrote with greater syntactic sophistication than those who preferred the former options. Furthermore, the highest scores came from those who resorted to academic journals, and the lowest to solely web-based content. But then again, “good writing” is often subjective. What we’re really talking about here is whether our overall ability to convey what we want to say comes across well to the masses. Why You Need To Start “Deep Reading” As opposed to light reading, which involves little more than comprehending and decoding words, deep reading involves reading that is slow, immersive, emotional, and morally complex. When you are deep reading, you are absorbing language rich in detail, allusion, and metaphor. This style of reading works to engage the part of the brain regions that allow the reader to feel as though they are experiencing the event. It’s thought of as an exercise that promotes brain health — boosting your levels of empathy because you practice reflection, analysis, and personal subtext. Light reading lacks these meaningful attributes. Online blogs, for instance, are said to lack a genuine voice, viewpoint, and analysis that provokes deeper thoughts. Essentially, you’ll likely forget what you read in mere minutes. Likewise, Stanford University researchers concluded the benefits of deep reading as opposed to light reading. They found that close literary reading gives your brain a workout in multiple complex cognitive functions. And while simple pleasure reading increases blood flow to different areas of the brain, deep reading proves more of an effective brain exercise. Why You Should Read Poems An article published in the Journal of Consciousness Studies reported that more emotionally charged writing works to arouse several regions in the brain that respond to music . When comparing reading poetry and prose, researchers found that poetry activates the posterior cingulate cortex and medial temporal lobes — both of which are linked to self-analysis. For the study, volunteers also read their favorite poems, which stimulated parts of the brain associated with memory. These areas of the brain, predominantly located on the right side, had already been shown to provoke “shivers down the spine” as a result of an emotional reaction to music. Why You Should Read Literary Fiction Recent experiments have revealed that reading literary fiction makes way for better performance on tests of affective theory of mind, or understanding others’ thinking and wellbeing. The study published in the International Journal of Business Administration found that this type of reading enhances theory of mind, which may be influenced by a higher amount of engagement with real works of art as opposed to reading magazine articles, interviews, and online nonfiction reporting. Pick Deep Reading Over Watching Television When you turn on the TV, you’re signaling your brain power to shut down. Likewise, reading lightweight material for entertainment simply doesn’t fire up your writing brain to help you become a better writer. So, rather than turning on the tube or scrolling through articles on Facebook, spend more time deep-reading literary fiction and poetry.
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ANOTHER KNOWN WOLF? NYC Bombing Suspect Probed by FBI, Leading to Bigger Questions | Shawn Helton 21st Century WireThe New York bombing attack has a list of details that don t add up.When examining what transpired this past week in New York and New Jersey, we must consider a deeper social engineering agenda that may be at play as part of a larger geopolitical drama continues unfold in Syria.While August ushered in a hyper-propagandized war image that went viral in the West, September delivered an alleged active-shooter false alarm played out at both JFK airport and LAX as well as the apparent bombings in New York City and New Jersey this past week.As bombs go off outside, Obama sails through the UNGA.You have to wonder, were the events in New York and New Jersey also a weapon of mass distraction, following a major international embarrassment for the United States both at home and abroad the brutal airstrike campaign in Syria that killed over 70 Syrian troops? This unlikely bombing incident just happened to also coincide with the UN General Assembly in NYC, where President Obama was delivering among other speeches, his War on Terror addresses to the international community. No surprise then, with the city suddenly on high terror alert that Obama quickly and confidently and comfortably used his center stage spotlight at the UN, shifting into national security mode boasting how quickly his police forces solved the case. It was almost if he was ready for events that weekend.The alleged NYC bombing suspect was named as 28 year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, who managed the family Chicken Kebab Shop. He has been charged with using weapons of mass destruction in addition to other criminal charges. Similar to what was described in the apparent Boston Marathon Bombing of 2013, Rahami is alleged to have created a homemade pressure cooker bomb which exploded in Chelsea, an affluent neighborhood of Manhattan. Oddly missing are scenes depicting the transport of 31 injured individuals after the explosion in New York. BOMBER OR PATSY? Ahmad Khan Rahami was known to both US officials and Pakistani officials (Image Source: BBC)NYC s Known Wolf After the mainstream media and officials floated the idea that a Wireless Emergency Alert system helped to locate and find Rahami with an electronic wanted poster, it turns out the FBI already knew him.According to The Washington Post, the FBI had already known Rahami since 2014, making this latest known wolf attack a strongly suspicious event: The FBI s probe into Ahmad Khan Rahami, the 28-year-old named as the only suspect in the bombings, was launched based on comments his father had made. An official said his father later recanted his comments. Agents conducted interviews, checked with other agencies and looked at internal databases, none of which revealed ties to terrorism, the bureau said in a statement.But why then, was Rahami on the radar of Pakistani intelligence in recent years?During the San Bernardino caper last December, we were told that supposedly Pakistani-born Tashfeen Malik, had ties to The Red Mosque in Pakistan, a well-known Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) linked mosque: Sources have told Daily Mail Online that US officials handed over information to their Pakistani counterparts about links between Tashfeen Malik and the Red Mosque in Islamabad. The mosque is infamous for its links to violence and authorities in Pakistan are now considering taking action against its preacher, Maulana Abdul Aziz, after the disclosures by US officials. If Malik was inspired by ISIS, as claimed by authorities (via social media) then why did her background suggest a Pakistani/ISI/CIA/Al-Qaeda connection, if she was in fact radicalized as US plot writers insist?The UK s Telegraph stated that the part of Pakistan where Malik was staying is known as a recruiting ground for Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist groups, including Lashkar al-Taiba, responsible for a bloody attack in Mumbai, India s financial capital, in 2008. If true, this was a new twist in the media hyped San Bernardino shooting, displaying a startling link between the Al Qaeda/ISI affiliated Red Mosque and other Western-backed black ops in Pakistan.In May of 2011, The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) outlined the ISI s material support for various militant groups, including the formation of Al-Qaeda giving historical context to recent events: The ISI s first major involvement in Afghanistan came after the Soviet invasion in 1979, when itpartnered with the CIA to provide weapons, money, intelligence, and training to the mujahadeen fighting the Red Army. The CFR further stated, Pakistan s government has repeatedly denied allegations of supporting terrorism, citing as evidence its cooperation in the U.S.-led battle against extremists. The CIA and ISI, have had a long, sometimes contentious relationship on the surface but the reality is that their collective footprint, is all over many tribal areas in Pakistan and places like Afghanistan where extremism continues to grow to this day.Malik s affiliations suggested that she could have been involved with one of the intelligence agencies active in the exact location she resided in Pakistan was this also the case with Rahami, given his link to a Pakistani seminary with ties to the Taliban?The UK s Guardian reported the following: The 28-year-old, who was born in Afghanistan but became a US citizen, spent time at the Kaan Kuwa Naqshbandi madrasa on his two visits to Pakistan, a security official working for the government of Balochistan province told the Guardian. Cointinuing, the article discussed how Pakistani officials have limited the information they have about Rahami: US officials have revealed basic details about Rahami s two visits to Pakistan, the first in 2011 when he spent a couple of months in Quetta and got married and almost a year in 2013 when he also made a car journey to Afghanistan.But very little information has emerged from inside Pakistan about what Rahami did during his visits.The government official, who did not wish to be named because he was speaking about a highly sensitive subject, said Pakistani security agencies have tried to hide all the details of his visits to Quetta and keep as much information as possible out of the media. It s also worth noting the similarities of this case to that of another known wolf who traveled overseas before a major domestic event, the alleged Boston Bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who had previously been recruited by the FBI, most likely as an informant. This might help to explain why Tamerlan traveled overseas to attend the American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus in Dagestan, during the summer of 2012 an event organised by the Jamestown Foundation itself another known CIA front, and part of a vast network controlled by Freedom House (George Soros) and linked to the CIA , as reported by the Voltaire Network. INFORMANT OR TERRORIST? What was Rahami s real role in the New York and New Jersey bombings and bomb attempts? (Image Source: nbcnews) Sturm und Drang During a hotly contested US presidential election cycle, multiple overlapping narratives continue to contribute to an environment of confusion, fear and uncertainty in the War On Terror era.Mass media has worked out their own formula for laying out a familiar series of polarizing political points in the aftermath of any tragic event, as they have with many others. Appearing once again, to purposefully redirect the public to look at a ready-made laundry list of hateful rhetoric and random writings as an ironclad motive for a crime. The aftermath in the case of New York is no different, as it rapidly descended into an overindulgent barrage of media speculation and theorizing.All too often we ve seen the stage persona of any alleged attacker or killer being touted as hard evidence, despite the fact that even strong circumstantial evidence of any apparent crime would likely result in many hours of analysis and debate, potentially without a definitive conclusion, even if the evidence eventually reached a court room setting.As 21WIRE has covered in recent years, very often there is much more involved behind-the-scenes when it comes to sensationalized attacks in America, particularly of those said to be lone wolf events. The incidents themselves are quickly taken out of the political and forensic realm, giving way to a hyper-realized account, often defying logic and reason.Drills, Patsies & DupesIn May of 2015, the NY Post stated the following, after the city s largest ever terror drill involved mock explosions: Officials said the event was the largest active-shooter operation ever, involving more than 200 NYPD and FDNY officers.It was the ninth full-scale exercise of its kind since the beginning of 2014. Chief of NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau James Waters explained that the drill replicated portions of events that occurred in San Bernadino, in the Bataclan in Paris and in Australia. Continuing, the article described the intricate mass exercise: On the third and the fourth floors we had additional explosions go off, replicating things that happened at the Bataclan nightclub, and that pushed the ESU officers up to the third floor, and finally the fourth floor, where they encountered a barricade with a hostage situation, he said, explaining that the cops again were able to stop the shooters. For the average person, its hard to differentiate from a drill or a real event, causing one to scrutinize the legitimacy of such an operation.In recent years, the investigative tactics of various intelligence agencies have come into question, none perhaps more dubious then the Newburgh FBI sting that involved entrapping four men to participate in a fabricated event created by the bureau. Here s a 2011 passage from The Guardian describing how an FBI informant named Shahed Hussain coerced four others into a fake terror plot: The Newburgh Four now languish in jail. Hussain does not. For Hussain was a fake. In fact, Hussain worked for the FBI as an informant trawling mosques in hope of picking up radicals.Yet far from being active militants, the four men he attracted were impoverished individuals struggling with Newburgh s grim epidemic of crack, drug crime and poverty. One had mental issues so severe his apartment contained bottles of his own urine. He also believed Florida was a foreign country.Hussain offered the men huge financial inducements to carry out the plot including $250,000 to one man and free holidays and expensive cars.As defence lawyers poured through the evidence, the Newburgh Four came to represent the most extreme form of a controversial FBI policy to use invented terrorist plots to lure targets. There has been no case as egregious as this. It is unique in the incentive the government provided. A quarter million dollars? said Professor Karen Greenberg, a terrorism expert at Fordham University. The whole episode seemed born out WTC 1993 bombing case, which involved yet another informant working alongside officials.More below regarding the purported NYC bombing from ZeroHedge NYC UNDER ATTACK? In less than 48 hours law enforcement nabbed the man purportedly behind the recent NYC bombings. (Image Source: observer)9 Weird Things About The NYC And NJ Bombs That Will Make You Say Hmmmm Zero HedgeZero Hedge continues READ MORE WAR ON TERROR NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire W.O.T Files | 1real |
Interesting & Fun Facts About Stethoscope | Keywords: medical equipment , Stethoscope facts , stethoscopes history
When we hear the word “Doctor,” the first image comes in our mind is a person in a white coat with a stethoscope hanging around his neck. The stethoscope has become a very common name amongst people thanks to its display in various T.V shows, movies and frequent use of it by doctors. But still, there are many fun facts which other people might not know about stethoscope. So here they are –
200 years old history – Yes! Stethoscopes are one of the oldest inventions which are still being used across the world by millions of doctors. Rene Laennec in 1819 had invented the stethoscope. It was a wooden instrument and looked quite different from what we see it as now.
I see your chest – Stethoscope is a Greek word which roughly translates into “I see the chest,” stethos means chest and scope mean examination.
An Interesting story behind its Invention – When Stethoscope was not invented, doctors would put their ears around the chest of patients and gently tap the chest with fingers. This technique would make female patients little uncomfortable. Rene Laennec was a very shy person. Once he was examining an overweight woman. He found it difficult to hear her hear sounds. To hear heartbeats of that lady, he rolled a quire paper into a tube and placed it on her chest. This inspired him to make the device which we all are familiar with and called stethoscope.
Google Doodle For Rene Laennec – On February 17th, 2016, Rene Laennec would have celebrated his 235th birthday. To commemorate this day, Google doodle marked his 235th birthday.
Used To Identify If A Person Is Dead Or Not
Nowadays stethoscope is used to hear heart sounds and to determine symbols of other diseases. But initially, stethoscope was designed to find out if the person in the hospital is dead or alive.
It Might Be Replaced Very Soon
As mentioned, stethoscopes were invented almost 200 years ago and being in use for such a long time shows that how useful and efficient stethoscopes are. However, as the technology is getting advanced every passing day, stethoscopes might be replaced very soon by pocket-sized ultrasonic devices which can perform multiple measurements on patients.
Source – | 1real |
F.B.I. Director Testifies on Clinton Emails to Withering Criticism From G.O.P. - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — The F. B. I. director, James B. Comey Jr. defended himself Thursday against an onslaught of Republican criticism for ending the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, but he also provided new details that could prove damaging to her just weeks before she is to be named the Democrats’ presidential nominee. At a contentious hearing of the House oversight committee, Mr. Comey acknowledged under questioning that a number of key assertions that Mrs. Clinton made for months in defending her email system were contradicted by the F. B. I. ’s investigation. Mr. Comey said that Mrs. Clinton had failed to return “thousands” of emails to the State Department, despite her public insistence to the contrary, and that her lawyers may have destroyed classified material that the F. B. I. was unable to recover. He also described her handling of classified material as secretary of state as “negligent” — a legal term he avoided using when he announced on Tuesday that “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring a case against her. The F. B. I. director repeatedly suggested that someone in the federal government who had done what Mrs. Clinton and her aides did would probably be subject to administrative sanctions. Asked whether those sanctions could include firing or the loss of security clearance, Mr. Comey said that they could. While an F. B. I. employee who mishandled classified evidence in the way that Mrs. Clinton did would not be prosecuted either, he said sternly, “they would face consequences for this. ” Mr. Comey also criticized Mrs. Clinton’s lawyers for their handling of her emails. He said that they had not actually read all of her emails before destroying them, as she had suggested, and that they may have deleted classified material without her knowledge. David Kendall, the lead lawyer on Mrs. Clinton’s team, declined to comment on this point. But Mr. Comey, in response to Republican accusations that he had employed a “double standard” to spare Mrs. Clinton from criminal charges, insisted that she was not given special consideration by the F. B. I. nor held to a more lenient standard than a less prominent person would have been. He said his team of investigators had not found clear evidence that Mrs. Clinton intended to break the law governing the use of classified materials and explained that prosecutors have “grave concerns” about using the lower legal standard of “gross negligence” in their handling, and have applied it only once in the last century. Democrats on the House oversight committee attempted to respond to the new facts presented by Mr. Comey while accusing their Republican colleagues of conducting a partisan witch hunt in their attacks on him. Republicans were not mollified, and they expressed particular frustration with Mr. Comey when he said that the F. B. I. did not examine Mrs. Clinton’s statements to Congress about her email server to determine whether she had perjured herself. Mr. Comey said to do that would have required a formal request from Congress, known as a referral. “You’ll have one in the next few hours,” responded Representative Jason Chaffetz, the Utah Republican who is the committee chairman. His office said later that the committee would probably issue the referral on Friday, a move that would ensure their scrutiny of Mrs. Clinton’s emails extends past the end of the criminal case. The State Department is also reopening an internal review looking at possible disciplinary action against current employees who may have been involved in the handling of Mrs. Clinton’s emails. Republicans also pressed Mr. Comey to say whether the Clinton Foundation, the global charity started by former President Bill Clinton, had become embroiled in the investigation, as some reports have suggested. Mr. Comey — who was surprisingly forthcoming on many other issues — twice declined to answer Mr. Chaffetz on that issue. Before the hearing, a smiling Mr. Chaffetz greeted Mr. Comey and thanked him for appearing so quickly at what was billed as an “emergency” hearing into the Clinton investigation. But less than 10 seconds into the start of the hearing, Mr. Chaffetz lit into the F. B. I. director over a decision he said that “mystified” him. If the “average Joe” handled classified information the way that Mrs. Clinton had, “they’d be in handcuffs,” Mr. Chaffetz said. He said there was legitimate concern that “if your name isn’t Clinton or you’re not part of the powerful elite that Lady Justice will act differently. ” In more than four and a half hours of testimony, Mr. Comey was for the most part calm and dispassionate in defending the F. B. I. ’s work, veering at times into the roles of sober federal prosecutor and erudite law school scholar — two jobs he held before taking over the bureau two years ago. But he showed occasional piques of anger when some Republicans suggested that he was part of a political agenda designed to clear Mrs. Clinton of criminal wrongdoing. Representative John Mica, Republican of Florida, told Mr. Comey that it looked as if the end of the investigation into Mrs. Clinton was choreographed, beginning with Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch’s chance meeting last week with Mr. Clinton, and continuing with the F. B. I. ’s interview with Mrs. Clinton on Saturday, Mr. Comey’s announcement on Tuesday, and Mrs. Clinton’s campaign appearance with President Obama hours later. Mr. Mica said he did not know what to tell constituents talking about the case in Florida cafes. Mr. Comey grew red in the face, raising his voice as he answered the congressman. “I hope what you’ll tell the folks in the cafe is: Look me in the eye and listen to what I’m about to say. I did not coordinate that with anyone,” Mr. Comey said. “The White House, the Department of Justice, nobody outside the F. B. I. family had any idea what I was about to say. I say that under oath, I stand by that. There was no coordination. ” Brian Fallon, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign, said in a statement that Mr. Comey’s testimony “clearly knocked down a number of false Republican talking points. ” He added that “while Republicans may try to keep this issue alive, this hearing proved those efforts will only backfire. ” | 0fake |
Senate parliamentarian rules against tax bill provisions: Sanders | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate parliamentarian has ruled against three provision of the Republican tax bill, forcing the House of Representatives to hold a second vote on the legislation, Senator Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday. Sanders, an independent on the Senate Budget Committee, said the ruling could mean that provisions related to educational savings accounts for home schooling and private university endowments could be struck from the measure unless 60 members of the Senate vote to uphold them. | 0fake |
IS IVANKA TRYING TO CONVINCE Her Father To Break One Of His Key Campaign Promises? | Watch this video compilation where Trump makes his stance on man-made global climate change very clear: As President Donald Trump contemplates whether to make good on his campaign promise to yank the United States out of the Paris climate accord, an unlikely lobbying force is hoping to talk him out of it: oil and coal producers.A pro-Paris bloc within the administration has recruited energy companies to lend their support to the global pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to two people familiar with the effort who asked not to be identified.Cheniere Energy Inc., which exports liquefied natural gas, became the latest company to weigh in for the pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions in a letter Monday to White House energy adviser G. David Banks. Domestic energy companies are better positioned to compete globally if the United States remains a party to the Paris agreement, Cheniere wrote. The accord is a useful instrument for fostering demand for America s energy resources and supporting the continued growth of American industry. Exxon Mobil Corp., previously led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc also have endorsed the pact.The industry campaign to stick with the Paris accord comes amid deep divisions in the Trump administration over the carbon-cutting agreement. Both the president s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, a White House special adviser, have urged the president to stay in the deal, along with Tillerson.Climate scientists who are against the climate treaty have written an open letter to President Trump:Breitbart News reports that in an open letter to Donald Trump, climate expert Dr. Duane Thresher has urged the President not to give in to his daughter Ivanka s misguided views on global warming and her insistence that the U.S. remain in the Paris climate agreement ratified by Barack Obama last August. Climate treaties like the Paris Agreement have little to do with climate, Thresher notes in his letter, which he made available to Breitbart News. They are about economic competition. As the greatest economy in the history of the world, other countries will do anything to cripple the United States. Countries like China will agree to anything in these treaties and simply ignore their obligations while demanding the United States fulfill theirs, Thresher said, calling belief in global warming a popular delusion. In his letter, Dr. Thresher also reminded President Trump of his campaign promises that led many Americans to vote for him. We who voted for you consider stopping this climate change madness one of your key promises, Thresher said. If you renege on it you will lose me and many others as supporters. After Trump s election, in fact, a number of climate change skeptics were emboldened to take more public stands against the politically imposed scientific consensus of global warming, welcoming a new era of free debate about a hotly contested issue.Scientists unconvinced by the party line on climate change applauded Trump s appointment of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head up the Environmental Protection Agency as an important step away from climate alarmism.Even if Trump caves and stays in the Paris climate agreement, Thresher says, it won t win him any friends. Your opponents are not going to support you; they ll just taunt you as being a flip-flopper, he said. | 1real |
‘Something’s Coming’: Eric Holder’s ‘Be Prepared’ Tweet To DOJ And FBI Sets The Internet On Fire | Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who served under former President Barack Obama, unleashed a tweet at 3:00 a.m. to the Department of Justice and the FBI in which he warned officials to be prepared. To the career men & women at DOJ/FBI: your actions and integrity will be unfairly questioned. Be prepared, be strong. Duty. Honor. Country, he wrote.To the career men & women at DOJ/FBI: your actions and integrity will be unfairly questioned. Be prepared, be strong. Duty. Honor. Country. Eric Holder (@EricHolder) June 30, 2017Just after former FBI Director James Comey was fired, Holder tweeted something similiar, writing, To the career men and women at DOJ/FBI: you know what the job entails and how to do it. Be strong and unafraid. Duty. Honor. Country. To the career men and women at DOJ/FBI: you know what the job entails and how to do it. Be strong and unafraid. Duty. Honor. Country. Eric Holder (@EricHolder) May 10, 2017Holder s Friday morning tweet raised eyebrows on Twitter, with many speculating that something big was about to happen.Something big is coming. A 3am tweet from Eric Holder? Yeah, something's coming. Jack A Roe (@JackARoe12) June 30, 2017I don't think that's it. A storm is a brewin', treason is in the air, and it's gonna dump a holy incriminating load on Team Trump very soon U.S.O.U.S. (@hyperauxetic) June 30, 2017Damn DW. wtf . Dennis Herring (@dcherring) June 30, 2017??NOTE??the time stamp on fmr AG Holder's tweet: 3:17am!?Think something big is happening https://t.co/9rJ8ELUVZh Dr. Dena Grayson (@DrDenaGrayson) June 30, 2017A storm is coming. pic.twitter.com/QLtmKYRYIW Tina McD5 (@TinaMcDermott5) June 30, 2017Wow, what's about to happen? A 2AM Tweet from AG Holder. Sara Tonin, RN (@shar76) June 30, 2017Holy shit! Sounds like you're saying buckle up it's going to get a lot bumpier. diane (@dtheavenger) June 30, 2017 pic.twitter.com/Q3KreFrgr5 B b g (@hardhouz13) June 30, 2017Hmmm. Somethin's comin,' somethin' big .. Sybill Trelawney (@SybilT2) June 30, 2017#dutyhonorcountry? pic.twitter.com/bt13IshQqp heidi siegmund cuda (@foxycuda) June 30, 2017Holder isn t a frequent Twitter user so that makes his tweet seem peculiar. The Trump administration is plagued with scandals and alleged president Donald Trump seems to incriminate himself with his own tweets. The former reality show star s Twitter timeline is a goldmine for prosecutors and investigators. The amateur president launched a war on every U.S. Intelligence agency and that won t fare well for him. Trump s war against the free press is backfiring big time, too. Perhaps Trump should stop tweeting for a moment and read Holder s warning. Nah, Trump would just tweet about Holder s wife, saying she once had blood coming out of her whatever.We re not trying to go all Alex Jones on you but for a man who typically tweets about his objections to repealing Obamacare, this does seem a bit odd. Look out, Trump. You re about to lose this war. A former Attorney General doesn t just tweet out a be prepared message all willy nilly unless something is coming. The Trump administration fired Preet Bharara, Sally Yates and James Comey and all three were investigating Donald Trump. That s rather suspicious, don t you think?As of now, Holder s tweet has been liked over 30,000 times and it s garnered 13,00o retweets. I suspect the Twitter-addicted alleged president has already taken notice.Featured image via Chris Graythen/Getty Images | 1real |
Brexit talks deadlock on cash, Barnier eyes move by December | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Brexit talks are deadlocked over money, the EU s Michel Barnier said on Thursday as he ruled out discussions on future trade being launched by EU leaders next week but spoke of possible progress by December. Barnier and his British counterpart, Brexit Secretary David Davis, told reporters there had been some progress this week on the other two issues around Britain s March 2019 withdrawal from the bloc on which the EU demands sufficient progress before it will agree to discuss a transition and future relationship. With concern mounting about the possibility they might run out of time for any deal, Davis renewed his call for EU leaders to give a green light to trade talks after they meet Prime Minister Theresa May at a summit in Brussels next Thursday. Barnier made clear, however, that despite new momentum from concessions given by May in a speech at Florence last month, British proposals on expatriate citizens rights and the Irish border still failed the EU test, while London s refusal to spell out a detailed cash offer was very worrying for business. May said then that the other 27 countries would not lose out financially from Brexit in the current EU budget period to 2020 and that Britain would honor commitments but Barnier said London was failing to say exactly what it was ready to pay. Regarding that question, we are at an impasse, which is very worrying for thousands of projects everywhere in Europe and also worrying for those who contribute, he said. Nonetheless, he offered hope: I am still convinced that, with political will, decisive progress is within reach in the coming two months. With David Davis, we will organize several negotiating meetings between now and the end of the year. With signs that nerves are fraying on both sides as less than 18-month remains before the deadline, some hardline Brexit supporters want May to just walk out of talks. Both negotiators repeated that they were ready for any eventuality including a collapse. But, Barnier warned, no deal would be a very bad deal . May herself said there had been good progress and welcomed Barnier s talk of further progress over the coming weeks . Davis announced a streamlined new system for the 3 million EU citizens in Britain to claim residence rights, answering EU concerns, and said he expected good further progress on other issues. Barnier repeated that Brussels stills wants them to have recourse to EU judges to safeguard their rights and said there were still differences on rights for future family members. A British demand for its million or so citizens on the continent to have lifetime rights to move to any of the bloc s 27 countries after Brexit is held up by doubts among the member states. Barnier said those are rights to do with post-Brexit decisions and should be dealt with in the next phase of talks. I make no secret of the fact that to provide certainty we must talk about the future, Davis said, stressing his demand for trade talks. I hope the leaders of the 27 will provide Michel with the means to explore ways forward with us on that. As we look to the October Council next week, I hope the member states will recognize the progress we ve made and take a step forward in the spirit of the prime minister s Florence speech. Barnier was pressed to say in public whether he would ask EU leaders permission to make some preliminary exploration of what a transition after March 2019 would look like. EU officials and diplomats say he has raised that issue with governments. He told the news conference that he would follow a mandate ruling out any discussion of the future before issues arising from Britain s past membership are settled and said it was important to respect the sequencing . Diplomats have said that German and French envoys quashed a suggestion by Barnier last week that he start looking transition issues. On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose scope to change policy is limited by ongoing coalition talks, stressed Berlin would negotiate to minimize damage to Germany. With the talks poised at a delicate stage, EU officials say it is unclear what leaders will tell May next week. They all rule out a clear move to trade talks but many expect positive language to try to defuse British accusations of Brussels intransigence and to help May stand up to her own party critics. Officials see the early part of next year as a virtual deadline for agreeing to move on to discuss the future relationship. Failure to do so would raise the risk of there being no smooth transition and even of no deal at all. ($1 = 0.8446 euros) | 0fake |
Loserpalooza: 9 Craziest Scenes from Anti-Trump Protests - Breitbart | protesters ran wild across Washington, D. C. on the eve of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, obliging the police to douse them in pepper spray. I dubbed the event “Loserpalooza” on Twitter:[Looks like Loserpalooza was a smash. Nothing says “love wins” like forcing the police to you. https: . — John Hayward (@Doc_0) January 20, 2017, Pepper seasoning was added to this assortment of mixed nuts outside the “DeploraBall” inaugural event. Politico quoted NBC News reports about the demonstrators burning a Trump hat and lugging around an inflatable elephant festooned with a “RACISM” banner — because Republicans are racists, get it? See? SEE? — and then added their own impressions of the madness: Protesters outside the building chanted “Nazi scum” at DeploraBall attendees as they entered the building and a DeploraBall Twitter account posted videos of the group outside chanting “F — Trump. ” Along with the video, the DeploraBall account’s post read, “SHOUTING WONT CHANGE TOMORROWS OUTCOME … CANT WAIT TO SAY PRESIDENT @realDonaldTrump. ” The demonstrators also brought with them a projector, used to project two messages onto nearby buildings: “Impeach the predatory president” and “bragging about grabbing a woman’s genitals. ” Here’s some video of the tear gas flowing: BREAKING: DC police mace, teargas protests outside National Press club. Video: #disruptj20 pic. twitter. — DCMediaGroup (@DCMediaGroup) January 20, 2017, Here are some more postcards from the edge, as lefty mobs do their best to convince Trump voters they made the right choice in November: Tiny activist boasts of setting fires: No protest is complete without some child abuse, so there was a little boy telling Fox News reporter Griff Jenkins that he started a fire outside the National Press Club “because I felt like it, and because I’m just saying, ‘Screw our president!” Technically, he was saying “Screw Barack Obama,” who remains the current president until Trump takes the oath of office, but whoever taught him to start fires to express his unthinking rage apparently didn’t bother to teach him much in the way of civics. “We have to really be concerned about this dangerous direction our country is going in. When you come for our communities, when you come for us, and when you try to violate our rights, we will resist,” a Loserpalooza spokeswoman told Jenkins. The rest of us are really concerned about thugs blocking streets and setting things on fire. Michael Moore melts down: Were are the clowns? Quick, send in the clowns! Don’t bother … they’re here. Helplessly blubbering in uncontrollable hysteria, lefty propagandist Michael Moore rolled through D. C. like a lump of cholesterol slowly passing through the veins of the city, filling his Twitter stream with bad photographs and worse poetry: Passing the White House on the Obamas last night, sound asleep inside. The country wide awake, afraid 2 close its eyes pic. twitter. — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 20, 2017, Just arrived in DC. Police lights flashing everywhere in the middle of the night. Reichstag tonite still a democracy. pic. twitter. — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 20, 2017, Actually, the country is wide awake because your protester buddies are making a lot of noise, Mike, and frankly we’re worried about the vandalsim and violence you’re likely to commit when you gather in large numbers. Moore also attended a protest rally in New York City on Thursday night, along with such Hollywood intellectual giants as Alec Baldwin and Mark Ruffalo, where he declared President Trump would “not last four years” and called for “a hundred days of protest. ” His actor buddies should clue him in to the actual attention span of his followers. Also, he should remember that George Soros lost a ton of money betting against America after the election, and might not be able to afford 100 days of . “We oppose totalitarianism!” scream totalitarians: Enjoy the spectacle of people who fantasize about being brave resistance fighters against Trumpian tyranny blocking off checkpoints, denying others their rights to speech and assembly without a second thought: #Trump supporters trying to attend #Inauguration told “this checkpoint is closed” by #DisruptJ20 protesters at #BlackLivesMatter blockade pic. twitter. — Alexander Rubinstein (@AlexR_DC) January 20, 2017, They were still blockading intersections and getting into tussles with riot cops on Friday morning: HAPPENING NOW blockade at D and 1st! Labor and Palestine. Riot cops pushing protestors #DisruptJ20 @DisruptJ20 pic. twitter. — Martha Neuman (@MWNeuman) January 20, 2017, As former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer succinctly observed: If they’re blocking attendees from entering, they’re not protestors. They’re interfering with the rights of others and should be arrested. https: . — Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) January 20, 2017, “Rights” are only for people with the correct politics, Mr. Fleischer! The whole “occupy” strategy of the Left, from Occupy Wall Street through Black Lives Matter, is about forcing people to listen by illegally seizing property and blocking off roads. And then they wonder why so many people voted for Donald Trump when he said he’d get America moving again. Peaceful, tolerant protesters throw eggs, assault Trump supporters: Gateway Pundit reported on Trump supporters getting pelted with eggs, with one woman talking about how she was struck in the head several times: James Allsup reported he was ambushed by thugs in ski masks and beaten bloody. “I was wearing my ‘Make America Great Again’ hat, and a white male came up behind me and swung at me with a flagpole — I kind of blacked out for a minute. Before I knew it, my head was gushing blood — there’s blood on my Trump hat,” he told Fox News. “I’m all for disagreeing, I debate people all the time and I want to engage in these discussions, but they’re throwing bottles. I would be livid if people who supported Trump were doing this to Hillary supporters,” Allsup added. He posted photos of the aftermath on Twitter: Here are the graphic images of the assault aftermath before being treated by EMS and taken to the hospital. #Deploraballpic. twitter. — James Allsup (@realJamesAllsup) January 20, 2017, His Twitter feed quickly filled with caring, compassionate liberals who accused him of faking the blood, and even of faking his hospital report, but there is video of the entire assault, and you can see the thug waving his flagpole around: That’s what you get for thinking you can walk around wearing whatever you want and expressing your opinions in a city under occupation by the Army of Tolerance, buddy. Anarchists unite! Sky News caught a menacing crew marching around with anarchist flags and threatening slogans. Nothing brings people together like a little ISIS cosplay! The funny thing is, the same people are also given to protesting globalist trade meetings that very much believe in their “no borders, no nations” ideology. Trump protests are taking place in Washington https: . — Sky News (@SkyNews) January 20, 2017, The police have started arresting some of the brigades, and they’re not taking it well: Police clash with protesters ahead of Donald Trump’s #Inauguration https: . pic. twitter. — Reuters Top News (@Reuters) January 20, 2017, Socialist mayor shuts down his own city: Not all of the fun and frolic was taking place in D. C. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio “caused traffic mayhem for his own political gains,” as the New York Post put it, by heading up a “massive protest in Columbus Circle. ” The streets were lined with obstacles such as sand trucks and, eventually, Michael Moore. “It’s terrible, I just want to go home,” and “It’s irresponsible of the mayor,” and “I’m appalled at what’s happening here and I am angry at de Blasio” were among the comments from New Yorkers collected by the Post. The rally ended up looking like this: It looks like the Left is dissolving into one big Godwin’s Law violation. They’re just so that they get to pretend they’re brave heroes battling an evil dictator! These are the same people that tried, with considerable success, to shut down bakeries and pizzerias over ideological disagreements when they were in power. At this very moment, as seen above, they’re using violence to shut down the free speech of others. They’re displacing a huge amount of guilt for their own sins against democracy onto Trump’s shoulders. He should send them a bill for therapeutic services rendered. Vandalism and for peace and justice: Are the lefty mobs breaking windows and stealing stuff to express their commitment to “justice?” You bet they are! #BREAKING protesters are now smashing windows on the streets of Washington. pic. twitter. — Doc Thompson (@DocThompsonShow) January 20, 2017, #BREAKING: [VIDEO] More footage of protestors destroying a @Starbucks #InaugurationDay #TrumpProtest pic. twitter. — Kris Cruz (@rc_kris) January 20, 2017, Damage to businesses up down I st. pic. twitter. — Alex Emmons (@AlexanderEmmons) January 20, 2017, Why do they always take out a Starbucks when they go nuts? The UK Independent says protesters also trashed a Bank of America branch, and there were “unconfirmed reports of looting. ” “Observers said the disorder appeared to be organised, with the group splitting from a larger protest before launching the wave of vandalism,” the Independent adds. They even trashed a bus stop. Aren’t liberals supposed to love mass transportation? Bus bay smashed at #wmata pic. twitter. — Faiz Siddiqui (@faizsays) January 20, 2017, Lefty brigades show typical respect for American troops: Here’s a gang of protesters trying to prevent Air Force men from entering an inauguration checkpoint: protesters block men in Air Force uniforms from entering the #Inauguration checkpoint. pic. twitter. — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 20, 2017, What a great way to win hearts and minds! | 0fake |
‘COVER THE REAL NEWS!’ Heated Debate on CNN’s Obsession With Trump Tweets [Video] | Alisyn Camerota sparred with Rep. Scott Taylor (R-VA) over President Donald Trump s weekend tweet of a video in which he beats Vince McMahon with a CNN graphic superimposed on the WWE commissioner s face.Notice how Camerota just keeps on going even though Taylor shuts her down with so much truth! He s awesome! Camerota is a political hack who has one agenda she only wants to make President Trump look bad. In interview after interview, she blatantly attacks Trump and his administration. Who knows why Trump supporters attempt an interview with Camerota!OUR PREVIOUS REPORT ON CAMEROTA:TRUMP PRESS SECRETARY Calls Out CNN S CAMEROTA For Unbelievable Questions : I know it s frustrating for you that we re doing it in a logical way [Video]Wow! This interview is hysterical! Sean Spicer runs circles around political hack Camerota It gets good around the 3:30 mark I know it s frustrating for you that we re doing it in a logical way, Sean Spicer to Allison Camerota https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6mzC5kPR3sCamerota just can t break Spicer He s too good at debate. | 1real |
U.S., Qatar agree to further curbs on terrorist financing | DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar has agreed to strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation with the United States to crack down on illicit financing of militant groups, a joint Qatari-U.S. statement said on Monday following a visit by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Mnuchin s visit to Doha marked the end of a week-long trip aimed at curbing terrorist financing. There were earlier stops in Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, where the U.S. in May announced the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center, a U.S.-Gulf initiative to stem finance to militant groups. Following talks with Qatari officials in Doha, Mnuchen said the two countries had agreed to substantially increasing the sharing of information on terrorist financiers, with greater emphasis on charitable and money service business sectors in Qatar, according to the statement. Qatar is keen to show it is cooperating on counter terrorism nearly five months after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt began a diplomatic and trade boycott of the gas-rich state, accusing it of financing extremist groups and allying with their arch-foe Iran, allegations Doha denies. Qatar in July signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States to increase cooperation on fighting terrorism finance and was one of six Gulf nations last week to announce sanctions on 13 individuals said to be al Qaeda and Islamic State militants. Qatar hosts Udeid Air Base, the largest U.S. military facility in the Middle East, from which U.S.-led coalition aircraft stage sorties against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. | 0fake |
BREAKING #CNNLeak…James O’Keefe’s New Undercover Recordings Expose #CNNFakeNews Operatives: “I mean, I’m a little biased”…” I agree. I think it’s dishonest” [Video] | James O Keefe has been at the forefront of new media since he outed ACORN posing as a pimp Who can forget that! He s exposed the left time and time again His latest video exposed liberal organizers suggesting violent ways to disrupt the inauguration of President Trump.It seems O Keefe recognizes that we are at war with the press more than anyone on the left. The blatant lies and complete distortions of just about anything President Trump says are happening 24/7 on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC and CBS. It s time to expose the REAL fake news Thank you James O Keefe!Here s O Keefe s first release where Joe Sterling, CNN s News Desk Editor for The Wire telling one of O Keefe s undercover reporters that climate change is settled science and, There is no debate. I mean, I m a little biased Joe Sterling, once News Desk Editor @CNN admits he has a clear bias in favor of @POTUS44. Doesn't #CNN claim to be "most trusted?" #CNNLeaks pic.twitter.com/VhxeJCK1lL James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) February 23, 2017The second release in a long list of undercover CNN tapes, PROVES Trump was correct when he talked about the polls being rigged. We all knew that President Trump was correct when he told Americans, Don t believe the polls that were incorrectly pointing to a huge Hillary win. We all know how that story ends. Trump beat Hillary in a landslide, and beat her in states that polls like CNN s, told us he had no chance of winning. Listen to CNN try to reason with O Keefe s undercover reporter about why they refuse to update their polls after new information emerges that could be a game changer in how the public perceives it:When questioned about their tactics and why they choose not to use new data to update one of their polls, CNN s Executive Editor Arthur Brice responded, I agree. I think its dishonest to use outdated information if new information shows something that is in variance with something you re reporting. It s just dishonest. In this bit we found @CNN's Executive Editor @ArthurBrice talks about using "dishonest and outdated information" in CNN's polls. #CNNLeaks pic.twitter.com/j2L2FrqYwY James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) February 23, 2017 | 1real |
Danish submarine owner has not said how journalist died: police | COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A Danish inventor accused of murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall on board his submarine did not say she died from carbon monoxide poisoning, police said on Wednesday, correcting an earlier statement. On Monday Danish police said Peter Madsen had told them in an Oct. 14 interrogation that Wall, 30, had died from carbon monoxide poisoning inside the submarine, while he was on the deck of the vessel. Reacting to comments by Madsen s defense lawyer, the police said on Wednesday he had not specifically said how Wall died but had mentioned the possibility of such a cause of death. Madsen is facing charges of murder, mutilating Wall s body and sexual assault without intercourse, based on 14 interior and exterior stab wounds found on her body. He denies killing Wall but has admitted to dismembering her body and dumping the parts in the sea, police have said. Wall, who was researching a story on Madsen, went missing after he took her out to sea in the 17-metre (56-foot) submarine in August. On Aug. 23, police identified a headless female torso that washed ashore in Copenhagen as Wall s. | 0fake |
NEIL CAVUTO AND YOUNG COMMIE CLASH: “The capitalist system is illegitimate” [Video] | Pro-Bernie Sanders Commie clashes with Neil Cavuto | 1real |
Russia working on defensive measures to counter possible new U.S. sanctions: Kremlin | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is working on defensive measures to prepare for possible new sanctions from the United States and other countries, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law a new package of sanctions in August drafted by U.S. lawmakers. One of the provisions asked the U.S. Treasury Secretary to submit a report on the impact of expanding sanctions to cover Russian sovereign debt, with an outcome expected as early as February. U.S. and EU sanctions imposed over Russia s 2014 annexation of Ukraine s Crimea, and its support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, remain in place. But U.S. allegations that Moscow interfered in last year s U.S. presidential election, something Russia denies, have spurred calls for more sanctions. On Wednesday, the Kremlin was asked to comment on media reports that Russian state development bank VEB planned to transfer its Globex bank to the state and about speculation that the bank would then be used to service the military industrial complex to try to protect Russia from new sanctions. We are working on and taking measures aimed at defending our interests against a backdrop of possible new restrictive actions and sanctions by various countries, which we continue to deem unlawful, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters. He did not mention Globex bank. It would probably not be right now to make public or disclose all these measures aimed at hedging our risks, Peskov said. | 0fake |
Israeli army chief says ready to share information with Saudi Arabia | DUBAI (Reuters) - The Israeli army s chief of staff told an Arabic language online newspaper that Israel was ready to share intelligence information with Saudi Arabia, saying their countries had a common interest in standing up to Iran. Lieutenant General Gadi Eizenkot told the privately Saudi-owned Elaph in what it said was his first interview with an Arabic newspaper that Israel had no plans to attack Lebanon s Hezbollah group. Saudi Arabia has ratcheted up pressure on arch-foe Iran, accusing Tehran of trying to expand its influence in Arab countries, often through proxies including the Lebanese Shi ite Hezbollah group. Increased tension between Tehran and Riyadh has fueled speculation that shared interests may push Saudi Arabia and Israel to working together against what they see as a common Iranian threat. Saudi Arabia maintains that any relations with Israel hinge on Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands occupied in the 1967 Middle East war. Asked if Israel had shared any information with Saudi Arabia, Eizenkot said: We are ready to share information if necessary. There are many shared interests between us. He said U.S. President Donald Trump s election on a platform that calls for increasing pressure on Iran has provided an opportunity for new alliances in the Middle East. Both Saudi Arabia and Israel view Iran as a main threat to the Middle East. A major and general strategic plan must be prepared to stop the Iranian danger, and we are ready to exchange expertise with moderate Arab states and exchange intelligence information to face Iran, he said, according to Elaph, which said the interview was conducted at Eizenkot s office in Tel Aviv by an Israeli Arab journalist. Earlier this month, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri announced his resignation in a surprise move that had plunged Lebanon into a new political crisis. Hariri s resignation thrust Lebanon into the front line of a regional struggle between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran that has also buffeted Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain. It also raised speculation about possible military action against Lebanon by Israel, which sees Hezbollah as a strategic threat. Responding to a question on speculation that Israel may launch a military operation against Hezbollah, Eizenkot said: We do not have any intention initiating any offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon and reaching a (state of) war. But we will not accept a strategic threat against Israel. | 0fake |
Michigan governor, EPA to testify at House panel on Flint | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder will testify on the Flint drinking water crisis at a House of Representatives oversight panel next month, aides for the committee said on Friday. The panel earlier this month held its first hearing into Flint’s lead-laced drinking water, which thousands of children are believed to have ingested since April 2014. Democrats had complained that Snyder, a Republican, had not been invited to that hearing. The committee has also invited Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy to testify at next month’s hearing. Susan Hedman, the former EPA Midwest chief who resigned earlier this month, was also invited. The exact date in March for the hearing has not been set yet. | 0fake |
Egyptian army officer jailed after announcing presidential candidacy: lawyer, family | CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian army officer was sentenced to six years in prison on Tuesday after announcing his intention last month to run in the country s 2018 presidential election, his lawyer and wife said. A military court found Colonel Ahmed Konsowa, 42, guilty of expressing political opinions as a serving military officer, his lawyer Asaad Heikal told Reuters. Konsowa appeared in a video last month announcing that he intended to run against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the vote, which will take place early next year. He said he had submitted his resignation from the army in 2014 but it had not been accepted. Konsowa s wife Rasha Safwat said they would appeal against the verdict. Sisi, the former commander of Egypt s military, has yet to announce he will seek reelection, but is widely expected to do so. | 0fake |
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