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Trump Floats an Olive Branch: Might Keep Parts of the Health Law - The New York Times | Donald J. Trump overhauled his transition team from top to bottom on Friday, expanded his outreach to more establishment Republicans, and even offered an olive branch to President Obama — albeit a narrow one. On the other side, Democrats signaled they would move left in the wake of Hillary Clinton’s defeat, and the ’s legal antagonist, Gloria Allred, made it clear that neither she nor many of the women who have accused him of sexual assault are going anywhere. Join us again on Monday for continuing live updates on the transition to the 45th presidency of the United States. Mr. Trump said Friday that, after talking with President Obama this week, he might be willing to leave in place parts of the Affordable Care Act once he’s in office. Mr. Trump made the comments to The Wall Street Journal in his first interview since winning the election. The newspaper said Mr. Obama had urged the to reconsider repealing his signature health care law, which Mr. Trump said had become “unworkable. ” But in the interview, Mr. Trump said he told the president that he would consider keeping two provisions of the law: the prohibition against insurers denying coverage because of a patient’s condition and the one that allows parents to keep their children on their insurance plans until they turn 26. The problem: Without a mandate for everyone to buy health insurance, the popular condition provision could send insurance companies into a tailspin, because their costs would rise with sicker customers, and that would not be offset by healthy consumers forced to buy insurance. Mr. Trump said in an interview to be shown on “60 Minutes” Sunday that Mrs. Clinton “couldn’t have been nicer” in a congratulatory call she made to concede the election, and that Bill Clinton had complimented him on “one of the most amazing” presidential runs he had ever seen. “It was a lovely call, and it was a tough call for her — I mean, I can imagine, tougher for her than it would have been for me,” Mr. Trump said. “She couldn’t have been nicer. She just said, ‘Congratulations, Donald, well done. ’” Mr. Trump, who on Thursday said he would seek Mr. Obama’s counsel about the presidency, said he would consider asking for Mr. Clinton’s as well. Mr. Trump also promised that there would be no lapse in health insurance for millions of Americans covered under the Affordable Care Act when he repeals and replaces the law. “We’re going to do it simultaneously — it’ll be just fine,” Mr. Trump said. “That’s what I do. I do a good job. You know, I mean, I know how to do this stuff. We’re going to repeal it and replace it. And we’re not going to have, like, a period and we’re not going to have a period where there’s nothing. ” Mr. Trump has quietly reached out to Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee who took an impassioned stand against Mr. Trump during the campaign. The call came after Mr. Trump’s surprise victory on Tuesday night, according to two people briefed on it, although it was unclear how it went and what was said. Aides to Mr. Trump and Mr. Romney did not respond to requests for comment. With her eye on the right’s Paula Jones legal crusade of the 1990s, Gloria Allred, the civil rights lawyer representing women who have accused Mr. Trump of sexual assault, is trying to lure the into a legal battle before he takes office. Ms. Allred challenged Mr. Trump on Friday to retract his threat to sue his accusers for defaming him and suggested that she might bring a case against him if he refused. She also said that she was prepared to countersue if Mr. Trump made good on the threat. “ Trump now has the opportunity to act presidential,” Ms. Allred said at a news conference with Summer Zervos, the former contestant on “The Apprentice” who said last month that Mr. Trump tried to seduce her and grabbed her breasts in 2007. Ms. Allred cited a precedent for suing a sitting president: Ms. Jones. “Obviously the lawsuit against President Clinton by Paula Jones did proceed while he was in office for actions that were alleged to take place prior to his becoming president,” she said. The Jones case forced Mr. Clinton into a deposition that resulted in his impeachment on charges of lying under oath about an affair with an intern. A sobbing Ms. Zervos sat next to Ms. Allred and offered her own solution: “What happened to a good, I’m sorry?” Vice Mike Pence will take the lead on the ’s transition. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who is under a cloud after two aides were convicted of conspiring to shut down traffic on the George Washington Bridge in the Bridgegate scandal, moves aside. Mr. Trump told advisers that he wanted Mr. Pence’s Washington experience and contacts. An executive committee, which will include members of Congress, will advise Mr. Pence as the process moves forward. See the full story. Corey Lewandowski, who was fired as Mr. Trump’s campaign manager and then went to work for CNN, even as he continued to consult with the campaign, resigned Friday from his political commentator role, the network confirmed. Mr. Lewandowski is expected to take a position in the Trump administration. He was seen in Trump Tower on Wednesday immediately after Mr. Trump’s victory, chatting with senior aides and attending meetings. Mr. Lewandowski did not return calls for comment. Mr. Lewandowski was viewed as a controversial appointment by the network he had signed a nondisclosure agreement with Mr. Trump that prevented him from criticizing the candidate publicly, and he was still being paid by the campaign while working for CNN. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the incoming Democratic leader, threw his weight behind Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota on Friday to be the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the clearest sign yet that, in defeat, the party will move to the left. After losing the Rust Belt to Mr. Trump, Democrats could have recruited an populist like Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio, who represents the Youngstown area. But Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont quickly backed Mr. Ellison, who is black, Muslim and an ardent progressive. Two former governors, Howard Dean of Vermont and Martin O’Malley of Maryland, also expressed interest Friday in being the party’s new committee chairman. So much for a warm welcome to Washington. Groups on social media are trying to coordinate a Million Woman March the day after Mr. Trump’s inauguration in protest of the new president. The march will go from the Lincoln Memorial to the White House on Jan. 21 to show “strength, power and courage. ” Men are also encouraged to attend. “No woman is free unless all women are free,” the organizers of the march wrote on the Facebook page where it is being organized. State groups for the march have already been formed for people to coordinate travel to the capital. However, some fear that the idea could become a logistical nightmare coming so close to Inauguration Day because of the lack of hotel rooms and the potential for clashes with Trump supporters Among the ’s most pressing questions as he prepares to take office is where he should live. Mr. Trump, a provincial homebody who divides his time among golf courses in Florida and New Jersey and his townhouse apartment in Manhattan, is weighing how much time to spend in Washington, according to two people familiar with his deliberations. One option is spending weekends in New York and most of the week in Washington. Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania, is ultimately planning to move to Washington, according to one person briefed on the discussions, but their son, Barron, is still in school. Mr. Trump may be triumphant, but Gloria Allred isn’t done with him yet. More than 10 women accused Mr. Trump of sexual assault after a video bragging about his groping habits emerged last month. Ms. Allred, the lawyer who has been working with many of the women, does not appear to be letting the off the hook. At 2:30 p. m. Eastern time on Friday, she said that she was going to issue a challenge to Mr. Trump at a news conference with one of his accusers who has already come out publicly to tell her story. Ms. Allred would not reveal the name of the woman before the event or share any details of the challenge. Before the election, Mr. Trump said that the accusers were all lying and that he might sue them. Ms. Allred told ABC News on Thursday that her clients had no plans to sue Mr. Trump at this point, but that they would countersue if he did so. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the departing Democratic leader, added his voice to the postelection statements on the . Unlike most Democrats, he gave no quarter: Some of the protesters who have taken to the streets this week are supporters of Mr. Sanders, and on Friday the former Democratic presidential candidate reminded them that creating chaos and disorder should not be their goal. Trump Tower, the skyscraper on Fifth Avenue and the home base of the has become a fortress in the wake of the election. The lobby, designated a public space by the City of New York, was closed off on Friday morning as Mr. Trump met with advisers. A large police presence surrounded the building. The tower was built with a special permit more than 30 years ago. The city granted Mr. Trump extra space in exchange for maintaining public access to the lobby. Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley libertarian who secretly financed a lawsuit against the website Gawker, was named a member of the Presidential Transition Team Executive Committee on Friday afternoon. | 0fake |
Long-stalled email privacy bill advances in Congress | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation that would require law enforcement to obtain a search warrant before asking technology companies to hand over old emails unanimously moved forward in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, notching a long-awaited win for technology companies and digital privacy advocates. The House Judiciary Committee voted 28-0 to approve the Email Privacy Act, which would update a decades-old law to mandate federal authorities get a warrant to access emails or other digital communications that are more than 180 days old. Currently, law enforcement and civil agencies can ask a service provider to turn over such aged private communications with only a subpoena, which is subject to less judicial oversight than a warrant. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he planned to bring the bill to a full vote the week of April 25, boosting its chances to become law this year. If the bill passes the House as expected, it will head to a gridlocked Senate, where more than a quarter of the lawmakers, including No. 2 Republican John Cornyn, has endorsed similar legislation. Debate over law enforcement access to Americans’ electronic communications intensified this year with the Justice Department’s pursuit of a court order to force Apple to help unlock an encrypted iPhone linked to one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters. Prior to Wednesday’s vote, the bill had gained sponsorship from 315 of a possible 435 House lawmakers, making it the most supported bill in the chamber to not earn a vote. Disagreements over whether civil agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission should be allowed to rely on subpoenas continually slowed the bill, which has floated around Congress for several years. The White House also has said it favors reforming the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, but it has not endorsed specific legislation. A package of minor amendments from Representative Bob Goodlatte, the Republican chairman of the committee, was adopted Wednesday, including the removal of a requirement to serve warrants to the subject of an investigation. The bill requires a warrant to be given only to the email provider. That change and others prompted ire from a coalition of more than 50 civil liberties groups, trade associations and technology companies, including Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook. While maintaining their support, the coalition said in a letter to the committee that the bill “does not achieve all of the reforms we had hoped for.” | 0fake |
Re: The Drought That Was Prophesied To Hit The Southern United States Is Now Here | The Drought That Was Prophesied To Hit The Southern United States Is Now Here 15th, 2016
A record-setting drought has gripped the southern United States, but most people have no idea that this drought is the fulfillment of a prophecy that was given four years ago. Back in 2008, John Paul Jackson released a DVD entitled “ The Perfect Storm ” in which he detailed many of the prophetic events that God showed him would soon come to America. In 2012, he released a video update to “The Perfect Storm” that you can view on YouTube right here . In that update, he shared a list of future headlines that God had revealed to him over the years. Some of these headlines have already happened since that time, and now we are watching another be fulfilled right in front of our eyes.
Specifically, I am referring to this headline: “Record High Temps Accompany Record Drought Swept South” .
In an article entitled “ July’s Extreme Heat Breaks Records Across South “, weather.com detailed many of the high temperature records that have been broken in the South in recent months, but in this article I am going to focus on the crippling drought that is plaguing the region.
In addition to the headline above, John Paul Jackson was shown several other headlines regarding drought and famine coming to America…
“Drought Continues to Cause Prayer to Rise”
“Demand for Classic Seeds Skyrockets”
“Food Prices Lead Nation’s Escalating Inflation Woes”
“Sysco and Kraft Consider Guards on Delivery Trucks as Food Nears 40% of the Family Budget”
And of course John Paul Jackson is not the only one that has been shown that these things are coming to this nation.
The following is a very small portion of what Terry Bennett was shown in April 2011 …
I was also warned, by the appearing of the black horse and its rider, about famine. The angel said, “There will be a famine of food in your nation!” Not only this, but also the prices of food, particularly grains, will dramatically rise. We will see not only shortages and high prices, but I was shown significant starvation occurring during this time. Death followed this black horse!
Dr. Patricia Green correctly prophesied the election victories of Barack Obama and Donald Trump in advance, and she was also shown that famine is going to hit America …
“I’m instructing my children to begin to fill up their storehouses before the famine strikes just as I instructed Joseph while he was in Egypt.”
With those prophecies in mind, it is extremely alarming to see what is happening all across the southern portion of the United States right now. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor , most of the southern half of the country is experiencing some level of drought at this moment…
The drought in California has been raging for quite some time, but what has surprised the experts is how dry it has been in the Southeast lately. The following is from an EcoWatch article entitled “ Record-Breaking Drought and Wildfires Plague Southeast “…
The atmospheric spigots have been turned off across most of the U.S. over the last several weeks. According to the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor report from Nov. 10, more than 27 percent of the contiguous U.S. has been enveloped by at least moderate drought (categories D1 through D4). This is the largest percentage value in more than a year, since late October 2015 .
The upward trend of the last month is worrisome given the outlook for the coming winter: Drier-than-average conditions are projected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration across the southern half of the contiguous U.S., a frequent outcome during La Niña winters.
To say that the drought in the Southeast is severe would be a tremendous understatement. At this point, some cities in the Southeast haven’t seen any measurable rain in about 50 days …
No measurable rain (at least .01 inches) has been tallied at Birmingham’s Shuttlesworth International Airport since Sept. 18, approaching a two-month-long dry streak, topping their previous longest dry streak on record – 52 straight days – from fall 1924.
Nine minutes of sprinkles Nov. 4 and another bout of sprinkles on Oct. 16 has been the entirety of Birmingham’s rainfall so far this fall.
Anniston, Alabama, and Rome, Georgia, have dry streaks now approaching 50 days.
And unfortunately, it appears that there is not going to be any substantial rain for the region any time soon …
There are no signs of any significant rainfall through the end of the month across the Southeast, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity said.
The region needs days and weeks of a steady, soaking rain to completely eliminate the drought.
“Things will only get worse before they get better,” Margusity explained.
Whenever conditions are this dry, it is inevitable that there will be wildfires.
Right now more than 100 major wildfires are raging across the Southeast, and some of the worst are in the mountains of North Carolina.
As you read this article, more than 1,000 firefighters are battling dozens of large wildfires in the North Carolina mountains. Governor Pat McCrory is referring to these fires as “ California wildfires in North Carolina “, and he is not exaggerating one bit.
If what we are witnessing is truly the beginning of the fulfillment of what God showed John Paul Jackson, Terry Bennett and Patricia Green, then we should expect drought conditions to continue to intensify in the months ahead.
And as you can see above, they are saying that things will eventually get so bad that famine will strike America.
Most of us couldn’t imagine something like that ever happening in this nation. But these are men and women of God with very long track records. As I noted above, Dr. Patricia Green correctly prophesied the election victories by Barack Obama and Donald Trump in advance, and John Paul Jackson has a track record of correctly fulfilled prophecies that is exceedingly long.
As I end this article, I also want to remind everyone of what God showed Heidi Baker regarding the future of America not too long ago …
I saw bread lines, soup kitchens, and I saw people wearing beautiful clothing. Their clothing was not worn out. Now in my nation when people are hungry you can tell. I mean they are in shredded rags. They don’t have shoes or they have flip flops. Most of them [have] no shoes. They are hungry and they know they are hungry. They come for food, not because they are beggars, but because they are hungry.
These days a lot of Americans have become complacent and are feeling pretty good about things.
But the events that are warned about in this article are coming, and I would encourage everyone to get prepared while they still can. | 1real |
Echoes of Charlie Hebdo in attack on Texas Muhammad cartoon event (+video) | Texas police killed two gunmen on Sunday after they opened fired outside the exhibit, which was hosted by a prominent anti-Islam group in a Dallas suburb.
Security officials walk around the perimeter of the Curtis Culwell Center on Sunday in Garland, Texas. A contest for cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in the Dallas suburb is on lockdown Sunday after authorities reported a shooting outside the building.
Two gunmen were killed in an attack on a cartoon contest to draw the prophet Muhammad in Garland, Texas, Sunday night – an incident and event that has invoked both January's Charlie Hebdo attacks and the anti-Muslim cartoons from Europe that sparked the controversy over Hebdo.
The gunmen reportedly drove up to the event, a "Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest," some time before 7 p.m. at the Curtis Culwell Center, a public event space run by the local school district. The two men opened fire on the event, wounding an unarmed security guard in the ankle, before being shot and killed by police, who were already nearby providing security.
The Associated Press reports that the bomb squad was called in to search the gunmen's bodies and their car for explosives. "Because of the situation of what was going on today and the history of what we've been told has happened at other events like this, we are considering their car [is] possibly containing a bomb," Officer Joe Harn, a spokesman for the Garland Police Department, said at a news conference.
The gunmen have not yet been identified, and police say there were no credible threats made ahead of the event.
But the attack has already stirred comparisons to the deadly attack in Paris on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi killed 12 people, including several of the magazine's cartoonists, over its frequent depictions of the prophet Muhammad.
Indeed, yesterday's event was a direct response to one held on the same site in late January called "Stand with the Prophet." The Dallas Morning News reports that that January event spurred the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), a group led by prominent anti-Islam activist Pam Geller, to organize the cartoon contest at the same location. The AFDI is considered an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist and hate organizations.
The event was attended Ms. Geller, who described it as an exercise of free speech, as well as prominent far-right politician Geert Wilders, head of the Dutch Freedom Party. Mr. Wilders reportedly gave the keynote speech, in which he similarly depicted anti-Muhammad imagery as a matter of free speech. "Muhammad fought and terrorized people with the swords. Today, here in Garland, we fight Muhammad and his followers with the pen. And the pen, the drawings, will prove mightier than the sword," he said.
But as The Christian Science Monitor reported during the aftermath of the Hebdo attacks, the Muhammad cartoon controversies over the past decade or so were not simply exercises of free speech, but were also deeply rooted in anti-Islamic sentiments. They first peaked in Denmark, and were given loudest voice by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten (JP), which routinely railed against Islam and its adherents.
It was JP that organized the first Muhammad cartoons, as "part of the provocative local anti-Muslim campaign sweeping Denmark, not a statement about free speech."
The Muhammad cartoon crisis actually began with Kare Bluitgen, a Danish Marxist author who is avowedly secular and anti-Islam. Mr. Bluitgen wanted to illustrate a children’s book on Islam that would depict the face of Muhammad, something that is offensive to orthodox Muslims. According to a 2005 Danish wire story, Bluitgen commented at a dinner party that Danish artists were afraid to draw the prophet. The story was an overnight sensation. In fact, after the dust settled, only one illustrator was ever found who refused to take on Bluitgen’s book project. Yet based on the wire story, the JP cultural editor, Mr. Rose, decided to test Danes' self-censorship. On a Wednesday, he issued an invitation to Danish cartoonists (not illustrators, about whom Bluitgen complained) to draw Muhammad “as you see him.” By Friday, 12 of Denmark's 25 working cartoonists responded with images. They were published in the paper on Sept. 30, 2005, next to an editorial titled “The Threat of Darkness.” The cartoons were not uniformly anti-Muslim. Because of JP's reputation for Islam-bashing, several of the 12 cartoons actually made fun of the campaign, one calling it a "PR stunt." Another showed a Muslim migrant schoolboy in Denmark called “Muhammad” pointing to a blackboard with the words, “The editorial team of Jyllands-Posten is a bunch of reactionary provocateurs.” In retrospect, Hervik argues, the Danish cartoons picked up by Charlie Hebdo were always intended to be part of the provocative local anti-Muslim campaign sweeping Denmark, not a statement about free speech. | 0fake |
Election 2016 and the Weaponization of the American Public | Waking Times
With the election behind us, and the cloud of 24/7 candidate propaganda lifting, some deep truths about the state of American society are becoming evident, and the slow-coming, but predictable effects of social engineering are more visible than ever.
Decades of fear programming, dumbing down, authoritarian leadership, violence entrainment, divisiveness, crooked economics , moral subterfuge, and physical pollution have changed the social fabric of the nation. The result is escalating madness, tension, chaos, violence, and mindless self-destruction as people unleash their frustration, hate and rage onto their neighbors, burning their own communities to the ground.
How is it that hundreds, thousands, even millions of Americans can be triggered to hit the streets in violent protest over soft social issues, while life and death matters such as war are completely left off the register, going entirely unchallenged by the public? How is it that in 2016 the main issues driving people to action are the socially divisive ones pitting Americans against each other along race, gender and political beliefs? Why are we so willing to hurt each other, yet so unwilling to confront the machine? Predictive Programming – A Snapshot of the Future
In the climactic scene of the 2014 film, Kingsman: The Secret Service , the hero is in a church among a congregation of people being whipped into a frenzy of hate by a bigoted pastor. Then, a signal is transmitted from the film’s villain to all the smartphones in the building, and everyone enters a trance. A mindless rage of murderous violence ensues, and no one has any idea why they are killing each other.
While it passes for entertainment, it’s impossible to ignore the parallels in today’s real world. Take, for example this scene from the children’s restaurant, Chuck E. Cheese’s:
Social media makes it possible to trigger many people in an instant, and now we can easily record acts of stupidity and mob violence and share them with the world. Violence against real human beings is now just as entertaining as scripted Hollywood violence. All some people need is the right signal and they’ll go nuts.
This is happening right now around the nation as the political left refuses to accept the outcome of the election, staging protests, beating people in the streets and threatening to kill Trump supporters.
Meanwhile, people on the extreme right are harassing and abusing immigrants around the nation, as though a Trump victory implies a holocaust is in order. Students in this high school chant ‘White Power’ while walking down the halls.
White students at this middle school scream ‘Build the Wall’ during lunchtime:
The fact that children and America’s youth are engaging in such mindless stupidity is terrifying, but it’s a direct result of the condition of their parents, and the American family has been under attack for generations. Here’s a sickening look at how some are transferring their rage and confusion onto the budding generation: Pawns Fighting Pawns on the Grand Chessboard
We are in the throws of a cultural revolution engineered by the likes of billionaire George Soros who uses his wealth to finance social unrest in America and in Europe.
Our lives are being manipulated by the powerful, and our frustrations with this corrupt, authoritarian matrix are skillfully directed onto issues that will only cause further public division, never onto the problems created by the elite themselves . It is to their advantage that we hurt each other, as it prevents us from challenging their rule while giving them license to crack down evermore.
Take for example the antiwar movement. Before the invasion of Iraq, millions of people around the world furiously protested the invasion. The media did its best to pretend like resistance was nil, and the bombs were unleashed anyway. In the years that followed, the Patriot Act gave us free speech zones, and the war on terror gave a freshly militarized police the mandate to unleash official brutality onto any who threatened the establishment in any meaningful way.
The net effect is that almost no one bothers objecting to war.
The media does, however, cover protests over social issues that divide us all, and so people vent their frustrations in the these arenas instead, mobilizing for softer social issues like gender bias and offensive language, with the target of blame being other Americans. Government even offers assistance for these types of protests as we see in places like Portland, Oregon where police are aiding anti-Trump rallies , and in California where students are being permitted and encouraged to skip school to protest the fair democratic election of Trump.
In other words, we’ve been trained to complain about getting our feelings hurt and blame each other, and trained to shut the fuck up about the big crimes of the state.
In the game of chess, pawns are the expendable masses. Their role is to serve as an advance force to draw the opponent into a predictable and controllable conflict. They are used by and dispensed of by royalty as tools in pursuit of a larger conquest.
We are being weaponized against ourselves, and our rulers couldn’t be more pleased. For how much longer will we consent to being their pawns? Read more articles by Dylan Charles . About the Author
Dylan Charles is a student and teacher of Shaolin Kung Fu, Tai Chi and Qi Gong, a practitioner of Yoga and Taoist arts, and an activist and idealist passionately engaged in the struggle for a more sustainable and just world for future generations. He is the editor of WakingTimes.com , the proprietor of OffgridOutpost.com , a grateful father and a man who seeks to enlighten others with the power of inspiring information and action. He may be contacted at . Like Waking Times on Facebook . Follow Waking Times on Twitter . This article ( Election 2016 and the Weaponization of the American Public ) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Dylan Charles and WakingTimes.com . It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement.
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Ben Carson offered HUD post, will consider it: Carson spokesman | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has offered the post of secretary of housing and urban development to former presidential candidate Ben Carson, who will consider it over the Thanksgiving holiday, a Carson spokesman said on Tuesday. “The president-elected asked him to consider it and he’s considering it,” Carson spokesman Armstrong Williams said. Carson, a retired surgeon, dropped out of the 2016 presidential race in March and backed Trump. | 0fake |
U.S. House Republican gun bill draws the ire of Democrats | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday introduced a measure intended to prevent gun sales to people on government watch lists, only to draw demands from Democrats for stronger proposals and a warning of possible new protests. A week after Democrats ended a 25-hour sit-in on the House floor to call for gun legislation after the June 12 mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, said lawmakers will vote next week on a measure giving government authorities three days to convince a judge that someone on a terrorism watch list should not be allowed to obtain a firearm. “It is a responsible measure that confronts this threat while protecting the rights of law-abiding citizens,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement. But in a Friday conference call, House Democrats reached “a clear consensus” to oppose the measure, calling it the handiwork of the National Rifle Association, an aide said. Similar legislation, backed by the NRA, was blocked by Democrats in the Senate last week. Democrats also called for two amendments: one to allow the U.S. attorney general to decide without court approval whether someone on a watch list could buy a gun and another to expand existing background checks to all commercial gun sales including those at guns shows. Democratic Representatives John Lewis of Georgia and John Larson of Connecticut, who led last week’s sit-in, asked for a meeting with Ryan to request votes on the amendments, which consist of legislation originally sponsored by Republican Peter King of New York. Ryan agreed to meet with the Democrats next Tuesday, Republican and Democratic aides said. “If these amendments are not allowed, then members will have further discussions about possible actions to take in response to this refusal to allow a vote on commonsense gun legislation,” said another House Democratic aide. AshLee Strong, a Ryan spokeswoman, said the House speaker “looks forward to meeting with Congressmen Lewis and Larson to discuss the important action the House will take to prevent terrorist attacks.” The new Republican proposal, which would apply to anyone who has been suspected of violent extremism within the past five years, would require authorities to show probable cause that a would-be buyer “will commit an act of terrorism” or violates existing prohibitions on undocumented immigrants, fugitives, convicts and people with mental illness. The gun provisions were tucked into a bill aimed at stepping up efforts against terrorism, including what the legislation referred to as “radical Islamist terrorism.” Some Republicans have criticized Democrats for avoiding such terms to describe events like the Orlando shooting, where a gunman pledging allegiance to Islamic State killed 49 people last month. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said recently that President Barack Obama should resign for not having used “radical Islam” in a statement responding to the Orlando massacre, in which police identified the shooter as a U.S. citizen born in New York to Afghan immigrants. The NRA said it was reviewing the legislation, while the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said the legislation proposed by House Republicans was a publicity stunt. | 0fake |
Guardian Front Page: “A 16-Year-Old Migrant Cries…” | Store Guardian Front Page: “A 16-Year-Old Migrant Cries…” This image of a "16-year-old" migrant crying – which is currently plastered on the front page of The Guardian – is nothing short of laughable Chris Menahan | Information Liberation - October 27, 2016 Comments
Won’t you take pity on this poor, innocent little child?
This image of a “16-year-old” migrant crying – which is currently plastered on the front page of The Guardian – is nothing short of laughable.
“A 16-year-old from Ethiopia cries while he awaits registration at a processing centre in the makeshift refugee camp near Calais,” the photo’s caption reads. The image is placed under a headline reading: “Councils resist pressure to take children from Calais.”
This crying “child” is supposed to make Brits feel guilty and demand their government allow “children” like him into their nation.
The image is not a fake, nor is it being used satirically. It comes from the Associated Press’ Emilio Morenatti , you can see four pictures of the man for sale on their website .
The “child migrant” is clearly in his 40’s, yet their editors evidently believe their readers are so incredibly stupid they’ll actually believe they’re looking at a 16-year-old boy.
A look at Emilio’s twitter shows one person appears to have actually bought the lie: @morenatti2004 Imposible no hacernos mirar y luego, un nudo en la garganta. pic.twitter.com/A7zvz5440q
— Luján Artola Paulos (@rowley_bel) October 25, 2016
“Impossible not make us look, then, a lump in the throat,” the tweet reads.
Incidentally, Ethiopia is not even a war zone, so I’m not sure how this 45-year-old man can even be considered a “refugee.” NEWSLETTER SIGN UP | 1real |
Immigrants in limbo as U.S. top court weighs Obama action | BALTIMORE (Reuters) - In the port city of Baltimore, where Europeans once streamed into America after crossing the Atlantic by ship, a 47-year-old immigrant named Rhonda is in a desperate position. She said she wants to provide for her teenage daughter but cannot get a work permit because she is in the United States illegally. “I’d like, as a parent, to provide for my daughter’s needs. Homelessness and moving around has been rough,” said Rhonda, a native of Trinidad and Tobago who has lived in the United States since 2001 and spoke on condition that her last name not be used to protect her daughter. In Houston, Daniel Castillo Garcia said he is apprehensive about his toddler son’s future because the 19-year-old Mexican native is in deportation proceedings after being picked up by U.S. federal agents near the border. “I’m very worried for my son because I need to provide for him,” said Garcia, who has lived in the United States since being brought into the country by his mother as a child in 2007. For these two and many others like them, perhaps their only realistic hope is that the U.S. Supreme Court revives President Barack Obama’s 2014 executive action on immigration, which was thrown out by a lower court. That plan was designed to let roughly 4 million people - those who have lived illegally in the United States at least since 2010, do not have a criminal record and have children who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents - get into a program that shields them from deportation and supplies work permits. Rhonda’s 16-year-old daughter and Garcia’s 2-year-old son are citizens by virtue of being born in the United States. The court hears the case on Monday and is due to rule by the end of June. Rhonda said she cannot get a work permit because she overstayed her original 10-year visa. She and her daughter are staying in temporary housing provided by her church because she has no income. For a year, she was separated from her daughter, who plays the violin and hopes to attend college, because they could find nowhere to live together. Rhonda, who said her Christian faith keeps her positive, believes work authorization would make the difference because employers increasingly demand such documentation. “That’s why I’m in such hardship. I’m very anxious for something to happen,” she said. In Baltimore’s heavily Latino Fell’s Point neighborhood, South Broadway is lined with store fronts advertising services in Spanish, ranging from tax preparation to cellphone providers. Catholic Charities runs an immigrant resource center offering legal advice as well as education and health services. Its managing attorney, Adonia Simpson, said about half the roughly 600 people she counsels annually have no option beyond Obama’s program, known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), if they want to legalize their status and get work permits. Initial enthusiasm about Obama’s plan waned when a federal judge put it on hold in February 2015, just before it was due to begin. All Simpson can do for now is ask clients to gather documentation to be ready to apply. “The community is getting very discouraged,” Simpson said. In Maryland alone, about 56,000 people could be eligible for the DAPA program, according to the Migration Policy Institute think tank. Obama’s plan was challenged by Texas and 25 other states that argued he exceeded his authority in bypassing Congress to take the actions. “The president has violated the Constitution, and we are trying to prevent the president from implementing executive action that we believe is lawless,” Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said. The Supreme Court is hearing the case at a time when immigration has become a hot issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, with top Republican contenders calling for all illegal immigrants to be deported. An estimated 11 million immigrants are in the country illegally. In Houston, Garcia has pinned his hopes on the court reinstating Obama’s program. “DAPA will help me get that freedom and help me to keep going and have a good future for myself and my son,” Garcia said in an interview translated from Spanish by his attorney. | 0fake |
BREAKING NEWS: SECOND MUSLIM Doctor And Wife ARRESTED In MI For Genital Mutilation On 6-8 Yr Old Girls | The alleged genital mutilations were NOT performed by Dr. Nagarwala at the Henry Ford Hospital in Dearborn, MI. Authorities are saying the procedures took place at the Dr. Attar owned Burhani Medical Clinic in Livonia, MI.Now a second Michigan doctor and his wife have been arrested on charges of performing female genital mutilation on minors, according to breaking news from the U.S. Justice Department Friday.Fakhruddin Attar, 53, and his wife, Farida Attar, 50, of Livonia, were both arrested and have been charged with conspiring to perform female genital mutilations on minor girls out of Dr. Attar s medical clinic in Livonia.Authorities say Dr. Attar owned Burhani Medical Clinic in Livonia, which is where a Detroit emergency room doctor who was arrested last week is accused of performing FGM on minor girls. Authorities say Dr. Attar s wife is employed at Burhani Medical Clinic as an office manager. Authorities believe the husband and wife arranged and assisted in the FGM procedures performed by the Detroit doctor, Dr. Jumana Nagarwala.Authorities say Dr. Nagarwala never worked at Burhani Medical Clinic, therefore the office has no record of her billing for medical procedures there. Nargawala was arrested in Detroit on April 12.The FGM investigation at Burhani Medical Clinic has identified two young girls from Minnesota who have been operated on by Dr. Nagarwala. Other minor girls in Michigan may have undergone procedures as well.The defense argued, claiming no female genital mutilation took place, instead, a religious removal of a mucus membrane from the genitals which was wrapped up and given to the parents to bury a practice they say is performed by a small sect of Indian-based Islam called Dawoodi Bohra. FOX 2 Detroit | 1real |
Bangladesh Police Kill Man Suspected of Planning Dhaka Bakery Attack - The New York Times | DHAKA, Bangladesh — A Canadian man suspected of having planned a July attack on a bakery in Dhaka that left 22 people dead was killed in a shootout with the Bangladeshi police on Saturday, officials said. The man, Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, a Canadian citizen of Bangladeshi descent, was one of three militants killed in the raid outside Dhaka, the capital, the officials said. The Bangladeshi authorities have said Mr. Chowdhury planned the July 1 assault on the Holey Artisan Bakery, a restaurant popular with expatriates and Bangladeshis. Some analysts believe Mr. Chowdhury acted as a coordinator for the Islamic State militant group in Bangladesh and northeastern India. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks in Bangladesh, including the assault on the bakery. The Bangladeshi police, however, identified Mr. Chowdhury as the leader of a new branch of a domestic terrorist group, the Jama’atul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, and the government initially denied that the bakery attack had been carried out by members of foreign groups. Later, officials acknowledged that the attackers might have had links to such groups, including the Islamic State. The shootout on Saturday morning took place at a house in the Narayanganj district near Dhaka, after the police received a tip that the militants were hiding there, said A. K. M. Kamrul Ahsan, a spokesman. They were given a chance to surrender but attacked the police with guns and grenades, at which point the police opened fire, said a police official, Inspector General A. K. M. Shahidul Hoque, in televised comments to reporters on Saturday. Both officials said Mr. Chowdhury was among the militants killed. The police had offered cash bounties of about $25, 000 this month for information leading to the arrest of Mr. Chowdhury and for another militant, Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque, who was suspected of being involved in recent killings of secular writers. Mr. Chowdhury’s name was on a list of 10 suspects released by the Bangladeshi authorities last month after the Holey Artisan Bakery attack, an siege carried out by five militants who were eventually killed by soldiers. Analysts said Mr. Chowdhury and two other Bangladeshi expatriates on that list could have been acting as links between local and international extremist groups. The bakery siege was the most deadly in a series of violent attacks carried out by Islamist militants in Bangladesh over the past several years. The frequency of those attacks has increased in recent months. Officials said they suspected that Mr. Chowdhury was also behind a July 7 bombing at Bangladesh’s largest prayer gathering for the Eid holiday, which killed four people: two police officers, a civilian and a militant. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said Saturday in televised remarks to reporters that the identities of the two militants killed with Mr. Chowdhury would be released after an investigation, but that one of them appeared to be Mr. Chowdhury’s man. It was not clear whether either of them was on the list of suspects released last month. “We think Tamim Chowdhury’s chapter has ended here,” Mr. Khan said. “We will be able to catch the rest of the militants soon. ” | 0fake |
Greens Question Trump’s Victory | Greens Question Trump’s Victory November 24, 2016
A sudden flood of cash has enabled the Green Party to demand recounts of votes in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, three formerly Democratic states that largely decided the 2016 election for Donald Trump, reports Joe Lauria.
By Joe Lauria
The Green Party is demanding a recount of votes in three key states that could potentially affect the outcome of the election that saw Donald Trump chosen as president. The party was able to raise $2.5 million needed to at least pay for the recount in Wisconsin in less than 12 hours from the time the Greens’ intentions were reported by the media on Wednesday.
Jill Stein, leader of the party that received less than 1 percent of the national vote, said in a press release that the Greens wanted the recount “because reported hacks into voter and party databases and individual email accounts are causing many Americans to wonder if our election results are reliable.” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. (Photos by Gage Skidmore and derivative by Krassotkin, Wikipedia)
The Green Party wants recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan – the three states that effectively determined the result of the presidential race by slipping from the Democratic column in 2012. The deadline to file for a recount is Friday in Wisconsin, Monday in Pennsylvania and Wednesday in Michigan.
The cost of the Wisconsin recount is $1.1 million, according to the Green Party press release . The release does not say what the cost for all three recounts is, but the party initially sought $2.5 million. That was widely reported as the total amount needed. But once that goal was reached, the target was jacked up to $4.5 million.
The party’s home page appeal for money says the entire cost with legal fees could be $6 million to $7 million. This statement also includes a quote from Stein that blames “foreign agents” for hacking into “party databases, private email servers, and voter databases in certain states.” Her quote in the press release removed the words “foreign agents.”
Slim Margins
Trump narrowly beat Democratic contender Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and is leading in Michigan, which more than two weeks later is still too close to call. Just a 55,000-vote swing is all that is needed in the three states to flip the election to Clinton.
On Tuesday it was reported that a group of U.S. professors – computer scientists and elections lawyers – had held a conference call with the Clinton campaign to ask it to file for an audit in the three states. They said that actual results differed from exit polls and that Trump had done considerably better in areas where electronic voting machines were used. Clinton did better where paper ballots were used. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.
Some experts explained that electronic machines were used in rural areas, which were stronger for Trump, while paper ballots were used in urban areas largely backing Clinton.
The academics lobbying the Clinton campaign have suggested that a foreign government may be behind the hacks. The Obama administration had said before the election that Russia was trying to influence the election through hacking, though no evidence was made public.
In his final testimony to Congress last week, outgoing Director of National Intelligence James Clapper admitted that there was no proof about who was behind the supposed hacks into email accounts of Democratic leaders which proved embarrassing to the Clinton campaign.
The Clinton campaign has made no statement about the recount. But many Clinton supporters have backed the effort online. The Trump transition team has made no comment.
Trump won the Electoral College vote 290 to 232, with Michigan’s 16 electoral votes still outstanding and with 270 votes needed to be elected President. Clinton won the national popular vote by about 2 million votes.
The Green’s Motive
Because of Clinton’s popular-vote plurality, there have been calls for electors from states that voted for Trump to change their vote to Clinton, but there is no indication that Trump’s electors are switching sides. Twenty-four states do not legally bind electors to vote with the popular will of their states. The electors will vote in their state capitals on Dec. 19. The Congress will certify the election on Jan. 6.
The move by the Greens raises many questions. At face value, they say the integrity of the electoral system is the only thing at stake. But the Greens must know that the recount effort could only help Clinton and hurt Trump.
Is there some collusion between the Democratic Party and the Greens? Are they a Trojan horse for Clinton who can stay above the fray while getting the recount that some of her supporters have called for?
Have wealthy Clinton donors been behind the flood of cash into the effort in so short a time? Or are the Greens sincere in wanting voting irregularities exposed? One theory is that the recount will expose cheating by both the Republicans and Democrats – and thus reflect badly on the two-party system which has marginalized the Greens and other third parties.
There’s also the mystery of why one Stein quote mentions “foreign agents” while another doesn’t. In the waning days of the campaign, Clinton and her surrogates attacked Trump by suggesting Russian agents were conspiring to install him in the White House. Why did Stein, at least briefly, pick up that Clinton theme even though DNI Clapper had distanced himself from the accusation?
Though there’s widespread doubt among election experts that an audit of the results in the three states will swing the election to Clinton, there now is the possibility that the unpredictable 2016 election might still have a few last-minute twists.
Joe Lauria is a veteran foreign-affairs journalist based at the U.N. since 1990. He has written for the Boston Globe, the London Daily Telegraph, the Johannesburg Star, the Montreal Gazette, the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers. He can be reached atjoelauria@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @unjoe . | 1real |
“I LIVE IN ABSURDISTAN”: A Warning For America About Mass Migration [Video] | Ladies and gentlemen. My name is Ingrid Carlqvist and I was born in Sweden in 1960, when the Social Democrats were gonna rule forever and ever and our country was the nicest and safest and most progressed in the world. Now I live in Absurdistan a country that has the highest figure of reported rapes in the world, hundreds of so called exclusion areas where people live outside the Swedish society and with newspapers that hide all these horrible facts [from] the people.I feel just like Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz a tornado came and blew me miles and miles away from home and dumped me in a country I don t know. Toto, I have a feeling we re not in Sweden anymore. Like Dorothy I m searching for a way to find my home, but on my path I only meet lions without courage, scarecrows without brains and tin men without hearts.When I grew up our prime minister was Tage Erlander, a Social Democrat. In 1965 he said in parliament, after violent race riots in America: We Swedes live in a so infinitely happier situation. The population in our country is homogeneous, not just according to race but also in many other aspects. Now I live in a nation that is not homogenous in any respect. Olof Palme that came after him decided that homogeneous was a bad thing and opened up our borders for people from all over the world. And from right to left the politicians told us that there was no such thing as a Swedish culture, no Swedish traditions worth mentioning and that we Swedes should be grateful that so many people with REAL culture and REAL traditions came to us.Mona Sahlin, a later leader of the Social Democrats, said in an interview [in] 2002 with the magazine Euroturk, when asked what Swedish culture is:I ve often had that question, but I can t think of what Swedish culture is. I think that is what makes us Swedes so envious of immigrants. You have a culture, an identity, something that ties you together. What do we have? We have Midsummer s Eve and such corny things.She also said: The Swedes must integrate into the new Sweden. The old Sweden is not coming back.In this New Sweden we have more reported rapes than any other country in the European Union, according to a study by professor Liz Kelly from England. More than 5 000 rapes or attempted rapes were reported in 2008 (last year it was more than 6 000). In 2010 another study reported that just one country in the world has more rapes than Sweden, and that is Lesotho in South Africa. For every 100,000 inhabitants Lesotho has 92 reported rapes, Sweden has 53, The United States 29, Norway 20 and Denmark 7.In 1990 the authorities counted 3 exclusion areas in Sweden, suburbs where mostly immigrants live, where very few have a job to go to, almost all of them live by welfare and the children don t pass their exams. In 2002 they counted 128 exclusion areas. In 2006 we had 156 and then they stopped counting. In some cities, like Malm where I live, a third of all inhabitants live in an exclusion area.What did Tage Erlander mean when he said that the Swedish population was homogeneous, not just according to race but also in many other aspects? I think he meant things like norms, values, culture and traditions. A feeling of fellowship. That we all, in the Old Sweden, had a similar view of what a good society is and how we solve conflicts. He KNEW what the Swedish culture was all about, in contrast to Mona Sahlin.In the New Sweden we need armed police officers at our hospitals because rivalling families fight each other in the hospital rooms. They gun each other down in open streets and they rob and beat old people up. The crime rate grows by the minute, but the Swedish politicians and journalists tell us that it has absolutely nothing to do with immigration. The fact that our prisons are full of foreign people is just a coincidence or is explained by socio-economic factors.For many years I was a journalist in the mainstream media. But I was always a bit of a troublemaker, always suspicious of what people said was THE TRUTH. When everybody ran in one direction, I turned around in the other direction to see what was there.In January 2011 something happened to make me loose my last hope about Swedish journalists. I was the vice chairman of The Society of Publicists in Malm and had invited the Danish journalist Mikael Jalving to talk about his coming book Absolute Sweden a Journey in the Country of Silence. One day the chairman phoned me and said: We must cancel Mikael Jalving because he is going to talk at a meeting arranged by a newspaper called National Today.It didn t matter to him, or to anyone else on the board of this society for journalists that Jalving was going to talk about his book. If he went to that meeting he would be infected by nationalist ideas and probably he would become a Nazi.You see, everyone with a different opinion in Sweden really IS a Nazi!That s the way it works in the New Sweden, the country I call Absurdistan. The country of silence.I was furious and left the board of that society. That led to my being invited to The Danish Free Press Society to talk about the strange country of Sweden and that led to my founding of The Swedish Free Press Society.That is how Lars Hedegaard and I found each other. But we didn t settle for running one Free Press Society each; since we both have a solid background as journalists we decided to start a newspaper. A good old, old-fashioned printed newspaper. We decided to call it Dispatch International because our vision is that this newspaper will become worldwide one day. But first we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin. Or rather first we take Scandinavia and then we take the world!Dispatch will be printed in two versions one Danish and one Swedish but all the stories are the same. And on the internet you will be able to read our stories in English and German as well. We will write about politics in our countries and in the world. We will write about all those things that mainstream media have been hiding for so many years now. We will distinguish between news stories and commentaries and the tone will be subdued. We will let the facts talk, the facts that mainstream journalists hide from people.The situation in Sweden is far worse than in Denmark. In Sweden NOBODY talks about immigration problems, the death of the multiculti project or the Islamisation/Arabisation of Europe. If you do, you will immediately be called a racist, an Islamophobe or a Nazi. That is what I have been called since I founded the Free Press Society in Sweden. My name has been dragged through the dirt in big newspapers like Sydsvenskan, Svenska Dagbladet and even my own union paper, The Journalist.So now I need you all to be my Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, and help me find my home again! I don t think it will work to tap the heels of my ruby slippers together three times as Dorothy did to wake up in her bedroom in Kansas. But if you support Dispatch by taking a subscription or become a shareholder or just donate money to us, you will take me one step closer to home. To the Sweden that once was, the Sweden I want back.Via: Frontpage Magazine | 1real |
A kiss is not just a kiss on Cleveland convention billboards | CLEVELAND (Reuters) - In an age of social media and sound bites, advocacy groups in Cleveland have turned to the old-fashioned medium of billboards to display messages during the Republican National Convention, from the serious to the ridiculous and shocking. Among them is an artist’s fanciful rendering of Donald Trump about to kiss former rival Ted Cruz, a poke at a Republican Party platform that would limit gay rights, the sign’s sponsor said. “Love Trumps Hate. End Homophobia,” reads the billboard featuring Trump and Cruz moving in for a lip-lock. Elsewhere in Cleveland, there are also chestnuts such as “Don’t Trust the Liberal Media,” and the eternally contentious issue of abortion is the focus of another that says, “How much time will we serve - when the RNC platform makes abortion illegal?” Some 50,000 visitors are expected in Cleveland for the convention that runs from Monday to Thursday. There Trump, who has selected Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate, is expected to officially accept the Republican nomination for president. With so many party insiders, activists, lobbyists and reporters descending on Cleveland, political groups have chosen a direct path to their eyeballs. “Don’t Trust the Liberal Media,” paid for by the Media Research Center, stands beside a highway near the airport and is repeated at least twice more in central Cleveland, where the convention will take place. Six strategically placed signs around the city depict a group of women in a police-style lineup. The message, sponsored by the National Institute of Reproductive Health, which supports abortion rights, is intended to bring attention to recently passed state laws seeking to limit access to abortion. “We wanted to use the RNC to raise awareness with the public. We wanted to give the public the facts about what is happening and the laws on the books being quietly passed behind the scenes and the logical conclusion that those laws will put women in jail,” said Andrea Miller, president of the institute. The Trump-Cruz makeout illustration resembles images of unstated political motives depicting Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that went up in Lithuania and another in Bristol, England, that showed Trump bussing British politician Boris Johnson. The Cleveland sign was paid for by Planting Peace, a group favoring equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. “Planting Peace calls for the immediate change in the Republican Party platform with regard to our LGBT family and LGBT rights,” said Aaron Jackson, president of the group. The 2016 Republican platform includes a plank called “Preserving and Protecting Traditional Marriage” that calls for marriage to be defined as “a union between one man and one woman.” About half a mile (one km) east of the convention site is a fake advertisement for a company called “Dick to Dick LLC” that ends with the line, “We’re not going to live forever. So why should the earth?” The billboard sponsor's website (here) contains more satire including the bon mot, "Need to buy a politician, the Media, or a law? Dick to Dick Executive Consulting is the website for you. If you are interested in buying God, please contact us for today's Market Price." | 0fake |
Michigan governor will be called to congressional hearing on Flint water crisis | CHICAGO (Reuters) - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and other officials will be called to testify next month to a congressional panel about the crisis over lead-contaminated water in the city of Flint, a congressional office said on Thursday. U.S. Representative Brenda Lawrence, a Democrat, requested the Feb. 3 hearing of the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week, said her communications director, Tracy Manzer. The invitation will be specifically for the governor and he cannot send a representative on his behalf, Manzer said. Susan Hedman, administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 5 office in Chicago, and Dan Wyant, former director of Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality, are among the other invitees. Wyant resigned in December over the growing crisis in Flint. Flint, a financially strapped city north of Detroit, switched water supplies in 2014 to save money. Complaints about the water began within a month of the change, but officials did not take steps to remedy the situation until October 2015 after tests showed elevated levels of lead in some tap water in the city and in some children. “The purpose of the hearing is to identify precisely what went wrong in the process and to ensure that those who were responsible are to be held accountable and that this never happens again,” Manzer said. Snyder, a Republican, has rejected calls from critics for his resignation over the crisis. He asked the Michigan state legislature this week to approve $28 million to assist Flint and said there would be additional funding requests. The Michigan House approved the funding unanimously on Wednesday and the bill was in the Senate on Thursday. The U.S. House committee can subpoena people to appear before it if they do not respond to invitations. (Story corrects headline and paragraphs 1, 2 to show governor will be called to testify but has not been called yet. Representative Lawrence’s spokeswoman corrected what she previously said.) | 0fake |
Letter of Recommendation: Presidential Biographies - The New York Times | Late last year I started reading a biography of Chester A. Arthur. Quickly, I began to feel as if I’d wandered into the plot of a Philip K. Dick novel, or succumbed to an especially unnerving fever dream. The book, by Zachary Karabell, tells the story of a deeply unpopular and untrustworthy New Yorker who, against all odds, achieves the presidency. Arthur, a emblem of the culture of the day, was never even elected to the highest office. His ascent was made possible by Charles J. Guiteau, the man who gunned down President James Garfield in a railroad station, thus promoting Arthur from the vice presidency. To contemporaries, the situation seemed dire. Arthur’s administration surely would be defined by unprecedented greed and corruption, full of woefully underqualified appointees lacking any experience in government. Even the most optimistic American could hardly have imagined that Arthur’s presidency would be a success. But as I continued reading, I was astonished to discover that Arthur redeemed himself. He championed reform, hobbling the “spoils system” with which he had been so closely associated. He restored faith in the presidency, and faith in what the presidency can restore in its occupants. “No man ever entered the presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted as Chester Alan Arthur,” wrote the Gilded Age journalist Alexander K. McClure, “and no one ever retired . .. more generally respected, alike by political friend and foe. ” I finished the biography in late 2016, but found myself still carrying it with me as Donald J. Trump prepared to take office. I wasn’t rereading it, not exactly. Sometimes, when my dog lingered by a particularly intriguing tree, I’d open it up to a passage I’d marked. Other times, it served as a base for my phone, as if it were in conversation with the disquieting tweets I scrolled through. And during those notably edgy moments in late January, I’d hold onto it tight, like a security blanket, or just want it nearby, so that I could occasionally tap on it like a talisman. As an American historian, I’ve long relied on presidential biographies for edification and pleasure. If I’m using biographies to write a book or an essay, I have them propped up on a stand, next to my highlighters, pencils, Notes and paper clips. But now my work doubles as an antidepressant these books are rife with the kind of horrors that led half of the country to believe, at any given time, that they were living out the end of the American experiment. I now surround myself with presidential biographies the way I would tissues if I had the flu. There’s a stack of them next to my bed, a few by the front door and some more next to the couch. You’ll spot them on my windowsill and table, above the fridge and in my bathroom. They’re hidden around my car, and just this morning I remembered that I’d tucked a small published conference paper on George Washington’s nationalism into the interior pocket of my North Face puffy jacket. This obsession comes with a physical cost. The tomes make the straps of my bag dig painfully into my shoulder. Even the slenderest of biographies from the Arthur Schlesinger presidential series runs around 200 pages, and a Ron Chernow joint will push past 800. There are other costs, too. Having found some solace in these countless moments of national resilience amid chaos, I find myself constantly pushing these biographies onto others, believing in their therapeutic powers, and replacing my own copies time and again. Calvin Coolidge had a major depressive episode and basically checked out, I texted a worried friend — but we survived, I added, asking for her address. F. D. R. was an aristocrat before he contracted polio, I told another over drinks, reluctantly sliding over a volume about how suffering transformed him. Ronald Reagan tried and failed to do away with the Energy and Education Departments, I told an acquaintance who teaches English. I was lugging around a thick George H. W. Bush book a few months ago when I decided, on the walk to an event where I’d be speaking, against reading from the biography and instead to read a segment I’d written for my podcast, “Presidents Are People, Too!” The event’s hosts quickly cued up a recent photo of Bush and his wife, which shone behind me as I read a letter George wrote about Barbara in 1943. The audience howled at the line “she is so very young and so darn attractive. ” But they might have laughed harder at the concerned email he wrote to his eldest granddaughters when they were off on spring break, shortly after he came across what he called the “’u2009‘Wild College Women’ TV show. ” Presidential biographies don’t tell you that everything is going to be O. K. but rather that nothing was ever really O. K. to begin with. And yet, for hundreds of years, Americans have not only survived heartbreaking, backbreaking periods but also stood tall in them. My advice, for these divisive times, is to find the perspective that history gives us. The next time you feel anxious or incensed, or even if you feel hopeful and gratified, turn off the television. Close your laptop. Silence your phone. Go ahead and put it down for the rest of the evening. Instead, choose to hang out with the likes of President Chester A. Arthur: It’s good for your health. | 0fake |
Orioles CF Adam Jones’ Report of N-Word Taunts at Fenway Highlights Behavior Not Banned in Boston - Breitbart | Sox is the new Sox — just uglier. [Leave aside Manny Machado spiking Dustin Pedroia on a slide or Dylan Bundy nailing Mookie Betts with his fastest pitch of the night. The nastiness between the AL East rivals extended from the field to the stands Monday at Fenway Park. “A disrespectful fan threw a bag of peanuts at me,’’ Orioles center fielder Adam Jones told USA Today after Baltimore’s victory that saw Machado a homer and the Red Sox melt down in the field. “I was called the a handful of times tonight. Thanks. Pretty awesome. ’’ Catering to a more Proper Bostonian crowd than Gillette Stadium, Fenway Park seems like an unlikely venue to hear exploding. Does any fan, drunk or sober, really feel comfortable in that cramped “lyric little bandbox” singing off a racist sheet of music? It seems hard to believe but the Red Sox acknowledged the abuse with an apology. Marty Walsh, mayor of America’s second whitest major city, apologized as well. And it’s not as though nobody before Adam Jones complained about bigots in Boston. Earlier this year, for instance, Saturday Night Live performer Michael Che sparked a controversy by labeling the Bay State’s capital city “the most racist city I’ve ever been to. ” Professional athletes, from former Celtics guard Dee Brown taken at gunpoint by local cops mistaking him for a bank robber to Bruins fans barraging PK Subban with racist tweets, sometimes second that. About a decade ago, Gary Matthews Jr. called Fenway Park “one of the few places you’ll hear racial comments. ” Five years ago, Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford, while on a rehab assignment for a affiliate, complained of an Massachusetts cop taunting him with the word “Monday,” which he took as a veiled racial insult. The Red Sox not only came in last in the race to racially integrate the major leagues, they honored the owner who blocked black players by naming a block outside of the park after him. The city’s progressivism hides a parochial underbelly. At sporting events mistaken by the primitives as tribal meetings this ugly insular quality screeches as gratingly as, well, a racial insult at a ballgame. When citizens believe they live in the Athens of America, it’s not long before they behave like the Asses of America. | 0fake |
U.S. consumer financial watchdog accuses congressional critics of 'misstatements' | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused congressional critics of relying on “misstatements” to criticize his agency, which was set up under former President Barack Obama to pursue bad behavior by financial institutions. Richard Cordray, the bureau’s director, wrote to “correct the record” in a letter sent to a congressional panel on Wednesday regarding a recent report critical of the CFPB’s work in a high-profile scandal. The five-page letter took issue with multiple conclusions reached in a report released earlier this month by Republican staff on the House Financial Services Committee. Some members of the committee have pushed for Republican President Donald Trump to fire Cordray, who has headed the agency since he was appointed by Obama, a Democrat, in 2012. The report said the CFPB had been an ineffective watchdog against Wells Fargo & Co, missing extensive improper sales practices and taking action only after work on the bank’s unauthorized accounts scandal had been done by others. The committee’s report also depicted the CFPB as reluctant to cooperate with the panel’s Well Fargo probe. Cordray insisted that his agency had done critical work in policing Wells Fargo, and said the report “devolves into various misstatements and allegations” about the CFPB’s work. The CFPB, along with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the city and county of Los Angeles, struck a $185 million settlement against the bank in September. Cordray argued that improper sales practices were underway at Wells Fargo as far back as 2001, while his agency was only fully staffed in 2014. He maintained the CFPB had acted properly in monitoring the bank, and the CFPB’s presence allowed the federal government to provide relief to wronged consumers across the country as part of the settlement. He went on to accuse Republican staff of refusing to receive a September briefing from his staff on Wells Fargo, instead demanding he personally brief them with one day’s notice, which he was unable to do. He said he also offered to publicly testify at a committee hearing devoted to Wells Fargo, but did not receive an invitation. A committee spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Cordray is one of a handful of remaining regulatory heads that were appointed by Obama. Republicans have criticized the CFPB since it created as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. Efforts to fundamentally reshape the agency have ramped up since the November 2016 election. | 0fake |
WATCH MAJOR MOMENT President-elect Trump And Entire Family Arrive In D.C. [Video] | 1real | |
Electrical workers in New York City area endorse Clinton, campaign says | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An electrical workers’ union in the New York City area has endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, her campaign said on Wednesday. In a statement, Clinton’s campaign said the Local 3 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers backed the former two-term U.S. senator from New York over her rival, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. The group represents more than 27,000 workers, according to its website. Earlier on Wednesday, Sanders won support from New York City transit workers. | 0fake |
Boiler Room EP #83 – Wouldn’t It Be Nice… | Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along with Stewart Howe and Daniel Spaulding of Soul of the East for the 83rd episode of BOILER ROOM. Dim the lights, dawn the headphones and indulge in a post-election special broadcast of Boiler Room with the crew. This week we re going over the pros and cons of a President Elect Donald J Trump. The good, the bad, the things to keep in mind and the potential backlash to keep eyes out for from both the establishment and those that opposed a Trump Presidency.Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! LISTEN TO THE SHOW IN THE PLAYER BELOW ENJOY!Listen to Boiler Room #83 on Spreaker.Reference Links: | 1real |
Huge Crowds Pay Respects to PC Murdered by Westminster Terrorist | Huge crowds have turned out to pay their respects to Police Constable Keith Palmer as he is laid to rest in Southwark Cathedral. [PC Palmer, a Royal Regiment of Artillery veteran who served for 15 years on the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, was murdered by Westminster terrorist Khalid Masood while directing members of the public to safety. Thousands turn out to pay their respects to PC Palmer as his hearse made its way to Southwark Cathedral, Police observed a silence for their fallen colleague as his hearse made its way from the Palace of Westminster, the site of Masood’s deadly attack, to the cathedral, escorted by a “black guard” of mounted officers. Flowers and Union flags laid in tribute to PC Palmer, described as a “perfect policeman” by colleagues, colleague PC Shaun Cartright told Sky News: “If you could paint a picture of a perfect policeman you’d be painting a picture of Keith Palmer. One of the kindest people you will ever find. Very giving, very loyal, a true friend and a fantastic policeman. ” Police line the path of PC Palmer’s funeral procession, “It’s hit all of us so hard, what’s happened to him and what his family have to go through now,” said PC Greg Rainey, who knew him for 13 years. “He took his job really seriously. The reason Keith came to work was for his family but he was so proud to be a police officer. ” Police and Fire boats line up on the River Thames, The new Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, read W. H. Auden’s ‘Funeral Blues’ at the service. The poem was selected by PC Palmer’s family, who asked not to be filmed or photographed. Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drumBring out the coffin, let the mourners come. Let aeroplanes circle moaning overheadScribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead, Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves, Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my songI thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong. The stars are not wanted now: put out every onePack up the moon and dismantle the sunPour away the ocean and sweep up the wood. For nothing now can ever come to any good. | 0fake |
LOL! PRINCE of Country Who Gave Hillary $50 Million BEGS Americans NOT To Vote For Trump | Sounds like one of the best reasons ever TO vote for Trump A Saudi prince has urged Americans not to vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming general election.Turki al-Faisal, who served as Saudia Arabia s ambassador to the US from 2005 to 2007, spoke against the presumptive Republican nominee during a foreign policy dinner in Washington, DC on Thursday.He blasted Trump s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US, which the billionaire first formulated in December last year before renewing his vow on Wednesday. For the life of me, I cannot believe that a country like the United States can afford to have someone as president who simply says, These people are not going to be allowed to come to the United States, Turki said according to the Huffington Post. It s up to you, it s not up to me, Turki added. I just hope you, as American citizens, will make the right choice in November. This plea to NOT vote for Trump should come as no surprise since Saudi Arabia has donated up to $50 million to the Clinton FoundationWFB The gulf nations represent three of the largest donors to the foundation, but that is hardly the extent of their ties to the Clintons. Qatari, UAE, and Saudi firms paid Bill Clinton millions of dollars for speeches during the time Hillary served as secretary of state, when she also approved weapons deals with all three countries worth billions of dollars to U.S. defense firms, many of which are also Clinton Foundation donors.Bill Clinton has praised the Qataris as intelligent, forward looking investment partners for their collaboration on Clinton Foundation projects. One of Hillary s top advisers, Cheryl Mills, served on the board of the New York University campus in Abu Dhabi. Bill Clinton is the friend and former classmate of Saudi Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, who recently attended a lavish Clinton Foundation conference in Marrakech, hosted by the King of Morocco. The Bill Clinton presidential library in Little Rock was funded in part by a $10 million from the Saudi Royal family.Turk, who went to Georgetown University in Washington, DC, isn t currently part of Saudia Arabia s government but serves as the chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, a cultural organization that conducts research in politics, sociology and heritage. h/t: Breitbart News Via: Daily Mail | 1real |
Andrew Jackson Biographer: Trump Actually Said He Could Have Prevented The Civil War (VIDEO) | Donald Trump s Andrew Jackson-Civil War debacle just continues to get worse and worse.Yesterday, Trump had a massive history fail during a radio interview, where the moronic POTUS stated that Andrew Jackson who had died 16 years before the Civil War even started was angry that the war had not been avoided. Trump also said that Jackson could have stopped the Civil War from happening, lavishing praise upon the slave-owning seventh president. And apparently, Trump also thinks that HE could have stopped the Civil War.Trump s disgusting Civil War comments have prompted Andrew Jackson biographer and historian Jon Meacham, the author of American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, to speak out and address Trump s comments. According to Meacham, it was White House chief strategist Steve Bannon that made Trump fall in love with Jackson. The historian explained on MSNBC today: I spent an hour, hour and a half with him in May of 16 talking with him about presidents he admired and Jackson never came up. Steve Bannon put this in the conversation after the victory saying this was a Jacksonian moment. It was then that Trump connected himself to Jackson in his usual superficial way. Meacham said: It s a projection of the president s fundamental and enveloping narcissism. And then Meacham dropped this bombshell: He told me a year and a half ago or so, a year ago, that, you know, he thought he could have done a deal to have averted the war. Yes, Trump actually said he could have prevented the war with one of his deals. If it s anything like the deals and failed legislation we ve seen so far during his presidency, it s safe to say that Trump would have f*cked that up, too.Meacham also said that being in the White House tends to enhance the fundamental characteristics of the serving presidents which is awful news for America right now. Meacham said: It s very hard, once you re there, to change. Some people do, and that s why we talk about them as great presidents. But most people, once they re in the Oval Office, actually just become more like themselves and I think in this case that s on a particularly tragic trajectory. We couldn t agree more. You can watch Meacham take on Trump s Civil War comments below:This is must-watch: @jmeacham, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his Andrew Jackson biography, on Trump s disturbing Jackson/Civil War comments pic.twitter.com/RsD5uOkuvx Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) May 2, 2017Featured image via Scott Olson / Getty Images | 1real |
STUNNING VIDEO: 80-Yr Old Man FORCED By Police To Provide Asylum For Refugees In Italian Hotel Against His Will | 1real | |
Trump To Clear Way For Oil Pipelines | by Yves Smith
By Nick Cunningham, a Vermont-based writer on energy and environmental issues. You can follow him on twitter at @nickcunningham1. Originally published at OilPrice
Donald Trump’s victory could ultimately lead to a lot more oil pipelines moving forward, one sector of the fossil fuel industry specifically targeted by environmentalists.
The most controversial project right now, the Dakota Access Pipeline, received a jolt from Tuesday’s result. The more than 1,100-mile pipeline, valued at $3.7 billion, would carry oil from North Dakota to refineries in Illinois. The Obama administration has requested a temporary halt to construction, although the company behind the project, Energy Transfer Partners, has pressed forward, ignoring the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps reiterated a request for a stoppage this week, but the outcome is up in the air.
The Dakota Access Pipeline has been reeling from protests, work stoppages, bad press and a federal government willing to listen to the grievances from the Native American community affected. Trump has shown little inclination of being as accommodating, so the Dakota Access Pipeline has gone from being a project on the ropes to one with a great deal of momentum. Unless the Corps rescinds a permit in the next few months, the project will move forward. Even if it is blocked, however, it would likely be revived under a Trump administration. Energy Transfer Partners’ stock price surged as much as 9 percent on Wednesday and was up more than 3 percent on Thursday. The company hopes to complete construction by the first quarter of 2017.
And Dakota Access’ predecessor, at least in terms of a national flashpoint, could also be coming back from the dead. TransCanada issued a statement on Wednesday, telegraphing the company’s interest in reviving the defunct Keystone XL Pipeline, which would take Alberta tar sands to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. “TransCanada remains fully committed to building Keystone XL,” spokesman Mark Cooper said in the post-election statement. “We are evaluating ways to engage the new administration on the benefits, the jobs and the tax revenues this project brings to the table.” TransCanada’s stock price jumped more than 2 percent on Wednesday.
During the campaign Trump said that he supported the pipeline, but wanted the U.S. to get a “better deal.” His words are often conflicting and contradictory – he has also said that he is for an “America First” energy plan that would remove “all barriers to responsible energy production.” So there is no reason to think that he wouldn’t simply revive the project as is, especially given that he is surrounding himself with advisors from the oil and gas industry.
Beyond these two projects, the oil industry is hoping for broader easing of permitting and regulations on pipeline construction. The Army Corps under Trump could clear the way for energy infrastructure, downgrading its scrutiny of the effects on rivers and lakes from oil pipelines. “We’re hopeful the pipeline approval process will now be allowed to work without political interference,” John Stoody, vice president of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines, told E&E News. And with plans to dismantle much of the EPA, the ability to break ground and lay down pipeline could get a whole lot easier.
While Trump supports the Keystone XL Pipeline, his presidency complicates things for Canada a bit. For one, he wants to renegotiate NAFTA. But leaving that aside, the resuscitation of Keystone XL could create problems for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was thought to be nearing an approval for the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion, which would take Alberta oil to the Pacific Coast. It is not obvious that both the Keystone XL Pipeline and Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline both need to be built.
Related: Money Managers Slash Long Positions On Crude Amid OPEC Disputes
Alberta’s Premier is not ready to put all her eggs in one basket by trusting that the pathway to Canada’s south for oil will be cleared up. “We must continue to work to diversity Canada’s energy markets, and to build trading relationships with more than one buyer,” Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said in a statement following Trump’s victory. “For that reason, a Canadian pipeline to tidewater remains an important priority for Alberta.”
Finally, the environmental movement has been left shocked and terrified over what a Trump administration would mean for the environment, but they have vowed not to give an inch. “I think they will greenlight lots of fossil fuel projects,” Jane Kleeb, a key activist fighting the Keystone XL Pipeline in Nebraska, told E&E News . “And we’ll fight all of them.” 0 0 0 0 0 0 | 1real |
JUST IN: Trump Gives Slap Down to Press Over Flynn Guilty Plea as He’s Leaving the White House [Video] | Even though the big news was that President Trump got a BIG win with the passage in the Senate last night of his tax bill, the press was stuck on the topic of Mike Flynn s guilty plea. POTUS was asked as he was leaving the White House this morning if he s worried about Flynn s guilty plea He had a firm answer then tried to remind the press that last night was a big win for him JUST IN: President Trump makes first comments after Michael Flynn's guilty plea.Reporter: "Are you concerned about what Mike Flynn might tell the special counsel?"Trump: "No, I'm not." pic.twitter.com/UlDrdPMU2S NBC News (@NBCNews) December 2, 2017 No, I m not and what has been shown is no collusion, no collusion. There s been absolutely no collusion so we re very happy. And frankly, last night was one of the big nights We ll see what happens. PDJTWE RE ASSUMING PRESIDENT TRUMP WAS TALKING ABOUT THE BIG NIGHT BEING THE PASSAGE OF HIS TAX BILL:We are one step closer to delivering MASSIVE tax cuts for working families across America. Special thanks to @SenateMajLdr Mitch McConnell and Chairman @SenOrrinHatch for shepherding our bill through the Senate. Look forward to signing a final bill before Christmas! pic.twitter.com/gmWTny3SfS Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2017While the press does their best to try and bring down President Trump, he continues to fight for all Americans. The Democrats have to be beside themselves after this huge win for Trump and Republicans. Maxine Waters was on with Joy Reid this morning saying this was all doom and gloom We say MAGA! TRUMP 2020! | 1real |
Factbox: Cases where Obama judges on appeals courts left a mark | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A selection of recent U.S. appeals court rulings in which Obama judicial appointees played a significant role: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, July 29 A three-judge panel featuring two Obama appointees struck down North Carolina’s voter identification law on a 3-0 vote, saying it had a discriminatory intent. 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, April 19 The court ruled 2-1 in favor of a transgender student seeking to use a boys’ restroom, with two Obama appointees in the majority. U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, June 14 On a 2-1 vote, with an Obama appointee in the majority, the court upheld the Federal Communication Commission’s major “net neutrality” regulation. 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Oct. 19, 2015 A panel featuring two Obama appointees and one judge appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton rejected challenges to gun regulations in New York and Connecticut passed in the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case. 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, July 7, 2015 The court allowed employee class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc to move forward. An Obama appointee wrote the opinion, while a Republican appointee partially dissented. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case. 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, August 22 A three-judge panel featuring one Obama nominee in the majority ruled 2-1 in favor of the right of employers to bring class claims against employers in a case involving Ernst & Young. | 0fake |
Furious parents slam ‘damaging’ BBC sex change show aimed at six-year-olds | By wmw_admin on October 31, 2016 Sanchez Manning — Daily Mail Oct 29, 2016
The BBC has been accused of acting recklessly after targeting children as young as six with a programme about a schoolboy who takes sex-change drugs.
Parents are angry that the show, available on the CBBC website, features a transgender storyline inappropriate for their children.
And concerned campaigners said it could ‘sow the seeds of confusion’ in young minds. The programme, Just A Girl, depicts an 11-year-old’s struggle to get hormones that stunt puberty, making it easier to have sex-change surgery in the future.
One mother, writing on the Mumsnet website, said her daughter had become worried after seeing the video. She said her girl, who likes wearing boys’ clothes and playing football, had ‘asked me, anxiously, if that means she was a boy’.
Tory MP Peter Bone said: ‘It beggars belief that the BBC is making this programme freely available to children as young as six. I entirely share the anger of parents who just want to let children be children.
‘It is completely inappropriate for such material to be on the CBBC website and I shall be writing to BBC bosses to demand they take it down as soon as possible.’
Former Culture Secretary Maria Miller voiced her concerns over the BBC tackling the subject in ‘an age-appropriate way’, saying such issues should be raised ‘where children can have support from parents’.
And Tory MP Julian Brazier said: ‘This programme is very disappointing and inappropriate. Children are very impressionable and this is going to confuse and worry them.’
Family campaigner Norman Wells said: ‘It is irresponsible of the BBC to introduce impressionable children as young as six to the idea that they can choose to be something other than their biological sex.’
Just A Girl is the fictional video diary of a child who calls herself ‘Amy’ and dresses as a girl. It is hosted on the CBBC website, aimed at children aged between six and 12.
In the half-hour programme, Amy – played by an actress – reveals she was born a boy called Ben but has already started using puberty-halting drugs.
Such hypothalamic blockers provoked a furore two years ago when The Mail on Sunday revealed an NHS clinic was willing to give them to children as young as nine.
Critics cited research claiming that most teenagers confused about their gender never go through with surgery, with many realising they are gay. The BBC row comes amid growing controversy over gender issues, fuelled by a number of high-profile cases. In one, a Christian couple were threatened with having their 14-year-old daughter taken away because they oppose her plans to become a boy.
In another, a seven-year-old boy was ordered to be removed from his mother’s care as ‘she was raising him as female’, causing him ‘a great deal of emotional harm’.
In Just A Girl, Amy says: ‘When I was born, Mum said Dad was so pleased that he had a boy to take to the football. But Mum knew I was different. She realised early on that I was born in the wrong body.’
She adds: ‘My Mum supported me when I did a PowerPoint presentation to my class about transitioning and that I wasn’t going to come to school in boys’ clothes any more, but girls’ clothes. I wasn’t Ben, I was Amy.’
Later Amy is shown telling a friend, Josh – a boy who wants to be recognised as a girl – that she is on hormone blockers, saying it took ‘ages’ to get them after ‘loads of tests and talks at the clinic’. ‘Once they realised I was trans for real, [I] got them,’ she says. In another entry, Amy tells viewers she has developed a crush on a boy called Liam, but confides: ‘Liam thinks I’m just a girl, but I’m not. I’m trans. And what’s he going to say if he finds out? Stop being my friend? Why? I’m still me, aren’t I?’
Child psychotherapist Dr Dilys Daws said the programme could confuse children. She said that, while it was natural for youngsters to wonder what it would be like to be the opposite sex, the BBC was irresponsible to feature the ‘extreme’ step of gender change for six-year-olds because they were too young to grapple with such issues.
The programme generated hundreds of comments on Mumsnet.
One mother, who said her seven-year-old had watched the show, asked: ‘Am I being unreasonable to think this is an inappropriate topic for a young age group?’
Another replied: ‘Don’t think this is remotely suitable for a seven-year-old. To start suggesting that children can be transgender when they’re far too young to actually have a gender is reckless and damaging. A small boy who is told that he can become a girl may take this as meaning that sex changes are possible, that sometime in the future he’ll wake up with a girl’s body.’
Another user added: ‘I don’t think hormone therapy should be normalised any more than 12-year-olds drinking or doing recreational drugs should be normalised.’
Other critics slammed the BBC. Mr Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, said: ‘The more we promote the idea that a boy can be born into a girl’s body and a girl can be born into a boy’s body, and that drugs and surgery can put things right, the more children will become utterly confused. Respecting and preserving a child’s birth sex should be seen as a child protection issue.’
But some parents on Mumsnet were more positive. One wrote: ‘I don’t believe there is “too young” for stuff like this. The earlier you teach your children that everyone is different and that nobody is “normal” the better.’
Dr Polly Carmichael, a clinical psychologist specialising in transgender children, said: ‘Raising awareness of these issues is the best way to challenge stigma and discrimination associated with identity issues. Programmes like Just A Girl can contribute to a healthy and informed public discussion.’
The BBC said: ‘Just A Girl is about a fictional transgender character trying to make sense of the world, deal with bullying and work out how to keep her friends, which are universal themes that many children relate to, and which has had a positive response from our audience.
‘CBBC aims to reflect true life, providing content that mirrors the lives of as many UK children as possible.’ | 1real |
Race, Not Class, Dictates Republican Future | Francis Wilkinson, Bloomberg, November 1, 2016
The class compositions of the Republican and Democratic parties keep evolving. {snip}
A Pew Research Center report last month detailed the shift.
Since 1992, the share of Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters with at least a college degree has increased sharply, from 21 percent to 37 percent. Among Republicans, 31 percent have at least a college degree, up only slightly from 28 percent in 1992. As a consequence, a greater proportion of Democrats than Republicans now have a college degree or more education.
In the New York Times last week, political sage Thomas Edsall called this process the “Great Democratic Inversion.”
What these figures suggest is that the 2016 election will represent a complete inversion of the New Deal order among white voters. From the 1930s into the 1980s and early 1990s, majorities of downscale whites voted Democratic and upscale whites voted Republican. Now, looking at combined male and female vote totals, the opposite is true.
A key word in Edsall’s analysis is “white.” Stories about the disaffected working-class supporters of Donald Trump apply almost exclusively to white voters. Other working-class voters–blacks and Hispanics –are poised to provide lopsided support to Hillary Clinton.
{snip}
There is no expansive, working-class rage in the U.S. There is white conservative rage (along with a more modest left-wing version). While it may burn brightest in deindustrialized America, conservative rage extends across class and educational demarcations, from blue collars to billionaires .
This complicates the story of the parties switching class allegiances. For Democrats, it leaves them managing an increasingly unwieldy coalition extending from white cosmopolitan millionaires who send their kids to private schools to low-paid Hispanic service workers and black factory and office workers facing economic dislocation. {snip}
Keeping that coalition pointed in the same general direction might be impossible without the dedicated efforts of the Republican Party. The GOP has proved incapable of breaking out of its racial straitjacket. So it has opted instead to tighten the straps around its torso.
{snip}
Republicans’ constant struggle with racism in their ranks, and their recurring failure to resist the temptation to exploit it, eases pressure on the Democrats’ sprawling coalition. The parties won’t fully exchange their class identities for the simple reason that working-class blacks and Hispanics can’t trust the GOP to represent them.
If it doesn’t diversify and become more accommodating to nonwhites, the GOP will only grow crazier and scarier , and its effort to wield power with the support of a shrinking white base will become even more extreme. {snip}
{snip} | 1real |
DESPERATE Senate Republicans Just Dropped Pro-Hillary Bombshell Onto Trump’s Head | No matter how much they don t want to admit it to be true, many Republicans, especially in Congress, know Hillary Clinton is the better choice for president despite what they may say publicly.Oh sure, they ll fall in line behind Donald Trump for the sake of the party, but do they really believe the reality television host and floundering businessman will make a good Commander-in-Chief?Proving this point, several GOP Senators are even admitting that they know Hillary will be good to work with.Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that he s worked with Hillary in the past and sees a similar future: The one thing you have to remember is that for five years she was Secretary of State while we were in the Senate. We had to work together an awful lot while members of the Foreign Relations Committee and also as members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Adding that it will be much different than when President Obama took office: Barack Obama was somewhat of an unknown he was a senator, but only for a year-and-a-half before he was elected president. She is a known commodity, and I think there ll be more camaraderie in terms of working together, than there might have been in the early days of Obama. As we can all probably recall, there was little to no respect for President Obama from the Republican side of the aisle in both the House and the Senate. In fact, it seemed their number one priority was to block any and everything he tried to get accomplished.Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) said of a Hillary Clinton presidency: We ll do our duty, you know regardless of who is president. The people we serve want us to to work together for their benefit so that s certainly my posture. Even Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) admitted that he s worked with Hillary in the past and that she d be a willing partner on things such as immigration reform and federal spending.Now, of course, most Republicans will still tell you that Donald Trump will win, but they are clearly, and rightfully, preparing for a Hillary Clinton presidency. Because let s be real, that s not only the most likely case scenario but also what will be best for the nation overall.Featured Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 1real |
GRAB THE POPCORN! Queen Of Corruption DENIED Special Treatment For First Debate | The Drudge Report has gained access to the rules for the upcoming Mega-Debate between Hillary and Trump. Hillary s always angling for an advantage, and when it comes to the mainstream media, Hillary usually gets exactly what she wants. It looks like she ll get a custom podium to help her with the height advantage, but when it comes to coughing up a lung, Hillary s on her own. Let s hope for Hillary s sake, she s able to keep the guy with the diazinon pen close to the stage in case unfit to run for office Hillary has another pneumonia-related incident like the one on 911 DEBATE RULES: NO COUGHING BREAKS **Exclusive** Fri Sep 23 2016 11:30:40 ETIf presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton slips into a coughing fit or any other medical crisis during Monday s high-stakes debate, she will have to power through, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned! There are no commercial breaks, a commission source explains. Period. Debate moderator Lester Holt does not have the authority to cut away from the stage during the epic 90-minute showdown. And microphone audio for either of the candidates is not to be manipulated.Clinton has experienced severe coughing episodes throughout the election year. During a Labor Day campaign stop she suffered a 4-minute choking marathon.Monday s throwdown could top out at 100 million viewers, making it the biggest political event in history.EDITOR S NOTE: The presidential debate commission settled an early flashpoint when Clinton demanded a step-stool at the podium to add height to her 5 4 frame. Campaign Chairman John Podesta expressed concern that Hillary would be dwarfed by 6 2 Trump. The request was quickly rejected. The commission is allowing for a custom-made podium, which will accommodate the difference in stature. | 1real |
Republican Donald Trump says he has 'unlimited' access to campaign money | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he is willing to tap into his personal funds to cover any fundraising deficit he faces against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, after finishing May more than $40 million behind her in cash. “If need be, there could be unlimited ‘cash on hand’ as I would put up my own money, as I have already done through the primaries, spending over $50 million,” Trump said in a statement. “Our campaign is leaner and more efficient, like our government should be.” | 0fake |
LOCK HIM UP! CEO Threatens To Assassinate Trump With Sniper Rifle At White House | But Is Threatening Trump On Social Media Considered A Serious Crime? Will he be locked up? (Read below to find answer to this question)Matt Harrigan at PacketsledMatt Harrigan is the CEO of PacketSled and Critical Assets and a board member for OWASP is calling for an assassination. Call the police, FBI, and the Secret Service! RIGHTVia Reddit The Donald:Harrigan wants Trump dead.Here are screen shots of his messages on social media:Harrigan later posted an apology on Facebook:My recent facebook comment was intended to be a joke, in the context of a larger conversation, and only privately shared as such. Anyone who knows me, knows that I do not engage in this form of rhetoric with any level of seriousness and the comment most certainly does not represent my real personal views in any regard. I apologize if anything that I said was either taken seriously, was offensive, or caused any legitimate concern. Best Regards, Matt Harrigan GPTwo weeks before the 2008 election, a California man left a vicious message about Barack Obama on a Yahoo finance message board. Re: Obama fk the niggar, he will have a 50 cal in the head soon. He followed it up with another ugly post, which began simply: Shoot the nig. There was more to come. On Election Day, the same poster sent disturbing emails about shooting someone that, as one court put it, would appear to confirm the malevolent nature of the previous statements as well as the poster s own malignant nature. One of the message board participants reported the initial postings, and the Secret Service investigated. With Yahoo s help, it traced the messages to the home computer of Walter Bagdasarian, now 49, a resident of La Mesa, Calif. When agents searched his house, they found that he had weapons in his home, including a .50 caliber muzzle-loading rifle the caliber of bullet the post said would soon be in Obama s head.In July of 2009, Bagdasarian was convicted of violating 18 USC s 879(a)(3), a federal law that makes it a felony to threaten a major presidential candidate with death or bodily harm. Last week, a federal appeals court in California reversed his conviction which had gotten him sentenced to 60 days in a halfway house ruling that his posts did not fall under the law, and that his speech was protected by the first amendment.United States v. Bagdasarian was the latest attempt by the federal courts to police the blurry line between criminal threats and protected speech a line that has become more important than ever as the Internet has given rage-filled people unprecedented opportunities to spew hate.Regardless of how offensive it can often get, the courts are rightly reluctant to let political speech be criminalized. To be convicted under 879(a)(3), it is not enough that someone has made menacing statements. They have to have intended to threaten injury or death, and people viewing the words objectively have to regard them as threatening. In addition to these requirements under 879(a)(3), there is a separate first amendment test: the speaker s words must be a true threat which in this case the court defined as a statement which, in the entire context and under all the circumstances, a reasonable person would foresee would be interpreted by those to whom the statement is communicated as a serious expression of intent to inflict bodily harm upon that person. The San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled, by a 2-1 vote, that Bagdasarian s posts did not meet these tests. The majority was deeply unhappy with Bagdasarian an especially unpleasant fellow, the court said and his words. But the judges in the majority also insisted that the posts were not illegal. There was not enough evidence, they said, to find that Bagdasarian actually intended to put Obama at risk, or that a reasonable observer would think that he did. What s more, the posts were not true threats. The court contrasted Bagdasarian s words with those from another case, in which an enraged discharged employee posted threats like I will kill you and I will personally send you back to the hell from where you came. For entire story: TimeI m no fan of Barack Obama, but I would never want to see someone threaten his life or the life of his family on social media, and believe strongly anyone who does should be punished accordingly. | 1real |
Finger in Every Pie: How CIA Produces Our ‘News’ and Entertainment | 21st Century Wire says In so many respects, our media is not our own.In the past, 21WIRE has detailed various aspects of Operation Mockingbird and other CIA-related media pursuits, as well as many other bogus news stories which appear on a regular basis.Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison in Homeland (Season 4, PR Art). Photo: Jim Fiscus/SHOWTIME Previously, we showed how the Hollywood hit ZeroDarkThirty was a completely fabricated piece of fiction which was passed on to the public as a true story . Also, the popular TV series, Homeland, is one of the most obvious propaganda productions in recent years, designed to reinforce many flawed assumptions and false believes about the world outside of the United States.Did you know that the CIA has actually produced a number of high-profile history TV programs that appear on US and world media channels?Yes, it s true SputnikThe Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a finger in every pie including the entertainment business: it turns out that the CIA has played a role in producing at least 22 entertainment projects; investigative journalist Adam Johnson argues that by doing this the US intelligence agency puts American media workers at risk.It seems that the US Central Intelligence Agency follows the theory that says that there are no little or insignificant things. The intelligence agency has long been keeping an eye on the Western entertainment industry and has even had a role in producing popular fiction movies and documentaries.In his article for Fair.org media watchdog investigative journalist Adam Johnson argues that this type of collaboration may cast a shadow over the image of US media workers and even put them at risk. For years, artists from across the entertainment industry actors, authors, directors, producers, screenwriters, and others have been in touch with the CIA to gain a better understanding of our intelligence mission, the CIA public website reads.According to the website, the CIA s goal in engaging with the industry is to ensure an accurate portrayal of the men and women of the CIA, and the skill, innovation, daring, and commitment to public service that defines them. Continue this article at Sputnik NewsREAD MORE HOLLYWOOD NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Hollywood Files | 1real |
Breitbart News Daily: Ryan Under Fire - Breitbart | On the Monday 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 President Trump’s first 100 days. [Breitbart’s Washington political editor Matt Boyle will discuss the fallout from Speaker Paul Ryan’s failed Obamacare replacement bill, which came under intense criticism from all quarters and was been dubbed “Ryancare,” “” and “ ” by critics. The bill’s demise has renewed calls for Ryan to step down from his speakership. We’ll also hear from Dan Gainor, the Vice President of Business and Culture at the Media Research Center, about the mainstream media’s latest antics. Breitbart business and finance editor John Carney will weigh in on the future prospects of Trump’s tax and regulation reform agenda. 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 |
EU says understands U.S. strikes in Syria but political solution key | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union said on Friday it understood the aim of U.S. missile strikes in Syria as an effort to deter any more chemical attacks there, but highlighted political solutions as the only way to end the war. The nuanced line taken by the bloc’s 28 states reflects their disgust at a chemical attack that killed scores of people in a rebel-held area this week, but also a worry about any more escalation in the conflict following the unilateral U.S. move. “The U.S. has informed the European Union that ... (it) launched a strike on Shayrat Airfield in Syria with the understandable intention to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,” the bloc’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, said in a statement on behalf of all member states. “The U.S. also informed us that these strikes are limited and focused on preventing and deterring further use of chemical weapons atrocities,” the statement read. She added that the use of chemical weapons was a war crime and perpetrators of such acts “should be sanctioned within the framework of the United Nations.” The bloc supports Syrian opposition rebels and some moderate rebels negotiating under U.N.-mediated talks with representatives of Damascus. The talks have long been stalled and the war, which is in its seventh year, has killed more than 400,000 people and sent millions from their homes. “The EU firmly believes that there can be no military solution to the conflict,” the joint statement said. “Only a credible political solution... will ensure peace and stability.” While France and Britain have led calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to go, some other EU states, including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain and Italy, are more dovish. But the bloc’s role in international peace efforts has been largely marginal as it lacks influence on the ground, where Russia’s military intervention has given Assad the upper hand. The EU is the largest aid donor in Syria, and has threatened it will not pay for reconstruction of the country if Assad and his allies take full control by wiping out the opposition. The EU says a “credible political transition” must start first with the aim of giving the opposition and Syria’s various ethnic and religious groups political representation. The chairman of EU leaders Donald Tusk, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, the Polish foreign ministry as well as a British government spokesman supported Washington. “U.S. strikes show needed resolve against barbaric chemical attacks. EU will work with the US to end brutality in Syria,” Tusk said on Twitter. But German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, Belgium’s Didier Reynders and the head of the EU’s executive arm stuck to a more cautious line, saying they “understood” the aim of the strikes, but highlighting more strongly the need for a negotiated end to the war. “There is a clear distinction between air strikes on military targets and the use of chemical weapons against civilians,” said the head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. “Efforts to stem the spiral of violence in Syria and work toward a lasting peace should be redoubled. Only a political transition can lead to such an outcome.” | 0fake |
Lebanon's Hariri takes critical line on Hezbollah | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said on Saturday that he would not accept Iran-backed Hezbollah s positions that affect our Arab brothers or target the security and stability of their countries , a statement from his press office said. The statement did not specify which countries he meant. Hariri announced his resignation from his post on Nov. 4 in a televised statement from Saudi Arabia, a Sunni monarchy and regional powerhouse locked in a confrontation with Shi ite Iran. Hezbollah is fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Gulf monarchies have accused the Shi ite group of also supporting the Houthi group in Yemen and of backing militants in Bahrain. Hezbollah denies any activity in Yemen or Bahrain. Hariri s resignation pitched Lebanon to the forefront of a regional power tussle this month between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which backs Hezbollah. The two regional powers back competing factions in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. After returning to Lebanon this week, he shelved the decision on Wednesday at the request of President Michel Aoun, easing a crisis that had deepened tensions in the Middle East. Following his announcement, made on Lebanon s independence day, hundreds of Hariri supporters packed the streets near his house in central Beirut, waving the blue flag of his Future Movement political party. On Saturday, he said that his decision to wait instead of officially resigning is to give a chance to discuss and look into demands that will make Lebanon neutral and allow it to enforce its disassociation policy. Disassociation is widely understood in Lebanon to mean its policy of staying out of regional conflicts. The regional role played by the Hezbollah political and military movement has greatly alarmed Saudi Arabia, Hariri s long-time ally. On Saturday, Hezbollah s International Relations Officer Ammar Moussawi said that the Shi ite group is ready to reach understandings with our partners in the country , and that the group is open to real dialogue and cooperation with all, Lebanon s state news agency NNA reported. Moussawi added that Hariri s resignation, which he said was done under coercion from Riyadh, was a spark that aimed to ignite Lebanon. Top Lebanese Druze politician Walid Jumblatt on Saturday called on Saudi Arabia to enter dialogue with Iran and said that the kingdom s modernization plans could not work while Riyadh was engaged in a war in Yemen. | 0fake |
Blair Calls For Second Referendum To Reverse Brexit ‘Catastrophe’ | Carol Adl in News , UK // 0 Comments
Former prime minister Tony Blair suggested Britain should keep its “options open” over Brexit and that might mean a second referendum.
During an interview with the BBC on Friday the former Labour leader said it may be a chance to reverse the Brexit “catastrophe”.
However, the current PM Theresa May rejected Blair’s appeal for a Brexit rethink and insisted there would be no second running of the historic EU referendum.
The Express reports:
The former Labour leader argued the British people must be able to “change our minds” despite a majority voting for Brexit on June 23.
Long-time europhile Mr Blair suggested Britain’s departure from the EU could be blocked “either through parliament, or through an election, possibly through another referendum”.
He claimed recent talks with French president Francois Hollande had convinced him the “catastrophe” of Brexit would lead to “very, very tough” negotiations with the Brussels-based bloc.
But Downing Street dismissed Mr Blair’s appeal for a Brexit rethink and insisted there would be no second running of the historic EU referendum.
A Number 10 spokesman also brushed off concerns Mr Blair appeared to have been plotting with Mr Hollande.
He said: “Tony Blair is entitled to put his views to whom he so chooses.
“But what’s important is the PM has been absolutely clear – the British people have spoken, we are listening, we’re going to leave the European Union.
“And not only has the PM been clear here but she’s also been clear when she’s met European leaders.
“There will be no second referendum, Britain is leaving the EU.”
Prime Minister Theresa May has repeatedly promised to lead Britain out of the EU, introduce controls on EU freedom of movement and end the meddling of EU judges on British laws.
Despite more than 17million voters backing Brexit, Mr Blair has insisted he is not trying to ignore the will of the British people.
He suggested as Brexit negotiations take place and “facts” come to light the British public’s wishes could “shift”.
Earlier this month, Mr Blair hinted he could return to UK politics following his exile since quitting Downing Street. | 1real |
Uber Expands Self-Driving Car Service to San Francisco. D.M.V. Says It’s Illegal. - The New York Times | SAN FRANCISCO — Uber made a big splash in its hometown on Wednesday when it started offering car service to passengers here, making San Francisco the second city in the world where the company provides autonomous vehicles for public use. But California regulators made an even bigger splash late Wednesday when they told Uber to stop the service because it was illegal. The company, the officials said, did not have the necessary state permits for autonomous driving. “It is illegal for the company to operate its vehicles on public roads until it receives an autonomous vehicle testing permit,” Brian G. Soublet, deputy director of California’s Department of Motor Vehicles, said in a letter to Uber. “Any action by Uber to continue the operation of vehicles equipped with autonomous technology on public streets in California must cease until Uber complies. ” Uber did not return a request for comment about the letter. The development was an embarrassing twist for Uber, which had set up its San Francisco rollout as a big event, especially as it competes with other tech rivals to bring autonomous vehicles to consumers. The debut here, where Uber was founded and has its headquarters, was also a larger rollout in terms of size than in Pittsburgh, where the company introduced its first driverless service in September. Even before the service began in San Francisco, questions arose over whether Uber was allowed to test its driverless technology in the city. As of Dec. 8, the company’s name was not listed on the D. M. V. ’s website as having a permit to test the vehicles in the state. Companies like Google, Tesla and General Motors all hold permits to test autonomous vehicles in California. When asked, Uber said that it was compliant with all federal and state laws. In California, it said, the motor vehicle department defines autonomous vehicles as those that drive “without the active physical control or monitoring of a natural person. ” Uber said its cars, which require a person at the wheel to monitor or control them, did not fall under that strict definition. The dispute was a reminder that Uber has not expanded its service without regulatory hassles. As it has grown, it has run into battles with the authorities worldwide, with regulators often contending that Uber had a dearth of licensed drivers, among other issues. Uber began Wednesday with Anthony Levandowski, its vice president of technology, saying in a blog post that “the promise of is core to our mission of reliable transportation, everywhere for everyone. ” The new driverless car service here also coincided with the debut of the XC90 car, a Volvo sport utility vehicle outfitted with lidar — a kind of radar based on laser beams, wireless technology and seven cameras. It was produced with Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center, the company’s driverless tech division based in Pittsburgh. For a while on Wednesday, any San Francisco passenger who requested a ride from UberX, one of the service’s cheaper options, might have been picked up by an autonomous vehicle. They would have received a notification in the Uber app, and could accept or cancel and request a regular driver. An engineer behind the wheel in each vehicle could take over when needed. Three passengers were able to fit into the XC90 vehicles. Riders could use with a large touch screen that displayed the car’s route, as well as a rendered version of the environment the car saw through its cameras and laser guidance systems. Uber also let passengers take selfies from a camera facing the back seat, which they can email to themselves and share on social media. Uber wanted to use the expansion of the program to test routes and terrain beyond what it experienced in Pittsburgh. “We drove in the rain and other kinds of weather, and we’ve added capabilities since we started in September,” Mr. Levandowski said in an interview, adding that Uber has faced no major issues in its testing in Pennsylvania thus far. “Now we want to see how we operate in this new environment, especially with the giant hills that San Francisco has to offer. ” Uber may have gotten more than it bargained for. Shortly after the service began, one of its Volvo XC90s ran a red light, and was caught on camera. The episode raised questions about the safety of Uber’s technology. “This incident was due to human error,” Uber said in a statement about the video, which was posted to YouTube. “This vehicle was not part of the pilot and was not carrying customers. The driver involved has been suspended while we continue to investigate. ” | 0fake |
HOLY F*CK: Trump Had to Be Forced To Say He Hasn’t Sexually Assaulted Women (VIDEO) | At the second presidential debate, Donald Trump had a chance to address the controversy surrounding his claim that he greets seemingly every woman he meets by grabbing them by the pussy. To Trump, this was locker room talk, though I can t say I have ever been in a locker room in which anyone has bragged about sexually assaulting women. To the rest of us, it was a horrific reminder that the 2016 GOP nominee is exactly the sort of person to make creepy sexual remarks about his own daughter a man who has been sued for grabbing someone by the pussy (the woman was branded a liar), who is being sued for the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl, and who admitted he was attracted to 12-year-old Paris Hilton.Asked if The Donald had actually sexually assaulted women, he repeated that it was locker room talk (whatever that means), but was reticent to admit that he doesn t walk about grabbing women by the pussy largely because, one can safely assume, he can not honestly say that he has not sexually assaulted a woman. Sniffles deflected to ISIS for a while before explaining that it s just one of those things. Asked if he has ever kissed or groped a woman without her consent, Trump replied that he has great respect for women and that nobody has more respect for women than he does. For the record, you re saying you never did that, Anderson Cooper said, fishing for clarification. I ve said things, you hear these things I ve said, and I was embarrassed by it but I have tremendous respect for women and they have respect for me, Trump said, once again evading the question. Have you ever done those things? Cooper pressed, finally earning an offhanded no I have not from Trump before he went on to call Bill Clinton a rapist.Watch it below: | 1real |
ICE Agent Commits Suicide in NYC; Leaves Note Revealing Gov’t Plans to Round-up & DISARM Americans During Economic & Bank Collapse | EndingFed News Network | Email Print After writing a lengthy suicide note exposing terrifying plans the government has for American citizens, a US Customs Agent walked onto a pier in NYC and blew his brains out. Sources inside the New York City Police Department have revealed to SuperStation95, the contents of a suicide note found on the body and they are utterly frightening. The note, which says it was written over the course of a full week in advance, outlines why the officer chose to shoot himself: “The America I grew up in, and cherished, has been murdered by its own federal government. Our Constitution has become meaningless and our laws politicized so badly, they are no longer enforced except for political purposes” the note said. “Our elected officials are, to a person, utterly corrupt and completely devoid of any love or respect for the country which pays them. To them, everything is about getting and keeping power, and making illicit money from backroom deals.” The 42-year-old U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officer shot himself with a 40 caliber service pistol inside Pier 40 in Hudson River Park at around 11 am. (1) A source at the scene described how the officer calmly walked into the park, took out his pistol and shot himself in the head. A ICE federal agent fatally shot himself in the head at waterfront Chelsea park (pictured) in New York Friday The 42-year-old worked as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officer and his offices were nearby to the scene of the shooting. He was rushed to Lenox Hill Hospital but doctors were unable to save him. (2) ICE released a statement Friday afternoon: ‘Tragically, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation officer from the New York field office suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound and has passed away.’ It added: ‘The agency is not releasing further details pending notification of the officer’s next of kin. According to the suicide note, the Officer said: “I was hired to enforce the law; to capture and deport people who come to this country against our laws. But now, if I dare to do that, I face being suspended or fired because our President refuses to faithfully execute the duties of his office. Instead, I come to work each day, and collect a paycheck twice a month, for intentionally doing little to nothing. I cannot and will not be party to this fraud; to this usurpation of the law, or to the despicable politicians betraying our nation” the note continued. ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing the matter and coordinating with the New York Police Department on the investigation. The agent worked at a field office in lower Manhattan, just blocks away from the scene of the shooting. MENTIONS “FEMA CAMPS” FOR AMERICANS (3) In the suicide note, the officer revealed what he claimed are terrifying plans the feds have been finalizing: “If the American people knew what this government is planning, they would rise-up and overthrow it. If I or anyone else in the federal government revealed what is coming, we would be killed anyway, so now I will reveal what I know. We in federal law enforcement have been drilling for several years to control riots and uprisings from a coming financial collapse and widespread bank failures. The drills involve life-sized images of American men, even women and children, whom we are told to shoot for “practice” and to “get used to it.” We have been told that the economy is terminally ill and will fail in 2016. We are also told the banks are all insolvent and the FDIC doesn’t have nearly enough funds to bail out depositors. We are told these events are unavoidable and it is imperative that the government survive when people rise-up over this. When the collapse takes place, detention camps created under the FEMA REX-84 program in the 1980’s to house illegal aliens whom we were going to deport, will instead be used to imprison American Citizens whom the government feels constitute a “threat.” American citizens will be rounded-up without warrants and imprisoned without trial for God knows how long. These camps have been equipped to carry out Hitler-scale killings! An actual “purge” of Americans citizens by the very government which they, themselves, created and pay for! I cannot be party to this.” The Note goes on to say talk about state-level national guard being disarmed by the feds (4) and over 1 Billion rounds of ammunition purchased by the feds (5) and the Military over-deployed and being shrunk (6) : “The government knows the military will rise-up to stop this, so our military is being deployed overseas, intentionally involved in foreign fights, and deliberately shrunk in size so they cannot be here or help Americans! This is why certain ammunition and weaponry has been removed from state-level National Guard Armories and over a Billion rounds of hollow point ammunition has been bought by the federal government. The states themselves have been disarmed of military-grade firepower so they cannot defend themselves from the federal activities. This is also why local police departments have been militarized and provided with armored vehicles and weapons of war” the note says. “When the inevitable collapse begins to take place, electric power to the entire country will be shut off, as will all forms of communication. All banks will be immediately closed; no one will be able to get any money because all ATM’s will be offline. Credit, Debit and EBT cards will not function. Anyone without cash will have no way to get any. The Emergency Alert System will be used to takeover all broadcast stations and tell the public this is a result of a cyber attack. But while the American people patiently await things to get back to normal, the government will unleash round-ups of citizens they deem militants or dangerous . With all civilian communications out, and all TV and radio stations taken over by the Emergency Alert System, by the time word spreads of what is taking place, the government will already have the upper hand. Federal Prisoners to be GASSED TO DEATH The note goes into a wide array of very specific plans and does so in extremely specific detail about what the feds are allegedly planning. For instance, it talks about federal prisons: “Every federal prison has been outfitted with lethal gas systems. When things go bad, all prisoners in all prisons will be placed in their cells on lock-down. Prison staff will depart the facility, and a certain designated person will trigger a lethal gas system. All federal prisoners, regardless of their crime or their sentence, will be gassed to death in their cells. Once the gas clears, the dead will be removed and the prisons will then be used to house citizens who fight against the federal onslaught.” PRIESTS RECRUITED TO QUELL OPPOSITION (7) The note makes mention about Priests, Rabbis and Clerics from various religious denominations having been recruited and trained to quell resistance: “So intent is the government to succeed they have recruited priests, rabbis and clerics from various religions to quote appropriate Scriptures about “obeying government.” They are being trained to tell people not to fight back and that their best hope is to pray.” EXECUTIVE ORDER 13603 (8) The suicide note goes to great lengths about Executive Order #13603 signed by President Obama on March 16, 2012. The note details:
Executive order 13603 about “National Defense Resources Preparedness.”
This 10-page document is a blueprint for a federal takeover of the economy. Specifically, Obama’s plan involves seizing control of:
* “All commodities and products that are capable of being ingested by either human beings or animals”
* “All forms of energy”
* “All forms of civil transportation”
* “All usable water from all sources”
* “Health resources – drugs, biological products, medical devices, materials, facilities, health supplies, services and equipment”
* Forced labor ( or “induction” as the executive order delicately refers to military conscription)
Moreover, federal officials would “issue regulations to prioritize and allocate resources.” SuperStation95 took a look at this Executive Order from the Government Printing Office (GPO) web site and, sure enough, everything contained in the Officer’s suicide note about this Executive Order is true! To be sure, much of this language has appeared in national security executive orders that previous presidents have issued periodically since the beginning of the Cold War. But more than previous national security executive orders, Obama’s 13603 seems to describe a potentially totalitarian regime obsessed with control over everything. Obama’s executive order makes no effort to justify the destruction of liberty, no effort to explain how amassing totalitarian control would enable government to deal effectively with cyber sabotage, suicide bombings, chemical warfare, nuclear missiles or other possible threats. There’s nothing in executive order 13603 about upholding the Constitution or protecting civil liberties. In what circumstances, one might ask, would a president try to carry out this audacious plan? Executive order 13603 says with ominous ambiguity: during “ the full spectrum of emergencies .” DATABASE OF PREPPERS The suicide note touches on the subject of “Preppers:” “We in federal law enforcement have also been told that the government has a full database of all so-called “Preppers.” Those people will be dealt with first — by armed federal agents coming to take their guns, then their food stocks, so food can be re-distributed as the government sees fit.” If the dead Officer’s claims about an unavoidable economic and banking collapse are true, would it then follow that the Executive Order put in place by Obama, might be activated? Would all of us find ourselves in forced labor, while the government takes OUR food and re-distrubutes it under the Executive Order’s paragraph about “allocating resources?” This is terrifying stuff! There is much more to the suicide note and SuperStation95 is considering how much more to publish. As such, this is a developing story and readers should check back for further updates. THESE COULD SIMPLY BE INSANE RAMBLINGS It is not our intent to cause panic or alarm and while we expect readers to be intelligent enough to discern this on their own, we feel compelled to point out that these could simply be paranoid ramblings of an insane person who killed himself. On the other hand, these could also be revelations by a person who was so distraught over the ugly truth, that he killed himself. We at SuperStation95 just don’t know. We urge everyone to stay calm, think rationally, and decide whether or not to take any action to prepare, in case this person’s suicide note is telling the truth. SOURCING / CORROBORATION
(1) ICE Agent Suicide in NYC: NY Daily News
(2) Taken to Lenox Hill Hospital NY Post
(3) REX-84 FEMA CAMPS Wikipedia
(4) National Guard being stripped of Crew-Serviceable Weapons and communications gear – Republic Broadcasting, John Stadmiller
(5) Dept. of Homeland Security Orders 1.6 BILLION rounds of ammunition Forbes Magazine
(6) US Army over-deployed and intentionally shrunk ARMY TIMES
(7) Clergy Recruited by Gov’t to quell opposition KSLA-TV Channel 12
(8) Executive Order 13603 White House US Government Printing Office UPDATE – MAY 10, 2016 10:00 PM EDT– The web site SNOPES.com has issued a declaration that our story is some sort of hoax, that we are somehow NOT a radio station and attributed the story – and this web site – to a former FBI National Security Intelligence Asset named Hal Turner, whom she smears as a “White Supremacist.” This is not the first time SNOPES.com has made accusations against us simply because we have been the exclusive source of politically-incorrect news. And while we stand-by our stories in every regard, this barrage of attacks by SNOPES.com is becoming libelous.
We address the SNOPES.com accusations one at a time: 1) No aspect of our story above is a hoax. What Snopes.com seems to take issue with is the existence and content of a suicide note which was revealed to us by the NYPD. The person from NYPD who gave us this information did so after trying to get two other New York Media outlets, (one TV, the other a newspaper) to publish the story and was rebuked within minutes by media contacts who said “we won’t touch this with a ten foot pole.” The fact that the NYPD now claims “no note was found” does not surprise us at all; NYPD has very close ties with the feds and the feds have an intense interest in concealing or discrediting the information it contained. 2) According to the FCC Licensing Bureau, 95.1 FM in New York City is the HD-4 frequency for WNSH 94.7 FM as licensed by the FCC as shown HERE 3) Our story was written by our News Room staff, not anyone named Hal Turner. 4) Mr. Turner was formerly a paying customer of this radio station from October 7, 2015 thru March 30, 2016. He bought air time from us to air his personal radio show “The Hal Turner Show.” Finances caused Mr. Turner to cancel his programming on our radio station and continue his show on WBCQ International Shortwave , where he is on the air live from 9-11 PM every Wednesday evening. Mr. Turner’s web site is: HalTurnerShow.com . He is welcome to return to our airwaves if his finances improve. 5) SNOPES.com claims Mr. Turner is a “white supremacist.” In reality Mr. Turner worked for the FBI from 1993 – 2008, with his TOD as the Joint Terrorism Task Force from 2003-2008. His job was to infiltrate white supremacist groups to thwart violent criminal acts by such persons. This information came out when the Obama Administration betrayed Mr. Turner in 2009 and arrested him for writing in 2009, what the government PAID HIM $3,000 TO SAY on DATELINE NBC and FOX NEWS CHANNEL just four years earlier in 2005! After three trials (two hung juries) Mr. Turner was Bankrupted by legal fees, was appointed a public defender, who threw the case, resulting in Mr. Turner’s conviction. For SNOPES.com to smear Mr. Turner as a “White Supremacist” when federal court records show the exact opposite, is a prime example of the utterly shoddy research and reporting provided by SNOPES.com
The criticism and SNOPES.com outright falsehoods about this story, and others, have been written mostly by:
Ms. Kim A Lacapria, Age 37 (born Mar 20, 1979 )
39 Cockonoe AVE
Babylon, NY 11702-1901 Those of you who are offended by this type of journalistic misconduct, may wish to contact Ms. LaCapria in a peaceful, lawful, non-threatening and non-violent manner to complain about her shoddy journalism. PLEASE DO NOT HARASS THIS IGNORANT PERSON and PLEASE,PLEASE,PLEASE do not make any threats or commit any intimidation. None of us need that and it will only result in serious legal trouble.
Ms. La Capria can be reached at: Tel. (516) 422-7943
(516) 422-7494 | 1real |
Melania Trump Gives Speech Against Cyberbullying – Apparently Forgets Who She’s Married To (VIDEO) | Google Pinterest Digg Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Print Delicious Pocket Tumblr
Donald Trump is desperate, so he propped his supermodel wife up on stage again and made her give another campaign speech. Apparently, he learned nothing from the last time. Not only did Melania Trump plagiarize her speech again , this time borrowing the words of Donald’s second wife, Marla Maples, but she also seemed to forget who the heck she is married to.
Speaking to the crowd at a campaign rally in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, Melania expanded on her plan to fight online bullying as First Lady.
“I will be an advocate for women and for children,” she said. “Children and teenagers can be fragile. They are hurt when they are made fun of or made to feel less in looks or intelligence.”
She then said that many comments, which are “mean and too rough,” come from people with “no name hiding on the Internet.”
“We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other,” she said.
“We must come together together as Americans,” she added. “We must treat each other with respect and kindness even when we disagree.”
Ummm, lady, have you looked at the orange guy that put a ring on your finger? You have a child with him, so you have obviously met the man, right? How do you not seem to realize that you are married to the biggest cyber bully around? Do you not follow him on Twitter? Seriously, WTF?
Melania needs to take a look at the list of almost 300 people, places, and things Donald has insulted on Twitter since he announced his candidacy.
Watch Melania forget she’s married to the biggest cyber bully around, here :
Featured image via video screen capture Share this Article! | 1real |
JUDGE JEANINE IS FURIOUS! RINO’s Are Plotting To Take Down President Trump…Cowardly GOP Sitting Back, Watching Democrats ‘Railroad Their President’…Only ONE Republican Is Defending Trump [VIDEO] | Fox News Channel s Jeanine Pirro went after the GOP establishment Saturday on Justice. Pirro accused the establishment Republicans leaders of watching the Democrats railroad their president, and then urged them to prove their loyalty by convincing everyone that they are not in on the effort to take down President Donald Trump. The Republican establishment not fighting for the commander-in-chief as day after day they watch him being savaged, forcing him to defend himself and run the country. Think about it. If he s knocked out, the succession is clear and things go back to the way they were, Pirro said. You re in power, damn it! she later exclaimed. Do something, pass something, cut this kumbaya crap, put on your big boy pants and act like you re in power, act like you give a damn! And more importantly, convince us that you are not in on the effort to take down the president of the United States. Breitbart | 1real |
Trump Wrecks Any Hope GOP Had Of Taking Advantage Of Clinton Email Investigation | By Jason Easley on Fri, Oct 28th, 2016 at 2:16 pm Trump being Trump, he stepped on stage and immediately wrecked any chance Republicans had of taking advantage of the email story. Share on Twitter Print This Post
Trump being Trump, he stepped on stage and immediately wrecked any chance Republicans had of taking advantage of the email story.
Trump went into full hyperbolic overdrive in New Hampshire by claiming that the FBI’s reopening of the investigation was “bigger than Watergate.”
The Republican nominee took back his claim that the system is rigged.
Video: Following FBI announcement into Clinton's emails, Trump remarks, "The system might not be as rigged as I thought." https://t.co/7kI3UXbveF
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 28, 2016
Trump said, “But, with what I’ve just announced, previously, it might not be as rigged as I thought. Right? The FBI. I think they’re going to right the ship, folks. I think they’re going to right the ship, and they’re going to save their great reputation by doing so.” The speculation is that the FBI is likely to review the new emails and stick by their original finding that Hillary Clinton did nothing wrong.
Trump and the Republicans are jumping to some conclusions. They know that Clinton is guilty without any evidence to support their beliefs. They are assuming that the FBI is going to find evidence that Hillary Clinton did something wrong, and they think that the emails are their ticket to getting Trump elected.
Trump has no political skills, and no idea when to use a gentle touch and stop. The Republican nominee destroyed any hope that the GOP had of using the reopened email investigation to their advantage by letting his habits of lying and changing positions on a whim take hold.
The email scandal isn’t going to help Republicans. It hasn’t before, and it won’t now, but Trump’s over the top incompetence has killed any boost that Republicans might have gotten from the story. | 1real |
UN Gay Rights Envoy: Religious Freedom ‘Not an Absolute Right’ | The United Nations envoy for gay rights has declared that when there is a clash between homosexual rights and religious liberty it must be recalled that “freedom of expression and religious freedom are not absolute rights and may be limited if necessary. ”[In a recent public consultation, the UN’s newly appointed “independent expert” on the defense of LGTB rights, Vitit Muntarbhorn, said that negative moral judgments on homosexual activity were a recent phenomenon, stemming from “colonial law. ” “More recently, in colonial law, or remnants of colonial law, gays were criminalized, are criminalized, even though beforehand they were not criminalized,” he claimed during the Jan. 25 conference. When challenged about the clash between LGBT rights and religious freedom by Henk Jan van Schothorst of the Transatlantic Christian Council, Muntarbhorn said that religious freedom is not absolute and must yield to homosexual rights. “There are some absolute rights,” he said in apparent reference to LGBT rights, “but there are some that are not absolute. ” He went on to explain that “freedom of expression and expression of religion” are not absolute rights and that they can be curtailed when necessary. While praising a desire to engage with the “heart of religion,” Muntarbhorn said this should be done “without the mythology overriding the heart of the religion. ” The independent expert also emphasized the role of education so children can be “born and bred from a young age” with the right attitudes toward sexual orientation and identity, a practice that some have denounced as indoctrination or even “gender ideology” or “ideological colonization. ” Last summer, the UN Human Rights Council approved the appointment of an independent expert on the defense of the LGTB collective, and in October the Council chose Vitit Muntarbhorn of Thailand to fill the post. The following month, a coalition of 54 African states challenged the legality of the appointment, asking that his mandate be put on hold. They submitted a resolution calling for the suspension of the UN’s LGBT investigator, noting that gender identity and sexual orientation have no place in international human rights instruments. While Muntarbhorn has been tasked with assessing implementations of existing international human rights law and raising awareness of violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) critics suggest that his very mandate will constitute interference with the laws of many UN countries. countries worldwide, and almost 40 percent of all UN member states, currently have laws on their books. In Africa alone, 33 states have laws making homosexual acts a crime, including Uganda, Nigeria, Sudan and Mauritania. Speaking on behalf of the African nations, Botswana’s ambassador told a General Assembly human rights committee in November that African nations “are alarmed” that the Human Rights Council is delving into national matters and attempting to focus on people “on the grounds of their sexual interests and behaviors. ” Ambassador Charles Ntwaagae said that the Council had no business looking into “sexual orientation and gender identity,” which are notoriously absent from the United Nations charter document, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “Those two notions are not and should not be linked to existing international human rights instruments,” said Ntwaagae. The UN has never adopted an official position regarding putative rights of gender identity or sexual orientation, though it does guarantee the rights of life, liberty, security, property and equal protection to all persons without distinction. “We therefore call for the suspension of the activities of the appointed independent expert pending the determination of this issue,” said Ntwaagae. The Africa group claimed that a focus on homosexual rights also takes attention away from other issues of “paramount importance,” such as racism and the right to development. Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome | 0fake |
BRICS countries deplore North Korean nuclear test, oppose protectionism: draft communique | XIAMEN, China (Reuters) - The nations of the BRICS grouping strongly deplore North Korea s nuclear test but the problem over its nuclear program should only be settled through peaceful means and dialogue, they said in a draft communique seen by Reuters on Monday. In its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sunday, North Korea detonated what it said was an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile, prompting a vow of massive military response from the United States if it or its allies were threatened. We express deep concern over the ongoing tension and prolonged nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula, the draft communique said. A formal communique, known as the Xiamen Declaration , is expected to be issued at a meeting attended by heads of state from the five major emerging economies in the grouping - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - in the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen. BRICS countries will continue to firmly oppose protectionism as they are committed to an open and inclusive multilateral trading system, the draft communique said. It emphasized the need to be vigilant in guarding against inward-looking policies that could hurt global market confidence, calling for BRICS countries to strengthen macroeconomic and structural policy coordination. It also called upon all countries to fully implement the Paris climate agreement, while pledging to enhance BRICS cooperation on climate change and energy and to expand green financing. The five emerging economies agreed to jointly establish a BRICS local currency bond fund, the draft communique added. | 0fake |
Minor train disruption rattles Singapore's reputation for glitch-free services | SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore is grappling with a controversy that refuses to go away, a month after rainwater flooded a tunnel of its mass rapid transit (MRT) service, leading to the partial suspension of train runs at weekends. A rare public apology by top transit executives and an assurance from the government that the cause was clear and the fix not complicated have done little to appease the public that has come to expect glitch-free efficiency. The front page of the state-owned Straits Times newspaper this week featured a photo of grim-faced top transit executives in the gallery of parliament as the transport minister said they had to do better and could face pay cuts. The facts of the 7 October incident are not complicated, and the cause of the incident is clear, Minister Khaw Boon Wan said, adding that poor maintenance and neglect of duties by transit managers were to blame. It is the responsibility of management to set the right culture of professionalism and excellence. It begins from the top. And if there is poor culture, the CEO is responsible. The scrutiny of the disruption, which in most cities would be considered minor and barely newsworthy, reflected the pressure on the government to explain how it had failed to deliver a near-perfect public service. Singapore residents are highly dependent on public transport. It is one of the world s most expensive places to own a vehicle and it recently announced that it will not allow any growth in its car population from February. Voter discontent with public services can be particularly alarming to the ruling party which saw its worst election showing in 2011 when 40 percent of voters went against it, partly in dismay over the growing strains on public transport. The People s Action Party has ruled Singapore, one of the richest and most stable countries in the world, without interruption since independence in 1965. Transit operator SMRT chief Desmond Kuek was quoted in an email to staff as saying this week should have been a celebration marking the 30-year anniversary of the subway operations. Instead, we were awash in collective shame because a few of our staff had let us down, Kuek said in the email, according to the Straits Times. | 0fake |
Car bomber kills at least 15 in Yemeni port Aden: witnesses | ADEN (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber blew himself up at a security checkpoint in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden on Sunday, killing 15 people and wounding at least 20, residents and a security official said. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the assault, without providing evidence. The attack occurred outside the main security headquarters in Aden s Khor Maksar district, according to Aden residents and the security official. The blast was heard across the city and a plume of smoke could be seen from miles away. Clashes erupted in the area immediately afterward, witnesses reported. It was unclear who was behind the attack or the clashes that followed. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on the internet, though without immediate evidence to back up its assertion. IS said at least 50 people had been killed by the blast and in clashes. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the local branch of the global Islamist militant network, has been the most active jihadist group in southern Yemen in recent years. Aden is the interim headquarters of Yemen s internationally recognized government, which had to move there when Houthi rebels took control of the capital, Sanaa, in 2015 during Yemen s civil war. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the Houthis advanced on Aden, forcing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee and seek help from Saudi Arabia. Aden is dominated by Yemeni forces backed by the United Arab Emirates, a key member of the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen s war to restore Hadi. Saudi Arabia s air defense forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen over the capital, Riyadh, on Saturday, state news agencies reported. The missile was brought down near King Khaled Airport on the northern outskirts of the city and did not cause any casualties. | 0fake |
German coalition talks delayed until Friday: sources | BERLIN (Reuters) - Talks about forming a new three-way German ruling coalition have been delayed until noon on Friday amid continuing differences over climate, migration and finances, sources familiar with the discussions said. Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the environmentalist Greens decided to halt the talks for several hours after failing to make progress during what was to have been the final evening of the talks. The mood had soured noticeably late on Thursday, with parties breaking off to huddle in their respective caucuses, and party officials trading accusations of blame. We ll continue at noon today, said Winfried Kretschmann, a Greens negotiator and premier of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. | 0fake |
IF HILLARY HAS TO DROP OUT Of The Race…Here’s What Will Happen | After months of speculation about Hillary s poor health, she appeared to have a pretty serious episode after leaving the 9-11 memorial service in NYC. Fortunately, someone was able to capture her on video in a press-free zone, as she appeared to be having convulsions and collapsing, forcing the secret service to physically lift her into her vehicle. Many in the media are saying the Democrat Party is scrambling to figure out what to do if Hillary is FORCED to drop out of the race. Of course Hillary wouldn t leave the race on her own for the good of the country or for the good of her party. This is her final shot at the highest office in our nation, and she has already proven there is nothing that will get in her way from her lifelong goal of becoming our first female President. No lie is too big and no scandal will take her down. It s her turn. But in the event that she ends up incapacitated by her illness which, according to many prominent physicians looks more like Parkinson s Disease, here s what would happen if she was forced to drop out:It s never happened before, but if Hillary Clinton has to drop out before Election Day, the Democratic National Committee would pick a successor and it wouldn t have to be runningmate Tim Kaine.If Donald Trump faced the same situation, the Republican National Committee would select a GOP replacement, perhaps by reconvening 2,472 delegates.Clinton s near collapse over the weekend, coupled with the ages of the two major candidates, have brought the far-flung scenarios into the realm of possibility.There s 55 days until the election as of Tuesday and military and overseas ballots are mailed 45 days before the polls open.Thirty-seven states have some sort of early voting, with North Carolina being the first by mail on Sept. 9.What would really complicate matters is if a nominee had to drop out when ballots have already been cast. It would be an unprecedented, complicated mess, one election lawyer said.The Electoral College would then select the next president.If the electors couldn t agree, the House of Representatives would make the selection. NYP | 1real |
Easily Duped: Trump Surpasses Bush, Falling for ‘Chemical Weapons’ Theatrics | The following segment was recorded on live TV the day before the US launched its Tomahawk missile strike on Shayrat Air Base in Syria. 21st Century Wire Editor Patrick Henningsen explains how Donald Trump, Nikki Haley and Rex Tillerson have just surpassed the Bush administration in their WMD ignorance. Watch: READ MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Syria FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 1real |
With One Castro Gone, Questions About What the Other Castro Will Do - The New York Times | MEXICO CITY — For half a century, as Fidel Castro transformed Cuba into a Communist state and sparred with the United States, his brother Raúl worked in his shadow, the authoritarian leader’s disciplined, junior partner. But by the time the elder Mr. Castro died on Friday night, Raúl Castro, who assumed presidential powers in 2006 before getting the official title in 2008, had transformed Cuba into a country that was unrecognizable in many ways — and yet remarkably the same. Raúl discarded some of the precepts that Fidel had considered sacred, chipping away at the Communist scaffold his brother had built. And in a stunning embrace that caught the world off guard, he negotiated an end to the diplomatic standoff with the United States that Fidel had fiercely maintained. It is now solidly Raúl’s Cuba, an island where millennials talk to their cousins on Skype, where restaurant owners hustle for zucchini at privately run farms and where Americans clog the streets of Old Havana. Over all this, he has a firm hold on power, secured by trusted military leaders in vital positions and a new economic course of his making in which private enterprise plays an essential — but unthreatening — role. Still, Fidel died at a time of great uncertainty. Cuba’s regional benefactor, Venezuela, is collapsing economically. And many Cubans are trying to reach the United States while special immigration privileges are still in place. And now, after multiple rounds of changes by President Obama to knit the two countries closer together, a wild card has emerged: the election of Donald J. Trump, who has threatened to undermine the détente between the two nations unless he can extract more concessions from the Castro government. Cuban officials say they have weathered financial and political swings before, whether they were the American embargo, the collapse of the Soviet Union or the economic troubles in Venezuela. With Fidel gone, a lingering question may now be answered: Did the weight of his legacy hold Raúl back, preventing him from substantially dismantling the cherished system his brother had constructed, or were the slow, halting steps toward change a reflection of Raúl’s own desire to insert new life into the ailing Cuban economy — without weakening the structures of state power? Roberto Veiga, the director of Cuba Posible, an organization in Havana that promotes political dialogue, said that Fidel’s passing would “deeply affect people” on the island, but that it would not change the course of the country. “It will have an emotional impact,” Mr. Veiga said. “It will have a political impact. But it won’t have any impact on how the country is governed. ” “It’s a long time since Fidel was in the presidency,” he added. “Raul Castro has been leading the country for years. He has a team. There’s stability. ” Enrique López Oliva, a retired church historian in Cuba, expects change. While he did not rejoice in Mr. Castro’s death, he said, he found himself excited about the possibilities that it could bring for Cuba’s future. “It’s the end of one era and the beginning of another,” he said. “The death itself, we were waiting for that to happen at any moment. But now it feels like a new phase is about to begin. ” Some experts contend that Raúl held back true economic reforms because his brother opposed them. Fidel, some believe, prevented the Communist Party from announcing major new endeavors at the party congress this year, Mr. López said. “Now Raúl will feel more free,” he said. “The process of change will undoubtedly accelerate. ” Mr. López added that Cubans were eager for more economic changes because the increase in tourism seemed to have had the adverse effect of diverting food and other necessities to the tourism sector. Shortages are common, and frustrations are running high. Mr. López, who lives on a $12 monthly pension, said he recently had to sell two luxury antique lamps in order to buy food. “When I was in Miami, people asked me why I didn’t stay in Miami, and I said I wanted to see the end of the movie,” Mr. López, 80, said. “Now I am watching it. We are living a historic moment. I was happy to have lived through the revolution and happy to live through this. ” Raúl has shown a willingness to change course. Brian Latell, a former C. I. A. analyst who has followed the Cuban leadership closely for decades, said the Castro brothers’ relationship was once like a show. Fidel played the mercurial, genius director spewing bold visions, while Raúl was the producer backstage, making sure that the microphone worked, that the actors were paid and that everyone followed the script. But as Fidel withdrew, he said, Raúl was increasingly free to steer the production in a different direction, while retaining its spirit. Raúl has long framed his vision as a continuation of the revolution, vowing to build “a prosperous and sustainable socialism. ” It was Raúl who grumbled about the bloated state bureaucracy and corruption, saying the public work force had to be cut. “We have to erase forever the notion that Cuba is the only country in the world where one can live without working,” he told the National Assembly in 2010. He replaced many of Fidel’s senior leaders with his own trusted allies in the military. He opened limited space for small private enterprise, introduced salary increases and reduced state subsidies, publicly rejecting “three principles of Fidelismo: paternalism, idealism and egalitarianism,” Mr. Latell said. Fidel began his protracted retreat from public life in August 2006, when a grave intestinal illness forced him to step aside. He ceded power to Raúl, first provisionally, then permanently in 2008. Fidel’s silence after the United States and Cuba announced they would restore diplomatic relations in 2014 was interpreted by Cubans and by foreign experts as a sign that the former leader was extremely sick. Some Cuba watchers wonder if the breakthrough with the United States could have been achieved if Fidel had still been in power or in better health. But others believe that the changes must have carried Fidel’s endorsement, or at least that Raúl acted in a belief that he was following his brother’s grand design. In the televised speech to announce the rapprochement with the United States, Raúl said his openness to talks was “a position that was expressed to the United States government, both in public and in private, by our Comrade Fidel at different moments of our long struggle. ” While Raúl is firmly in control, and seemingly in good health, many people inside and outside Cuban wonder what kind of Cuba comes after him. Raúl, 85, has pledged to step down in 2018. His vice president and former minister for higher education, Miguel Mario Bermúdez, 56, is expected to fill the presidency. But in the opaque, tightly guarded circles of Cuban politics, it is impossible to know for sure. | 0fake |
Attempts By Trump To Pardon Anyone Indicted By Mueller Could Backfire On Him In A BIG Way | There s a lot of talk that, if Mueller indicts friends and associates of Trump over the Russia scandal, Trump will just pardon them and nobody will get punished, least of all Trump. There are two problems with that: First, to accept a pardon is to admit guilt, so he d be throwing them under the bus. But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, any pardons he issues could land him in hot water just that much sooner. According to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), his pardoning power is not exactly absolute.Schiff told ABC News: I don t think the president s power is all that absolute, as people have been suggesting.The president cannot pardon people if it s an effort to obstruct justice, if it s an effort to prevent Bob Mueller and others from learning about the President s own conduct. So, there are limitations. This whole thing really took off when Mueller was appointed special counsel to investigate whether Trump obstructed justice when he fired James Comey. It s true that the Constitution does give the president broad power to issue pardons for offenses against the United States. However, we currently don t have any precedent for a president pardoning people tied to his own campaign, and rumors have been circulating that Trump wants to test his pardoning powers to see just how far they actually go.That could be part of why the Tweeter-In-Chief was panicking so badly on Twitter that he screamed, DO SOMETHING! in a rant about Hillary Clinton and Uranium One. He might be aware that not only is Mueller getting closer to something that implicates him, which we just can t have, but also that he can t pardon anyone Mueller indicts (or perhaps has been strongly warned away from trying).A pardon would require an admission of guilt, but it would also prevent people from flipping on Trump and singing out the truth in exchange for lesser charges or a lesser sentence. Depending on who s indicted, and what they do, the man who would be king in the White House will find it far more difficult to keep claiming that Russia is just a distraction and there s nothing to it.And so will all his lackeys.Too bad.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 1real |
null | SAYA IBU SUMIATUNG DARI PAPUA SALAH SATU MEMBER MBAH SERO SAYA SEKELUARGA MENGUCAPAKAN BANYAK TERIMA KASIH KEPADA MBAH SERO ANGKA TOGEL YANG DI BERIKAN KEMARIN 4D 4970 TGL 20-OKTOBER-2016 SGP TEMBUS 100% DAN WAKTU TGL 08-OKTOBER-2016 SAYA JUGA MENANG 4D 9996 DAN PEMASANGAN PERTAMA SAYA CUMA MENANG 2D 81 TGL 01-OKTOBER-2016 KARNA SAYA COBA-COBA PASANG ANGKA DARI MBAH SERO WALAUPUN CUMA 2D NYA SYUKUR ALHAMDULILLAH SAYA MENDAPATKAN KEMENANGAN RP.700.JUTA DALAM 3X PUTARAN SAYA SUDAH BISA MELUNASI HUTANG2 SAYA YANG ADA DI BANK DAN RENCANA MAU BUKA USAHA INI SEMUA BERKAT BANTUAN MBAH SERO SAYA TIDAK AKAN MELUPAKAN BUDI BAIK MBAH BAGI SAUDARAH2 BUTUH ANGK JITU HASIL RITUA 2D 3D 4D 5D 6D KALAU MAU MENANG SEPERTI SAYA LANSUNG HUBUNGI MBAH SERO DI NOMOR HP: 082-370-357-999 ANGKA YANG DI BERIKAN MBAH SERO TIDAK PERLU DI RAGUKAN LAGI SAYA JAMIN 100% TEMBUS SOALNYA SAYA SUDAH PERNAH MEMBUKTIKANNYA 3X PUTARAN MENANG.. | 1real |
‘Mentally Ill’ Officer: Give Me Back My Gun | State trooper Michael Keyes was once involuntarily committed, which bars him from owning a gun. But with a clean bill of health, he’s now suing for his 2nd Amendment rights.
And the Pennsylvania state trooper knows how to use one: he carries several on duty, rotating between his Sig Sauer 227 handgun, a fully-automatic AR-15 and a Remington 870 shotgun. But while a very armed Keyes is trusted to serve and protect Pennsylvania, as soon as he clocks out, he is banned by state law from owning a gun for personal use.
At issue for Keyes are laws governing firearm ownership for the mentally ill—a rallying cause backed by practically everyone, including the National Rifle Association. But Keyes, along with his co-plaintiff in a new federal lawsuit, corrections officer Jonathan Yox, may now be the new poster boys for a contingent of gun rights advocates who argue mental illness provisions of the 1968 Gun Control Act (GCA) are too strict and infringe on the Second Amendment Rights of thousands of perfectly sane individuals.
Keyes and Yox have both been involuntarily committed to a mental institution, which in the eyes of both federal and state law, makes them forever dangerous to themselves and others—despite both men having since been cleared by mental health professionals.
For Keyes, it was a pair of bitter divorces that triggered depression, heavy drinking, threats of suicide, and an eventual two-week commitment. Following that dark period, he fought for and won his reinstatement with the state police and has earned outstanding marks in performance reviews.
Since 2008, Keyes’ attempts to restore his rights for personal firearms use have been unsuccessful. Though a county court judge found Keyes to no longer be a threat to himself or others, he ruled there was no way to expunge his record or overcome the federal ban. State superior court judge Kate Ford Elliott echoed the lower court’s ruling in 2013, but went further. “The dangers inherent in the possession of firearms by the mentally ill are manifest,” she wrote, and even more so in the case of Keyes, “who was involuntarily committed and thus failed to recognize and act upon his own illness.” Further, she noted, “a present clean bill of mental health is no guarantee that a relapse is not possible.”
Yox was also hospitalized in 2006, twice by his parents when he was just 15 years old for an incident where he bought cocaine into school, and a brief period of depression that included cutting himself and a suicide pact with a girl.
After Yox’s release, he graduated from high school, joined the Army and served in Afghanistan, and now actively carries a firearm as a State Correctional Officer. In a 2012 mental health review, a psychologist found him to be a “pleasant...clean-cut, outgoing young man” with future goals and a strong support system. Though Yox was committed as a juvenile, his 2013 attempt to expunge his record—so that he could purchase a weapon for home defense and pursue a career in government—fell short. The judge in Yox’s case cited the Keyes ruling in his decision.
State laws vary widely in regard to how they restrict firearms for the mentally ill. Pennsylvania is one of 21 states that have accepted a court order or an involuntary commitment as a barrier to gun ownership, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Five other states, including California and Connecticut, include voluntary commitment in their bans—a move that gun rights advocates argue keeps gun owners who need professional help from seeking it.Reforming these blanket bans may just be an issue that even gun control groups can support.“There should be an process whereby people who’ve lost their rights to guns because of mental illness should be able to get them back, and we’ve supported that,” said Shira Goodman, Executive Director of gun violence prevention group, CeasfirePA. “But in part, I blame the gun lobby itself,” who she says has hijacked gun bills in Pennsylvania that addressed similar mental health issues. In 2013, Pennsylvania provided the FBI with 643,167 records representing people banned from purchasing firearms because of involuntary mental health commitments in the state.This new federal case is asking a judge to find that the mental illness disability does not exist for Keyes and Yox and that the absence of any method of relief is in violation of their Second Amendment rights. Still their attorney sees wider implications.
“This is going to be the first step in getting the Federal courts to address this type of situation,” said Keye’s attorney, Joshua Prince. “We have an individual, who we can show possess firearms without threat to himself or others and does so on a daily basis and the fact is, there is no reasonable basis for denying that person the ability to defend himself in his home.” | 0fake |
Marco Rubio: Donald Trump's plan 'borders on the absurd' | But he rejects the idea that Clinton's campaign -- which many believe has been on a hot streak lately following an appearance on "Saturday Night Live," a well-received debate performance and Vice President Joe Biden's decision to not seek the White House -- ended the week on a high note following her lengthy testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
"People may think she had a good week," Rubio told CNN's Jamie Gangel in an interview that aired Sunday on "State of the Union." "I think this is the week it was proven that she lied about Benghazi."
The Florida senator said he believes Clinton will be the Democratic nominee, thanks in part to her belonging to a "political dynasty" that will help her fundraising.
As for Donald Trump, the party's current front-runner, Rubio charged the developer's immigration proposals "border on the absurd."
"His rhetoric is a little louder but, if you think about where he was six months ago, his position on immigration six months ago was nothing like what he's saying now. And even what he's saying now borders on the absurd," he said. "He's going to deport all these people and then he's going to allow back in the ones that are good. His plan makes no sense." Overall, Trump has failed to communicate a clear, deep understanding of America's most pressing issues, Rubio said. "I would say that ultimately the next president of the United States, on their first day in office, must understand the threats that face this country and must have shown good judgment about what to do about those issues," he said. And despite Trump's current success, Rubio is confident that the former reality television star's popularity will wane. "I'm going to support the Republican nominee, and I'm comfortable that it's not going to be Donald Trump, and I'm increasingly confident that it's going to be me," he said. Confidence and optimism aside, Rubio isn't blind to his low presidential poll numbers -- even in his home state -- and blames them on "a very unusual year." "If you start paying attention to these polls in October, I mean, you'll go crazy. I've been up, I've been down," he said. "It's a very unusual year, and I think part of it is that people are really angry about the direction of our country." | 0fake |
Shaun King, The Nation’s Whitest Black Activist, ’Boycotts’ NFL for ’Bigotry’ and ’Anti-Blackness’ | On Tuesday, Shaun King, the “senior justice writer” for the New York Daily News, announced his boycott of the National Football League. The former black lives matter spokesman, deposed after the discovery that he is white and not the African American he claimed to be, accused the NFL of being “bigoted” against black people because it hasn’t hired protester Colin Kaepernick. [King made his proclamation after it became clear that American anthem protester and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick would not find a team to take him on after he became a free agent at the tail of last season. Kaepernick spent the entirety of the season refusing to stand for the national anthem and spoke out against the U. S. A. our police, soldiers, and other first responders. He also repeatedly said the country was “never great. ” But after the season ended, in February the player announced both his free agency and an end to his protests. But despite his new status and his pledge to end his embarrassing protests, Kaepernick has not been able to find a team to hire him for the coming football season. His inability to find a berth has sparked numerous protests by fans and sports reporters alike. Kaepernick was even the subject of a politician’s decree when a socialist Seattle City Council member wrote an open letter demanding that the Seattle Seahawks bring him on. The demands ultimately fell on deaf ears. With Kaepernick left out in the cold, football fan Shaun King now says he can’t watch football anymore. “I can’t, in good conscience, support this league, with many of its owners, as it blacklists my friend and brother Colin Kaepernick for taking a silent, peaceful stance against injustice and police brutality in America,” King blathered in his June 6 column. “It’s disgusting and has absolutely nothing to do with football and everything to do with penalizing a brilliant young man for the principled stance he took last season. ” The white man who posed as a black man for a decade fulminated at Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll for turning his back on Kaepernick and signing white quarterback Austin Davis instead. King labeled Davis a “scrub” over the incident. King, who admitted that he lied about being black, went on to rail at the Seahawks for hiring Davis who has far fewer accomplishments in the NFL than Kaepernick. The activist insisted that there could be only one reason that the Seahawks took a pass on Kaepernick: It’s racism. It’s bigotry. It’s discrimination. Period. It’s not football. Don’t call it football. If you call the decisions by 32 teams to not sign this man a football decision, you don’t know football and probably voted for Donald Trump. Nearly 100 quarterbacks — 96, in fact — are usually signed to teams in the NFL. That Colin Kaepernick is not one of them is disgusting. Of course, he’s one of the top 96 quarterbacks in the league. Kaepernick’s longtime rival, Richard Sherman, said he believed Kaepernick was a quarterback. King went on to add that the “ridiculous fragility of the conservative white male fan base” has kept Kaepernick on the sidelines. Finally, this very white “black activist” added that his decision was sealed when ESPN announced that it had rehired country singer Hank Williams, Jr. to once again sing his iconic Monday Night Football theme song at the start of each Monday game. Williams had been fired six years ago for being a conservative. “Hank Williams, Jr. is basically Donald Trump with a guitar. He’s a bigot,” King growled. “Everybody knows it. His songs and statements have echoed bigotry for years, but now that Obama is out of office, he’s back. ” King continued, bellowing: Hank Williams, Jr. and Austin Davis are employed right now, and Colin Kaepernick isn’t. Shame on this league for following Trump’s lead in spirit, tone and now in actions. I’m appalled. As a lifelong fan, I’m deeply disappointed. What I do know is this — I can’t support this product. Warming to his closing statements, King then blamed his little son for launching the boycott with a claim that his boy told him they could no longer watch football, “After what they’ve done to Colin and with all of those owners loving Donald Trump so much. ” So, in the face of all this purported “injustice,” King has set out on his road to boycotting the NFL: Maybe if Colin Kaepernick gets a deal, it would change my mind, but deep damage is already done. As a leader in the Black Lives Matter Movement, as a voice in the resistance to Donald Trump, and as a friend of Colin Kaepernick, I cannot, in good conscience, support the NFL any longer. If I did, I’d struggle to look my own son in the eyes or look at myself in the mirror. As a reminder, King is boycotting a sports league that is almost 70 percent African American. It is a business where the average rookie salary is $365, 000 a year, a number that goes up by tens of thousands every year the player stays signed to an NFL team. It is also a league where the average player’s salary is about $1. 9 million annually. This is the same sports league that Shaun King says isn’t black enough and is unfair and discriminatory to blacks. But, this is also a man who directly equates to being “tolerant” and right thinking. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 0fake |
‘A Dog’s Purpose’ Premiere Is Canceled Amid Outrage Over Video of Distressed German Shepherd - The New York Times | The red carpet premiere for the film “A Dog’s Purpose” scheduled for Saturday has been canceled amid calls for a boycott after a video surfaced on Wednesday showing a German shepherd being forced into rushing waters during filming. In the video, obtained by TMZ, the dog appears to be fighting to stay out of the stream as a man in a green suit wrestles to put the animal in. The footage then cuts to a scene of the dog submerged as people swim toward it. A voice can be heard yelling : “Cut it! Cut it!” The source of the video, recorded in 2015, was not immediately clear, but the filmmakers have not disputed its authenticity. The identity of the man in the video was also not immediately revealed. Amblin Entertainment, the film’s producer, and Universal Pictures, its distributor, said in a joint statement on Thursday night that it was in the “best interest” to cancel the premiere and press junket set for Saturday in Los Angeles. The statement said Amblin’s review into the video was continuing. The movie, starring Dennis Quaid, will open in theaters nationwide on Jan. 27 as scheduled. “Amblin and Universal do not want anything to overshadow this film that celebrates the relationship between animals and humans,” the statement said, adding: “Since the emergence of the footage, Amblin has engaged with many associated with the production of the film, including safety personnel, trainers and stunt coordinators as part of their review. While we are all disheartened by the appearance of an animal in distress, everyone has assured us that Hercules the German shepherd was not harmed throughout the filmmaking. ” In a statement on Wednesday, Amblin and Universal said Hercules was “happy and healthy. ” “There were several days of rehearsal of the water scenes to ensure Hercules was comfortable with all of the stunts,” the statement continued. “On the day of the shoot, Hercules did not want to perform the stunt portrayed on the tape, so the Amblin production team did not proceed with filming that shot. ” For a movie aimed squarely at an audience of dog lovers, the footage threatens to repel the precise audience filmmakers hope to draw. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has urged moviegoers to boycott the film. Several people involved in the film condemned the actions seen in the video. Lasse Hallstrom, the director, said on Twitter he had not witnessed the events but was “very disturbed” by the footage. He said he had been promised “a thorough investigation. ” “We were all committed to providing a loving and safe environment for all the animals in the film,” he said. “I have been a lifelong animal lover, and ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ is my third film about dogs. The animals’ safety was of utmost priority. ” Josh Gad, an actor who voices one of the dogs in the film and said he was never on the set, released a statement on Twitter that said he had “signed on to a film that truly stands out as one of the most beautiful love letters to animals I have ever seen. ” He added he was “shaken and sad to see any animal put in a situation against its will,” and had contacted the production team and studio to ask for an explanation. Mark Stubis, a spokesman for the American Humane Association, which monitors animals on movie sets, said in a statement that a representative had been present during filming. The employee was later placed on administrative leave, and the organization was “bringing in an independent third party to conduct an investigation,” according to the statement. “When the dog showed signs of resistance to jumping in the water, the scene should have been stopped,” Mr. Stubis said. The movie, whose cast also includes Peggy Lipton, is based on a book of the same name by W. Bruce Cameron. He wrote on Facebook on Wednesday that he was “as disturbed as you were by the video I saw earlier today. ” Dog lovers on social media appeared to be unforgiving. “This was abuse, and that human shoving the dog into the water should be charged,” one woman wrote in response to Mr. Cameron’s post. “It is inexcusable, and I won’t be spending money to see this movie. ” | 0fake |
Girl Tells Ted Cruz She’s Gay .02 Seconds Before Taking This Photo, His Reaction Is Priceless | You know when you re told to smile for a photo but the person next you just let one rip? Well, that s pretty much the expression on Ted Cruz s face right after being told by a person taking a photo with him that she is gay.This new Wonder Woman was able to snag a photo with Cruz at one of his events and clearly took the anti-gay Republican Texas senator completely off guard, and it is spectacular.According to Pride.com: At a Ted event, a young queer hero approached him, and said, I am gay. Flash forward to .02 seconds later, she took a selfie with Mr. Cruz, where he looks frozen in his awkward and uncomfortable face via pride.comHe looks as though he is literally about to catch gay cooties. And her face is absolutely amazing. It reads, Yeah, I just punked you, you bigoted jerkface. As you may or may not be aware, Cruz is steadfast in his hatred of all things gay. Not only is he against marriage equality and the protection of LGBT citizens from discrimination, but he even hates Pride parades. What kind of monster hates a joyous parade? Apparently the guy who looks like the ignorant fool in this picture next to a new brand of American hero.Kudos to this young woman who was courageous enough to come out to Cruz s face and then be even braver to snap the photo less than a second later. It may be the best thing seen from this entire election season yet.Featured image: Gage Skidmore (flickr) | 1real |
Report: PETA Produced Fake Animal Abuse Video as Part of Attempted Viral Awareness Campaign - Breitbart | PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has reportedly produced a fake animal abuse video to “raise awareness” of the issue online. [“The animal rights group has produced a disturbing new video that depicts a cat suffering at the hands of its owner. It’s difficult to watch. It’s also completely fake,” reports Mashable. “But it looks real it is a skilled CGI work clearly meant to deceive viewers. Now, PETA is trying to enlist complicit media organizations to knowingly publish the fake video in an effort to make the lie go viral. ” “Through this marketing effort, PETA is trying to convince the media to report and share a fake video as if it’s real, in hopes of deceiving the public to create manufactured outrage,” Mashable continued. “As animal lovers, this is offensive. As a media outlet with a responsibility to truthfulness, this is unethical. As people with basic moral values, WTF?” Mashable claims PETA’s involvement in the fake video is shown in a clip that was also emailed to them by a public relations firm allegedly working with the animal activists: What we’d like to do is have Mashable debut this video of a cat, created with imagery (CGI) being abused, which will have been planted on YouTube anonymously by the ad agency who created it for PETA. Your posting of the provocative piece would simply be to acknowledge that it’s in circulation — not to make any claims about its authenticity. … When the video has drawn the critical response and the number of views we’re anticipating (ideally, into the millions) we would then have you reveal to the world that the cat was NOT harmed, but was actually created with CGI by posting this video. It reveals the reasons for the creation of the first video and asks people to avoid circuses that use lions, tigers, or any other live animals. Mashable called the plan to create a viral video “wrong and irresponsible,” while one Twitter user called them “unethical” for the trick. “Anyone surprised?” asked Daily Mail U. S. political editor David Martosko on Twitter. Anyone surprised? https: . — David Martosko (@dmartosko) June 7, 2017, “PETA is pitching literal fake news because PETA is terrible,” added BuzzFeed reporter Tyler Kingkade. PETA is pitching literal fake news because PETA is terrible https: . — Tyler Kingkade (@tylerkingkade) June 7, 2017, PETA has previously faced criticism for deceptive tricks, including the time they hired musician Jona Weinhofen to hold a fake plastic sheep covered in blood in a deceptive attempt to turn people against sheep shearing. The image was refuted by sheep farmers, with one claiming, “In two decades of living on a sheep farm, I have seen nothing resembling the images put forward by Peta in its campaign against the wool industry. ” Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook. | 0fake |
Afghanistan: 19 die in air attacks on hospital; U.S. investigating | (CNN) Aerial bombardments blew apart a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the battleground Afghan city of Kunduz about the time of a U.S. airstrike early Saturday, killing at least 19 people, officials said.
The blasts left part of the hospital in flames and rubble, killing 12 staffers and seven patients -- including three children -- and injuring 37 other people, the charity said.
As the United States said it was investigating what struck the hospital during the night, the charity expressed shock and demanded answers, stressing that all combatants had been told long ago where the hospital was.
"(The bombing) constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law," Doctors Without Borders, known internationally as Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF, said.
"We were running a hospital treating patients, including wounded combatants from both sides -- this was not a 'Taliban base,' " said Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of Doctors Without Borders or Médecins Sans Frontières, upon release of the group's internal review of the attack.
"We were running a hospital treating patients, including wounded combatants from both sides -- this was not a 'Taliban base,' " said Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of Doctors Without Borders or Médecins Sans Frontières, upon release of the group's internal review of the attack.
The attacks came as fighting intensified between Afghan government forces -- supported by U.S. air power and military advisers -- and the Taliban, which invaded Kunduz in late September.
The attacks came as fighting intensified between Afghan government forces -- supported by U.S. air power and military advisers -- and the Taliban, which invaded Kunduz in late September.
Doctors Without Borders is asking for an indepedent investigation by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission. President Barack Obama has apologized to the charity group for the attack.
Doctors Without Borders is asking for an indepedent investigation by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission. President Barack Obama has apologized to the charity group for the attack.
Doctors Without Borders said it had emailed the GPS coordinates of its main hospital and administration office building at the Kunduz center before the airstrike. The U.S. commander said airstrikes were called after Afghan troops advised they were "taking fire from enemy positions."
Doctors Without Borders said it had emailed the GPS coordinates of its main hospital and administration office building at the Kunduz center before the airstrike. The U.S. commander said airstrikes were called after Afghan troops advised they were "taking fire from enemy positions."
Flames are visible inside a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, after a U.S. airstrike on Saturday, October 3. At least 30 people died in the attack, the charity said in its internal review of the strike released Thursday, November 5. The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan has said the hospital was hit accidentally.
Flames are visible inside a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, after a U.S. airstrike on Saturday, October 3. At least 30 people died in the attack, the charity said in its internal review of the strike released Thursday, November 5. The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan has said the hospital was hit accidentally.
"There are many patients and staff who remain unaccounted for. The numbers may grow as a clearer picture develops of the aftermath of this horrific bombing," MSF said, adding all the dead and injured were Afghans.
The bombardments continued even after U.S. and Afghan military officials were notified the hospital was being attacked, the charity said.
The circumstances weren't immediately clear, but the U.S. military was conducting an airstrike in Kunduz at the time the hospital was hit, U.S. Army Col. Brian Tibus said.
The military is investigating whether a U.S. AC-130 gunship -- which was in the area firing on Taliban positions to defend U.S. special operations troops there -- is responsible, a U.S. military official said on condition of anonymity.
The White House released a statement from President Barack Obama offering condolences to the charity from the American people.
"The Department of Defense has launched a full investigation, and we will await the results of that inquiry before making a definitive judgment as to the circumstances of this tragedy," the President said. "I ... expect a full accounting of the facts and circumstances."
The top U.S. and NATO military commander in Afghanistan said he spoke to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani about the deadly airstrike, the U.S. military said.
"While we work to thoroughly examine the incident and determine what happened, my thoughts and prayers are with those affected. We continue to advise and assist our Afghan partners as they clear the city of Kunduz and surrounding areas of insurgents. As always, we will take all reasonable steps to protect civilians from harm," said Gen. John F. Campbell.
The incident occurred on roughly the sixth day of fighting between Afghan government forces -- supported by U.S. air power and military advisers -- and the Taliban, which invaded the city early this week.
According to MSF, the compound is gated and no staff members saw any fighters there or nearby.
"If there was a major military operation going on there, our staff would have noticed. And that wasn't the case when the strikes occurred," Christopher Stokes, the charity's general director, told CNN.
One nurse said in an article on the MSF website that he was sleeping in a safe room when he was awakened by a large explosion. The bombing lasted about an hour, Lajos Zoltan Jecs said.
As he went to help the wounded, he and others tried to save a doctor. He died on an office table, Jecs said. The nurse saw six patients who had burned to death in their beds. Another patient was dead on an operating table.
"I have no words to express this. It is unspeakable," he said.
Charity: We told everyone of our location
The charity, which had had been caring for hundreds already hurt in days of fighting, said it had told all warring parties the exact location of the trauma center, including most recently on Tuesday.
When the aerial attack occurred, 105 patients and their caretakers were in the hospital. More than 80 MSF international and national staff were present.
The U.S. special operations troops were in the area advising Afghan forces, the military official who was speaking anonymously said. The official stressed that the information about the probe was preliminary.
Pribus said a "manned, fixed-wing aircraft" conducted a strike "against individuals threatening the force" at 2:15 a.m. local time, and that the strike "may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility."
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan sharply condemned the airstrike.
"I condemn in the strongest terms the tragic and devastating air strike on the Médecins sans Frontières hospital in Kunduz early this morning, which resulted in the deaths and injury of medical personnel, patients and other civilians," said Nicholas Haysom, head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul expressed condolences on its Facebook page.
"The U.S. Embassy mourns for the individuals and families affected by the tragic incident at the Doctors Without Borders hospital, and for all those suffering from the violence in Kunduz," it read. The embassy praised the group's work as "heroic."
The International Committee of the Red Cross also expressed condemnation.
"Such attacks against health workers and facilities undermine the capacity of humanitarian organizations to assist the Afghan people at a time when they most urgently need it," said Jean-Nicolas Marti, Head of the ICRC delegation in Afghanistan.
Bullets broke windows and punctured the roof of the intensive care unit.
The Taliban captured Kunduz earlier this week in the group's biggest victory in 15 years. It was a major setback for Afghan forces.
Afghanistan said it reclaimed most of the city Thursday in a big operation backed by U.S. airstrikes.
But hours later, there were signs that the Taliban were back in Kunduz, a resident told CNN. Gunshots erupted near the airport.
Kunduz is a strategic hub on the main highway between Kabul and Tajikistan.
On Thursday, Taliban fighters also took the Warduj district of Badakhshan, east of Kunduz province.
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen Mark Hertling said it was common for facilities such as hospitals to give combatants their coordinates.
"The coalition air forces will put something called a no-fly area on that GPS coordinate, so you have a pinpoint dot on a map, where you say something is there ... don't hit it," Hertling said.
"But when the fluidness of the battlefield takes place and you have engagements with troops on the ground, sometimes there are mistakes," he said. | 0fake |
THE HORRIBLE END GAME: BERNIE SANDERS Calls for Socialized Medicine aka Single-Payer Healthcare [Video] | 1real | |
Trump claims Obama wiretapped him during campaign; Obama refutes it | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump accused predecessor Barack Obama on Saturday of wiretapping him during the late stages of the 2016 election campaign, but offered no evidence for an allegation which an Obama spokesman said was “simply false”. Trump made the accusation in a series of early morning tweets just weeks into his administration and amid rising scrutiny of his campaign’s ties to Russia. “How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!,” Trump wrote in one tweet. “I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!” The remarkable tussle between the current and former presidents just 45 days since the handover of power is the latest twist in a controversy over ties between Trump associates and Russia that has dogged the early days of his presidency. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded last year that Russia hacked and leaked Democratic emails during the election campaign as part of an effort to tilt the vote in Trump’s favor. The Kremlin has denied the allegations. Trump has accused officials in Obama’s administration of trying to discredit him with questions about Russia contacts. Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said it had been a “cardinal rule” of the Obama administration that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. “Neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false,” Lewis said in a statement. The statement did not address the possibility that a wiretap of the Trump campaign could have been ordered by Justice Department officials. Trump said the alleged wiretapping took place in his Trump Tower office and apartment building in New York, but there was “nothing found.” The White House did not respond to a request to elaborate on Trump’s accusations. Trump was spending the weekend at his Florida seaside resort, Mar-a-Lago. He was scheduled to meet with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly before a dinner with officials also including adviser Steve Bannon and White House Counsel Don McGahn, the White House said. Amid a political storm, Sessions on Thursday announced he would stay out of any probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election after it emerged he met last year with Russia’s ambassador, although he maintained he did nothing wrong by failing to disclose the meeting. A Trump spokeswoman said the president spent part of Saturday “having meetings, making phone calls and hitting balls” at his golf course in West Palm Beach. His supporters, meanwhile, staged small rallies in at least 28 of the country’s 50 states, most of which passed off peacefully. But there were clashes in the famously left-leaning city of Berkeley, California, where protesters from both sides hit each other over the head with wooden sticks. Trump’s tweets caught his aides by surprise, with one saying it was unclear what the president was referring to. Members of Congress said Trump’s accusations require investigation or explanation. Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican, described the allegations as serious and said the public deserved more information. He said in a statement it was possible that Trump had been illegally tapped, but, if so, the president should explain what sort of tap it was and how he knew about it. U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called Trump’s assertion a “spectacularly reckless allegation”. “If there is something bad or sick going on, it is the willingness of the nation’s chief executive to make the most outlandish and destructive claims without providing a scintilla of evidence to support them,” Schiff said in a statement. Former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes strongly denied Trump’s allegations: “No president can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you,” Rhodes wrote on Twitter. Trump’s administration has come under pressure from Federal Bureau of Investigation and congressional investigations into contacts between some members of his campaign team and Russian officials during his campaign. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he had no knowledge of any wiretapping but was “very worried” about the suggestion Obama had acted illegally and would also be concerned “if in fact the Obama administration was able to obtain a warrant lawfully about Trump campaign activity.” Several other Republicans again urged an investigation into a series of intelligence-related leaks. Obama imposed sanctions on Russia and ordered Russian diplomats to leave the United States in December over the country’s involvement in hacking political parties in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. Under U.S. law, a federal court would have to have found probable cause that the target of the surveillance is an “agent of a foreign power” in order to approve a warrant authorizing electronic surveillance of Trump Tower. Several conservative news outlets and commentators have made allegations in recent days about Trump being wiretapped during the campaign, without offering any evidence. Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned in February after revelations that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office. Flynn had promised Vice President Mike Pence he had not discussed U.S. sanctions with the Russians, but transcripts of intercepted communications, described by U.S. officials, showed that the subject had come up in conversations between him and the Russian ambassador. | 0fake |
Human Rights Watch: Nigerian Officials Raping Women, Girls Displaced By Boko Haram | Videos Human Rights Watch: Nigerian Officials Raping Women, Girls Displaced By Boko Haram “It is bad enough that these women and girls are not getting much-needed support for the horrific trauma they suffered at the hands of Boko Haram,” said Mausi Segun, senior Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It is disgraceful and outrageous that people who should protect these women and girls are attacking and abusing them.” | October 31, 2016 Be Sociable, Share! In this photo taken with an iPad on Friday, Jan. 31, 2014, women and children who survived attacks by Boko haram sits outside a compound at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church, in Wada Chakawa, Yola, Nigeria.. (AP Photo/ Ibrahim Abdulaziz)
ABUJA – Government officials and other authorities in Nigeria have raped and sexually exploited women and girls displaced by the conflict with Boko Haram. The government is not doing enough to protect displaced women and girls and ensure that they have access to basic rights and services or to sanction the abusers, who include camp leaders, vigilante groups, policemen, and soldiers.
In late July, 2016, Human Rights Watch documented sexual abuse, including rape and exploitation, of 43 women and girls living in seven internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. The victims had been displaced from several Borno towns and villages, including Abadam, Bama, Baga, Damasak, Dikwa, Gamboru Ngala, Gwoza, Kukawa, and Walassa. In some cases, the victims had arrived in the under-served Maiduguri camps, where their movement is severely restricted after spending months in military screening camps.
“It is bad enough that these women and girls are not getting much-needed support for the horrific trauma they suffered at the hands of Boko Haram,” said Mausi Segun , senior Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It is disgraceful and outrageous that people who should protect these women and girls are attacking and abusing them.”
Four of the victims told Human Rights Watch that they were drugged and raped, while 37 were coerced into sex through false marriage promises and material and financial assistance. Many of those coerced into sex said they were abandoned if they became pregnant. They and their children have suffered discrimination, abuse, and stigmatization from other camp residents. Eight of the victims said they were previously abducted by Boko Haram fighters and forced into marriage before they escaped to Maiduguri.
A situational assessment of IDPs in the northeast in July 2016 by NOI Polls, a Nigerian research organization, reported that 66 percent of 400 displaced people in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states said that camp officials sexually abuse the displaced women and girls.
Women and girls abused by members of the security forces and vigilante groups – civilian self-defense groups working with government forces in their fight against Boko Haram – told Human Rights Watch they feel powerless and fear retaliation if they report the abuse. A 17-year-old girl said that just over a year after she fled the frequent Boko Haram attacks in Dikwa, a town 56 miles west of Maiduguri, a policeman approached her for “friendship” in the camp, and then he raped her.
“One day he demanded to have sex with me,” she said. “I refused but he forced me. It happened just that one time, but soon I realized I was pregnant. When I informed him about my condition, he threatened to shoot and kill me if I told anyone else. So I was too afraid to report him.”
The Boko Haram conflict has led to more than 10,000 civilian deaths since 2009; the abductions of at least 2,000 people, mostly women and children and large groups of students, including from Chibok and Damasak; the forced recruitment of hundreds of men; and the displacement of about 2.5 million people in northeast Nigeria.
Women and children queue on September 15, 2016 to enter a nutrition clinic at an informal settlement in the outskirts of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, in northeastern Nigeria. © 2016 Getty Images
Irregular supplies of food, clothing, medicine, and other essentials, along with restricted movement in the IDP camps in Maiduguri, compounds the vulnerability of victims – many of them widowed women and unaccompanied orphaned girls – to rape and sexual exploitation by camp officials, soldiers, police, members of civilian vigilante groups, and other Maiduguri residents. Residents of the Arabic Teachers Village camp, Pompomari, told Human Rights Watch in July that the camp had not received any food or medicines since late May, just before the start of the month-long Muslim fast of Ramadan.
Restricted movement in the camps is contrary to Principle 14.2 of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement , which provides that internally displaced people have “the right to move freely in and out of camps and other settlements.”
In some cases, men used their positions of authority and gifts of desperately needed food or other items to have sex with women. A woman in a Dalori camp said residents get only one meal a day. She said she accepted the advances of a soldier who proposed marriage because she needed help in feeding her four children. He disappeared five months later when she told him she was pregnant.
Victims of rape and sexual exploitation may be less likely to seek health care, including psychological counselling, due to the shame they feel. Fewer than five of the 43 women and girls interviewed said they had received any formal counseling after they were raped or sexually exploited. A medical health worker in one of the camps, which has 10,000 residents, said that the number of people requiring treatment for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections has risen sharply, from about 200 cases when the camp clinic was established in 2014 to more than 500 in July 2016. The health worker said she believed that many more women could be infected but were ashamed to go to the clinic, and are likely to be suffering in silence without treatment.
The Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has direct responsibility for distributing aid, including food, medicine, clothes, and bedding, as well as managing the camps. Its national counterpart, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), supplies raw food and other materials for internally displaced people to the state agency under a memorandum of understanding.
Aid workers have warned since early 2016 that displaced women have been forced to exchange sex for basic necessities and that various elements, including members of the security forces in northeast Nigeria, have been subjecting some of them to sexual and gender-based violence. A Rapid Protection Assessment Report published in May by the Borno State Protection Sector Working Group, made up of national and international aid providers, identified sexual exploitation, rape, and other sexual abuse as major concerns in nearly all 13 camps and several local communities hosting displaced people in and around Maiduguri.
Following his visit to Nigeria in August, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Chaloka Beyani , said Nigeria’s government had “a tendency to downplay the problem of sexual violence and abuse” of internally displaced people. He expressed concern that this tendency “constitutes a hidden crisis of abuse with fear, stigma and cultural factors as well as impunity for perpetrators leading to under-reporting of abuse to the relevant authorities.”
Human Rights Watch wrote to several Nigerian authorities in August requesting comment on the research findings. The minister of women affairs and social development, Senator Aisha Jumai Alhassan, promised in a meeting with Human Rights Watch on September 5 to investigate the allegations and then respond. Her response has not yet been received at time of writing.
“Failure to respond to these widely reported abuses amounts to severe negligence or worse by Nigerian authorities,” Segun said. “Authorities should provide adequate aid in the camps, ensure freedom of movement for all displaced people, safe and confidential health care for survivors, and punish the abusers.”
Victims’ Accounts
Movement Restrictions, Food Shortages Fuel Sexual Abuse Most of the victims interviewed lived in camps for displaced people. While victims living at the Arabic Teachers’ Village camp said they were allowed to leave the camp for about eight hours daily, victims from other camps said that their movement was severely restricted. The women and girls became victims of rape and sexual exploitation when they accepted offers of friendship or marriage from men in positions of authority.
Rape A 16-year-old girl who fled a brutal Boko Haram attack on Baga, near the shores of Lake Chad, northern Borno in January 2015, said she was drugged and raped in May 2015 by a vigilante group member in charge of distributing aid in the camp:
He knew my parents were dead, because he is also from Baga. He would bring me food items like rice and spaghetti so I believed he really wanted to marry me. But he was also asking me for sex. I always told him I was too small [young]. The day he raped me, he offered me a drink in a cup. As soon as I drank it, I slept off. It was in his camp room.
I knew something was wrong when I woke up. I was in pain, and blood was coming out of my private part. I felt weak and could not walk well. I did not tell anyone because I was afraid. When my menstrual period did not come, I knew I was pregnant and just wanted to die to join my dead mother. I was too ashamed to even go to the clinic for pregnancy care. I am so young! The man ran away from the camp when he heard I delivered a baby six months ago. I just feel sorry for the baby because I have no food or love to give him. I think he might die.
An 18-year-old girl from Kukawa, a Borno town 112 miles from Maiduguri, the state capital, said that a member of Civilian Joint Task Force – a self-defense vigilante group working with government forces in their fight against Boko Haram – initially gave her privileges, including passes that allowed her to leave the camp, but then raped her:
The man started with preaching, telling me to be a good Muslim girl and not to join bad groups in the camp. He then sent his mother to propose to me, which convinced me that he was serious. He allowed me to go outside the camp when necessary. When he asked me to visit his newly allocated room in the camp, I didn’t see any reason not to go because I felt safe with him. He gave me a bottle of Zobo [locally brewed non-alcoholic drink] and I immediately felt dizzy and slept off. I don’t know what happened thereafter but when I woke up he was gone and I was in pain and felt wet between my legs. For three days I could not walk properly.
Some weeks later I fell very ill, and was told at the hospital that I was pregnant. Then everyone turned away from me: [He] refused to help me, and my step-mother who I lived with in camp pushed me out, saying I was a disgrace. I reported [him] to the police in camp several times but they have not done anything to him because they work together. Whenever I see him, I wish something terrible will happen to him. It is because of him that I have lost everything. I don’t even think the baby will last because she is always crying and I can’t cope. I pray that God will forgive me for neglecting the baby but I am helpless.
Sexual Exploitation A 30-year-old woman from Walassa, near Bama, about 43 miles west of Maiduguri, said that she fled into a nearby wooded area after Boko Haram fighters killed her husband and abducted her daughters, ages 12 and 9. She stayed there for three months, hoping to find a way to rescue her daughters, until Nigerian government soldiers arrived in the area and the fighters escaped with their captives:
A few weeks after soldiers transported us to the camp, near Maiduguri, one of the soldiers guarding us approached me for marriage. He used to bring food and clothes for me and my remaining four children, so I allowed him to have sex with me. He is a Hausa man from Gwoza. That is all I know about him. Two months later he just stopped coming. Then I realized I was pregnant. I feel so angry with him for deceiving me. When he was pretending to woo me he used to provide for me, but as soon as I agreed and we began having sex, his gifts began to reduce until he abandoned me. Now my situation is worse as the pregnancy makes me sick, and I have no one to help me care for my children.
A woman from Bama living at the same camp said:
The soldier showed his interest by bringing me food and clothes. He used to wear the green army uniform and carried a gun. I accepted him because I needed help to take care of me and my four children. Feeding in the camp is only once a day so you have to accept any help that comes. We started having sex in my camp tent – my sister who was sharing it with me left – or at night in the open field where soldiers stay in the camp. Five months later when I realized I was pregnant and told him, he stopped coming. I have not seen him since then. I feel so ashamed because my neighbors talk and stare at me. I cry whenever I think about him. I delivered the baby two months ago but he is also suffering – I eat once a day so [am] not producing enough milk to breast feed him well. Things are so bad in the camp, there is not enough water or food.
An 18-year old girl from Baga said when she met a member of the Civilian Joint Task Force in the camp, she felt she could trust him because he is also from Baga:
He took me from the camp to a house on Baga Road so we could meet freely. I stayed with him in that house for about one month. Then I fell ill, and went to a clinic. The people at the clinic asked for the person I was living with, and invited him. That was when they told him I was pregnant, and he accepted the pregnancy. But immediately [when] we came out of the clinic he took me to a man to abort the pregnancy. I refused and he said if I would not abort we should separate. Then I moved to the camp. I gave birth almost a year ago but the man has refused to take responsibility. Some months ago he followed the military to catch Boko Haram far from Maiduguri. Even when he visits his two wives in the camp he never asks for me and my baby. I go outside the camp to beg so that we can survive.
A 25-year-old woman at from Dikwa said that when she fled Boko Haram’s attack on the town, she lived with her brother in a rented apartment in Maiduguri. When he was no longer able to feed her and her three children, he took her to the camp where he handed her over to camp elders. One of these elders, a local government employee – who are often financially better off than most displaced people because they receive salaries – proposed marriage and regularly brought her food and money. But the marriage did not materialize, and he began to shun her when she became pregnant. He continued to ignore her when she delivered twins and asked him for money to pay for her midwife. The woman said:
If I have a gun, I will shoot him. It is because of him that people call me and my babies names. I am so ashamed that I cannot participate in camp activities and keep to myself because of the jeers.
A 17-year-old girl said that a young man she knew took her home to his grandmother when she arrived Maiduguri from Dikwa in mid-2014:
He told me he wanted to marry me, and his grandmother referred to me as her grandson’s wife. I lived with them, cooking and cleaning the house, until a month later when he disappeared for weeks. The grandmother asked me to leave, promising to come to the wedding… It was a lie. I did not know it but I was already pregnant. Maybe she already saw the pregnancy signs and I was too young to understand. I heard the grandson fled the town because he heard I have given birth. Now I have been left alone to fend for the baby. I don’t know if any other member of my family survived the Boko Haram attack on Dikwa.
Restricted Movement A 32-year-old woman from the Damasak said:
Life is terrible here in this camp. For the past three days we have not eaten because there is no firewood to cook the food. To make it worse, they will not even allow us to go out to fend for ourselves. Most times you have to beg the camp officials to intervene with the guards before they will give you the pass to go out. Why will you refuse if any of those people ask you for marriage? You have to survive.
Another camp resident, a 47-year-old mother of eight from Abadam, a northern Borno town, said:
We used to get food at least twice a day when I first arrived at the camp in 2014. But now, sometimes we get nothing at all. We can’t even buy food ourselves because they will not let us go out. My relatives in the town have to plead with camp officials for hours before the officials will agree to let them give us some money or foodstuff from the little they have.
A 20-year-old widowed mother of one at a camp for displaced people said:
I have been refusing marriage proposals from the men in camp because I see how they are deceiving others. I am just not sure how long I can remain in this situation. The last time I ate was four days ago when the one cup of maize I was given finished. I am suffering because I have no husband or anyone else to assist me.
A 16-year-old single mother of one in the same camp said:
Life is difficult in the camp, hardly enough to eat. There is food but whoever gets it, gets it. We are not allowed to go out to find work or get extra food. Sometimes I go to the kitchen to scrape pots to get something to eat. They distribute tickets, some get tickets and some don’t get. If you don’t get a ticket you get no food. The IDP elders distribute the tickets, so they distribute amongst themselves, they make sure their families get first. Usually distribution of tickets take place at odd times such as at midnight.
If you are not married, you hardly get anything that comes in. Women who have husbands insult us: “If you want to eat in [this camp], you should get married in [the camp] so husbands can get food for you.”
Military Screening Centers Displaced women from several communities re-captured from Boko Haram by the Nigerian army, including Baga, Bama, and Gwoza, told Human Rights Watch in Maiduguri that the Nigerian military operated screening centers where they interrogated local people to determine how much involvement they had with militants. While some women are screened in a few days, others are interrogated daily for months before being released to a camp. Witnesses said the interviewees were separated by gender, but that male soldiers interrogated everyone.
A woman who escaped her Boko Haram abductors in Sambisa with her three children while four months pregnant described their reception after an eight-hour trek back to her home town of Bama, then under government control:
Soldiers were already back in Bama when we arrived. They took us to a primary healthcare center near the entrance into Bama to search and question us. We thought they would soon let us go, but they locked us with other women (about 20 people) for more than three months. They bring us out one by one every day to ask whether we joined Boko Haram freely or they forced us. Many of us were naked or in rags until about one month later soldiers took us to town to search for clothes among the burnt ruins of houses in the town. I was very ill because of the pregnancy. After the third month passed they drove us in lorries to Maiduguri, and dropped off sick ones like me in the hospital.
A 20-year-old woman who was abducted in Gwoza by Boko Haram, and then escaped, said:
I was three months pregnant from the Boko Haram fighter that raped me when I escaped Gwoza with my three children. Our relief on arriving at Maiduguri after a two-day trek was crushed when soldiers arrested us. They took us to Giwa barracks, where we saw up to 300 other women and children. Soldiers used to question us every day until my children and I were released four months later.
There appears to be at least one other screening center around Maiduguri, Human Rights Watch found. A 17-year-old girl from Dikwa was held in a place she described as “a compound with about five buildings just before you enter Maiduguri proper.” She was allowed to receive visitors for the month she was there before being cleared by the military to enter Maiduguri.
Lack of Mental Health Support for Victims Many of the women and girls interviewed said that their experiences affected their psychological well-being. Some said they had difficulty sleeping, and deliberately isolated themselves to avoid insults and slurs. Many also said they felt constantly angry with their abusers, wishing they could harm them in retaliation. None said they had professional counselling.
A 30-year-old woman from Gwoza said:
I feel sad all the time. I am always thinking about all the bad things that have happened to me. Sometimes I cry; at other times I try to resign to my fate. But it is hard. My neighbors in the camp encourage me to pray. That is all I can do, pray.
A 16-year-old rape survivor said she was always thinking about death, and wished she had the courage to kill herself:
Nobody comes to this camp to talk to us. We IDPs only have one another, but even that is hard because you do not know who to trust. If you tell them your secret pain or shame, they can use it to mock you later.
A 28-year-old woman who survived rape and became pregnant by a Boko Haram insurgent said she developed hypertension from constantly thinking about her ordeal and imagining ways she could take revenge on him. Doctors have told her during hospital visits outside the camp to stop thinking about the past so she can get better. She was not referred to a counselor.
This report was released by Human Rights Watch. Be Sociable, Share! | 1real |
Exclusive: Japan to delay multi-billion dollar fighter jet development - sources | TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will delay a decision to develop a new advanced fighter jet, four sources said, as military planners struggle to settle on a design and officials splash out on new U.S. equipment such as ballistic missile interceptors and F-35 stealth planes. Faced with a growing military threat from North Korea and increased activity by Chinese air force jets over the East China Sea, Japan is under pressure to improve its defenses on two fronts. Any delay to the new fighter, known as the F-3, will raise a question mark over the future of what could be one of the world s most lucrative upcoming military contracts, estimated at more than $40 billion to develop and deploy. A decision after the first half of 2018 would be too late for it to be included as a core program in a new five-year defense equipment plan beginning April 2019 that Japan will reveal at the end of next year. The direction is for the F-3 decision to be put back, said one the sources who have knowledge of the discussion. The people who spoke to Reuters asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to talk to the media. They said the decision, on whether to forge ahead as a domestic program or seek international collaboration, would now likely come after 2018. Regarding the F-3 decision, including whether we will delay a choice, we have haven t come to any conclusion, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence Acquisition Technology & Logistics Agency said. Analysts estimate developing the F-3 could cost $40 billion, a figure described another source as an initial cost. With a defense budget of around $50 billion that has increased in the past few years at just under an annual 1 percent, that outlay, even spread out over years of development, represents a major undertaking. It would come at a time when Japan is spending a record amounts on U.S. equipment, including Lockheed Martin Corp s F-35 jet, Raytheon defense missiles and Boeing Co and Textron Inc s tilt-rotor Osprey troop aircraft. In 2013, Japan procured 118 billion yen ($1 billion) of equipment through the U.S. government s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) system. By last year, that outlay had quadrupled to 486 billion yen. President Donald Trump in Tokyo last week called on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to purchase additional U.S.-made weapons as his administration pushes Washington s allies to contribute more to their joint defense. For now, that defense is focused on countering the threat posed by North Korean ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. Japan s defense forces, however, want the F-3 to counter growing Chinese air power in the skies over the western Pacific and East China Sea where Tokyo and Beijing are locked in a territorial dispute. Japanese fighters scrambled a record 806 times to intercept Chinese planes in the year that ended March 31. A second role for the yet-to-be-built fighter is to reinforce Japan s defense industry by giving Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and its suppliers their first fighter jet program since Japan built its F-2 fighter two decades ago. Mitsubishi Heavy, the maker of the World War Two-era Zero fighter, in January 2016 tested a prototype jet, the ATD-X. Developed for around $350 million, it was seen as the first step toward a new homegrown frontline stealth fighter. While support for a domestic-only program is strong among some government officials, other bureaucrats are worried about the potentially enormous expense of developing components from scratch. They support international collaboration to share costs with overseas partners and tap their technology. What we have now is a flying box without all the systems that constitute a fighter such as weapons and sensors, said another of the sources. Possible overseas partners include BAE Systems, a leading designer of the high-altitude Eurofighter interceptor backed by the British government, F-35 builder Lockheed Martin and Boeing, maker of the F-18 strike fighter. All have responded to initial requests for information from Ministry of Defence overseeing F-3 plans. | 0fake |
Comments of the Week: Here Comes Trouble | Comments of the Week: Here Comes Trouble Posted on Oct 26, 2016 torbakhopper / CC BY-ND 2.0
As is to be expected, if not applauded, the closer we get to the Nov. 8 election, the more debates and divisions have appeared in discussions about the headlines of the moment.
During the week that ranged from Oct. 16-23, those headlines included additional revelations from WikiLeaks’ trove of Pedesta emails regarding Hillary Clinton’s campaign, as well as various writers’ takes on how to vote this time around, and news of the ongoing Dakota Access pipeline protest.
As for the how-to-vote issue, Jonathan Mitchell posted a short and direct comment under this story about Clinton’s famous hawkishness when it comes to envisioning and enacting American foreign policy on the world stage:
Reader Helen Hanna, like many others who took in Robert Reich’s piece titled “The Incalculable Damage of Doing Whatever It Takes to Win,” noticed and remarked upon Reich’s gloss-over of Democratic Party leaders’, and in particular Hillary and Bill Clinton’s, proclivity for doing damage in the interest of maintaining power:
That said, it’s not as though commenters were about to give Donald Trump a pass, either. Take Ignatius J. Reilly’s rejoinder to Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway’s “5-point plan to defeat Islam,” as Trump and his team conceived of it (and Juan Cole wrote of it):
Touché.
Another point of contention on the comment boards last week had to do with how to evaluate WikiLeaks’, and by extension Julian Assange’s, latest release of documents in the Pedesta emails. Though some commentators like Naomi Klein and Glenn Greenwald have spoken up about particular aspects of WikiLeaks’ current m.o., in the thread under Alexander Reed Kelly’s Truthdigger of the Week column on Assange , reader JJG noted how, like him or not, Assange and his organization are providing a public service that professionals working in the mainstream press (who are supposed to be skilled in curating and redacting sensitive material) are not generally delivering on these days:
We’ll give Opa Westphal the last word this time, ending on an up note (in terms of the shout-out to other commenters) and a cautionary note at the same time. This one was posted under Chris Hedges’ latest column , “How Power Works”: | 1real |
Spain to suspend Catalonia's autonomy in response to independence threat | MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spain s central government said on Thursday it would suspend Catalonia s autonomy and impose direct rule after the region s leader threatened to go ahead with a formal declaration of independence if Madrid refused to hold talks. In an act unprecedented since Spain returned to democracy in the late 1970s, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he would hold a special cabinet meeting on Saturday that could trigger the move. The Socialist opposition said it backed the government but suggested the measures should be limited in scope and time. Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, ignoring a 10 a.m. deadline to drop his secession campaign, wrote a letter to Rajoy threatening a formal declaration of independence. The war of words increased uncertainty over a standoff that has raised fears of social unrest, cut growth prospects for the euro zone s fourth-largest economy and rattled the euro. If the government continues to impede dialogue and continues with the repression, the Catalan parliament could proceed, if it is considered opportune, to vote on a formal declaration of independence, Puigdemont said. Catalonia, which has a distinctive culture and language, triggered Spain s biggest political crisis for decades with a secession bid it put to a referendum on Oct 1. Only 43 percent of voters participated but those who did voted overwhelmingly to secede, while opponents of secession mostly stayed home. Spanish courts have ruled the referendum illegal, but Puigdemont says the result is binding and must be obeyed. The European Union declined to help mediate, saying the crisis was for Madrid and Barcelona to resolve. Member states are clear there is no room or space for any kind of mediation, European Council President Donald Tusk told a news conference during an EU leaders summit in Brussels. The regional authorities have not made clear how and when a declaration of independence would take place and whether it would be endorsed by the regional assembly. Some pro-independence lawmakers have said they want to hold a vote in the Catalan parliament to lend it a more solemn character. Rajoy plans to invoke Article 155 of the 1978 constitution, which allows taking control of a region if it breaks the law. A senior government source said the exact measures would be agreed on Saturday and probably voted through the upper house Senate on Oct. 30, giving the secessionists a few days of leeway to respond before Madrid takes control. The regional authorities could use that time to split unilaterally, call elections in the hope of strengthening their mandate, or back down, although this is seen as highly unlikely. From the moment the measures are known, the regional government knows what s going to happen and has a period of time to act until 155 can be acted upon, the source said. Spanish stocks, bonds and the euro all suffered in early trade, but recovered, a bounce some strategists attributed to a sense that Madrid had the upper hand in the standoff. The terms of Article 155 are vague and could spur more wrangling with the restive region. The government will use all the tools available to restore as soon as possible the law and the constitutional order, recover peaceful cohabitation between citizens and stop the economic damage that the legal uncertainty is creating, government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said in a statement. Rajoy s team met members of the socialist party to coordinate their next steps. A spokesman for the Socialists said while they fully stood behind the government they would insist Article 155 is applied in the most proportionate way. Madrid s options range from closing down the regional parliament and expelling lawmakers, to a softer and more targeted approach, the government source said. Theoretically, the central administration could take control of the region s finances and police, and call a snap election. But some members of the Catalan government have already questioned this interpretation of the constitution, suggesting the stand-off could extend for at least several more days. Carles Riera, a lawmaker from the pro-independence CUP party whose 10 deputies are vital to Puigdemont s coalition, said dialogue with the Spanish state now looked impossible, and called on the leader to formalize a declaration of independence. From our point of view, the sooner this happens the better, Riera told Reuters in the Catalan capital Barcelona. Impatience is also setting in among residents of the port city. Merche, 55, who voted for secession in the referendum, said she was tired of the political to-and-fro. People want a resolution. Go for one thing or the other, but leave people in peace to carry on with their routine and their work, she said, rearranging lettuces on her market stall. Puigdemont has already defied Rajoy once this week, when he ignored a first deadline to drop the independence campaign and instead called for talks. Rajoy says the Catalan government has repeatedly broken the law, including when it held the banned referendum and when it made a symbolic declaration of independence on Oct. 10, only to suspend it seconds later. Puigdemont says a violent police crackdown during the referendum and arrests of pro-independence leaders on charges of sedition show the Spanish state has become authoritarian. | 0fake |
White House Says It’s Releasing Hillary’s Private Concession Call To Trump In Bid To Humiliate Her | Trump s emotionally unbalanced social media director and close friend Dan Scavino had what can only be described as a mental break and is now threatening to publish a video of the private concession call she placed to Trump (and appears to have been answered by Kellyanne Conway).To do so would be not only a major ethical violation but would break with the long-standing tradition of the winners showing an ounce of graciousness towards their opponents. Trump and his team apparently have no qualms with stooping this low. If there is a point of indignity even they will not cross, they have yet to reach it.Scavino has long relished in his role as Trump s nastiest bulldog. His position as White House social media director was handed to him, not due to experience or expertise but because he was Trump s golf caddie. In a White House bursting with nepotism and corruption, Scavino might be the least qualified person around an impressive feat. He is also known for his viciousness and an unhinged streak of petty attacks on his or Trump s perceived enemies follows wherever he goes. Clinton, who won the popular vote by several million, still irritates Trump and therefore she is an enemy Scavino feels he needs to destroy.For his part, Scavino claims he is being trolled by Hillary supporters. A notable coward, he couldn t take the heat and began melting down on social media. (The irony of Trump s social media director being unable to handle being on social media should not be lost on anyone.)After posting this nonsensical I m not mad, you re mad! tweet, Scavino followed it up with the promise to release Hillary s concession phone call.Love @AlexBWall & team Clinton trolling me (b/c they have nothing else going on.) All experts & gurus over there . that simply got owned! pic.twitter.com/R8so2rZCwN Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) May 9, 2017Screen shot via @KellyannePolls cell phone- of Huma's call at 2:30amE .6 months ago. I have on video & will share that in the near future. pic.twitter.com/Mzy2o8XXwQ Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) May 9, 2017It s hard to quantify the sheer level of petty vindictiveness going on in the White House. Trump s team of enablers and yes-men run from one squabble to the next. Very little time appears to be spent on actual governance, with a lot of their energy being consumed with in-fighting. Bannon is fighting with Jared Kushner. Kushner is fighting with Priebus. Kellyanne Conway is missing? McMasters is fighting with Bannon. Instead of leading by example, Trump is off golfing or wandering around aimlessly with a copy of the election map under his arm. Trump ran an experiment: What would happen if I filled the nation s highest office with the least reputable, most angry, insecure people in the country? The answer: This shitshow is exactly what happens.The only goal of Scavino releasing the private tape of Trump and Clinton s phone call is to personally humiliate Hillary Clinton. There is no political, social, or practical reason to do this. Even by the admittedly low standards of restraint and goodwill on display by Trump s White House, this is disgusting. Sadly, with Trump consumed by his efforts to smear Sally Yates, it appears unlikely that he will intervene and save his administration from yet another self-inflicted blow to their own dignity.I would say this is the foxes running the henhouse but it would be unfair to suggest foxes lack this amount of shame.Featured image via CNN | 1real |
American Revolution Has Now Begun, May Last Entire Decade |
A sobering new Security Council ( SC ) analytical report on the US presidential election states that a new American Revolution has begun which today’s popular vote is just the beginning of; and that could fully last up to an entire decade, especially if this election is stolen from Donald Trump. [Note: Some words and/or phrases appearing in quotes in this report are English language approximations of Russian words/phrases having no exact counterpart.]
According to this report, Federation intelligence analysts in their “deciphering/uncovering” what the current US presidential election is really all about have heavily relied on “outliers” [a thing situated away or detached from the main body or system] such as artificial intelligence ( AI ) models, social media trends and psychological analysis of the American electorate.
This report notes that the Security Councils use of these “outliers” to both understand and explain what is occurring during this US presidential election provides the only proven scientific evidence of what is occurring as the so called polling data used by the American propaganda media has been proven to be nothing more than a manipulation device used to keep people from voting for or supporting the anti-establishment candidate Donald Trump.
Examples of this being true, this report explains, lie in too many examples to fully cite—but includes the once respected Monmouth University poll found manipulating data to favor Hillary Clinton , news networks NBC and CBS found manipulating polling data to show Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump when she was actually losing , and CNN manipulating their poll data to favor Hillary Clinton too .
Unlike manipulated polling data showing Hillary Clinton will win this election, however, this report continues, the objective and independent scientific “outliers” used by Security Council research analysts show not only Donald Trump winning—but winning in a landslide victory.
Evidence proving this assertion of a Donald Trump US presidential win, this report notes, lies first with artificial intelligence analysis—that includes the MogIA supercomputer showing Trump winning in landslide and showing he is more popular than President Obama , and a just released AI computer simulation showing Trump winning with 289 electoral votes compared to Clinton’s 249 .
Social media trend lines in this election, likewise, proves a Donald Trump landslide win in this election, this report continues, as his Facebook-Twitter-Instagram-YouTube “presence” dwarfs Hillary Clinton’s by a staggering 74 million —and that is further validated by the over 700,000 Americans who have come to his campaign rallies, as opposed to the barely 60,000 that have attended Hillary Clinton’s .
Most fascinating though of the “outliers” used in this Security Council report is the psychological analysis of the American electorate conducted by a virtually unknown US political project called “ We Need Smith ”—whose scientifically conducted studies shockingly proved that anyone from a liberal Democrat, to a conservative Republican was able to win the US presidency as long as they promised to destroy the corrupt political system currently ruling America .
The “We Need Smith” project, this report explains, is named after a popular US Great Depression era movie called Mr. Smith Goes To Washington about a newly appointed United States Senator who fights against a corrupt political system—and that during this present US presidential election only Donald Trump and US Senator Bernie Sanders fit the mold of.
Critical to note about the “We Need Smith” project too, this report continues, is that it was co-founded by the legendary American pollster Patrick Caddell —who almost singlehandedly was responsible for putting President Jimmy Carter in office in 1976, but also presided over Carter’s unprecedented defeat in 1980 at the hands of the US establishments most hated candidate Ronald Reagan.
Seeking to understand how President Carter could go from victory to defeat in just 4 years, this report details, Patrick Caddell spent the past nearly 4 decades examining it—and coming to the scientific conclusion that the conventional wisdom that America is absolutely divided into warring tribes is simply not true, they are all just tired of being lied to .
In fact, this report continues, Caddell’s research proved that the American political battleground is no longer over ideology but instead is all about insurgency—and with a staggering 84% of the American public believing that the elites live by a different set of rules and laws than ordinary people do , anyone running against them is assured victory.
Interestingly to note too, this report says, is Caddell’s scientific analyses showing that the hatred of the American people towards their elites comes from both the left and right —and as evidenced by the equal explosive political movements known as Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party insurgencies .
This report grimly concludes, however, with a warning that Soviet Communist leader Joseph Stalin’s attributed statement—“ Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything. ”—may, indeed, be active in the present US presidential election after newly released secret documents revealed that Hillary Clinton’s main supporter, multi-billionaire George Soros, has not only been manipulating the entire American election system , but one of his companies is, also, providing vote county software to 16 States ( they’ve since denied )—and that should Donald Trump have this election stolen from him the people of that nation will most surely revolt.
Source
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Republican Gene Simmons Just Said Something Truly Horrible About Prince | When iconic musical artist Prince died last month, the music world and anyone who cares about music suffered an unspeakable loss. Well, most of the music world. Kiss frontman Gene Simmons had some choice words on Prince s death, and they really only point to what a despicable human being Simmons is. Bowie was the most tragic of all because it was real sickness. All the other ones were a choice, Simmons said. Drugs killed [Prince]. What do you think, he died from a cold? I think Prince was heads, hands and feet above all the rest of them. I thought he left [Michael] Jackson in the dust. Prince was way beyond that. But how pathetic that he killed himself. Don t kid yourself, that s what he did. Slowly, I ll grant you but that s what drugs and alcohol is: a slow death. Source: Consequence of Soundattends Relativity Media s Movie 43 Los Angeles Premiere held at the TCL Chinese Theatre on January 23, 2013 in Hollywood, California.Before we tear apart Simmons, let s dissect his comments. As Lorraine Berry of Raw Story noted, Prince did not die from drugs (the coroner s report has not yet come in the cause of death is still speculative), he died of chronic pain, which is epidemic in itself. Prince had had double hip surgery. Nearly everyone takes pain pills after major surgery like that. It s the job of his doctor to monitor the pain and the drug use.As for drugs being a slow death, yes, they are, but so is eating too much, drinking too much, and sometimes, even exercising too much. Everyone dies and many people, if not most people, had done things in the past that might have led to their deaths, so let s stop stigmatizing people who mistreat their bodies in what s considered the wrong way. Besides, addiction is a disease. Blaming the addict for becoming addicted to a drug his doctor told him to take is like blaming a dog when its owner doesn t teach him how to act.As for Simmons, well, he s a Trump supporter. He loves that Trump says obnoxious things and that people don t care. He doesn t want your money. This guy funds his own campaign, and he is going to say things that tens of millions of people actually say quietly because politically it s incorrect. Source: BreitbartHe claimed to have voted for Obama in 2008 (trolls say that also), but he is now ashamed. In 2012, he backed Romney. He also voted for George W. Bush, who tried to slowly kill our country.This was not the first time Simmons opined about drugs and even about depression. I don t get along with anybody who s a drug addict and has a dark cloud over their head and sees themselves as a victim, Simmons said. Drug addicts and alcoholics are always: The world is a harsh place. My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. I don t want to hear f k all about the world as a harsh place. She gets up every day, smells the roses and loves life. And for a putz, 20-year-old kid to say, I m depressed, I live in Seattle. F k you, then kill yourself. He added: I never understand, because I always call them on their bluff. I m the guy who says Jump! when there s a guy on top of a building who says, That s it, I can t take it anymore, I m going to jump. Are you kidding? Why are you announcing it? Shut the f k up, have some dignity and jump! You ve got the crowd. Source: Radio.comYep, he s an ass.Featured image of Prince by John Sciulli with Getty Images. Featured image of Gene Simmons by Alberto Rodriguez at Getty Images. | 1real |
Western QLD Drovers Show Solidarity With C.U.B Workers By Only Drinking Sauv Blanc – The Betoota Advocate | Follow on Facebook Print This Post
CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
The nationwide boycott of all Carlton United Brewery products reached new heights over the weekend, after it was revealed that a camp of ringers in Queensland’s Channel Country have only been drinking Sauvignon Blanc for the last five weeks.
They join a growing political movement of punters that are abstaining from drinking any of Australia’s highest-selling beer brands, in a showing of support for 55 workers who lost their jobs at Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) in June. These men and women are also known as the #CUB55.
The maintenance workers lost their jobs after CUB terminated a machine maintenance contract with employer Quant, they were then offered their jobs back again at a 65% lower wage, after penalty rates and other entitlements.
E.H Pearson Cattle Company ‘s head stockman, Ronnie Austin says although he and his mates often punch on with the unionised Betoota shearing contractors, joining the CUB Boycott was a “no fucking brainer”.
“I’m usually not a big supporter of the Unions, but you can’t carry on the way these blokes have been”
“It’s fucking crook, mate”
Austin says it’s been hard work trying to avoid getting stuck into a few green demons at knock off after pushing cattle all day, but it’s their duty as fellow workers to support the CUB 55.
“It’s been tough. But we are all starting to get around the lively fruit flavours of the Jacob’s Creek Sauvignon Blanc”
“The passionfruit and citrus prevail across the palate, which is pretty much enhanced by the fresh natural acidity which provides vibrancy and length on the finish”
With the Mount Isa New Years Eve Rodeo as the next big event pencilled in on their calendars, Austin says the Betoota boys are prepared to throw down with anyone who questions their choice of drink.
“If CUB haven’t sorted this mess out by then, well yes of course we will still be drinking white wine on New Years Eve”
“If anyone has problem with it then they can come and talk to me and Rocko. It won’t be the first time we’ve had to bust heads in the Isa”
“In fact anyone who wants to drink VB around me better have a note from their doctor because It’s just bloody unaustralian”
It seems the CUB boycott has travelled across all cultures and state borders in Australia, with workers unions in Brisbane marching as well as hipster musicians now being forced to choose between supported the workers and drinking Melbourne Bitter ironically.
| 1real |
WATCH: Morning Joe Host Tells Kellyanne Conway To Go F*ck Herself, BANS Her From Show | Kellyanne Conway is definitely going to whine about this.CNN may have reversed their ban on Kellyanne Conway, but if Mika Brzezinski has her way, she won t ever be able to spread her lies on Morning Joe again.In the latest backlash against Donald Trump, the Morning Joe host declared that Kellyanne Conway will not be booked on the MSNBC program ever again because or her constant lies in defense of her tyrannical boss. I know for a fact she tries to book herself on this show, Brzezinski said on the air. I won t do it. I don t believe in fake news or information that is not true. That is every time I ve ever seen her on television something is askew, off, or incorrect. Indeed, Kellyanne Conway lies so much on every media outlet she appears on it s a wonder her nose hasn t grown like Pinocchio s.Ever since she joined Trump s campaign she has been whining about how the media covers Trump and has insisted that her lies are the truth. Fact-checkers have had to work overtime to make sure the American people know that she is lying.Joe Scarborough opined that Conway lies because she isn t as close with Trump as shes says she is. She s just saying things just to get in front of the TV to prove her relevance because behind the scenes she s not in these meetings and any reporter can ask anybody in that White House and they will say the same thing. She s not in these meetings. So why does the president allow her to keep going out and spreading false information? Apparently, Trump is hoping that if Kellyanne Conway keeping repeating the lies that Americans will accept them as the truth.But Mika Brzezinski refuses to take part in that effort, so she made it very clear that Conway will not be invited on to Morning Joe as long as she is hosting. Kellyanne Conway does not need to text our show, as long as I m on it, Brzezinski said. It s not happening here. Here s the video via YouTube.Conway has been an embarrassment since day one. Her most recent embarrassments include peddling Ivanka Trump s product line in violation of federal ethics rules and making up a terrorist attack in Bowling Green, Kentucky in defense of Trump s travel ban. Beyond that, she fumbles so much that we ve lost count.The media should ban Conway from appearing on all shows across the board. All she does is spread propaganda and false information, and if Scarborough is right that she really doesn t know what s going on inside the White House then she shouldn t be considered a source worthy of interviewing.Featured image via screenshot | 1real |
PLOT THICKENS: D.C. POLICE CHIEF Who Oversaw Seth Rich Murder Socialized With Top Democrats, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz | More and more evidence is revealed every day, that points to the real possibility that murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich was the person who leaked the DNC emails to Wikileaks, and that there is an all-out effort to cover it up, or completely dismiss it as a tin-foil hat theory by social media platforms, the leftist media and the Democrat Party. Twitter just suspended the WND account for posting a story that suggested disgraced DNC chief and top Democratic strategist Donna Brazile may have interceded in the Seth Rich murder investigation. In the WND exclusive story titled:Alicia Powe and Liz Crokin wrote the story that was also posted to and deleted from the social media platform by Twitter: Former Democratic National Committee interim chairwoman Donna Brazile is the high-ranking DNC representative who allegedly called police and the family of murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich and demanded to know why a private investigator was snooping into Rich s death, the private eye revealed to WND Monday. The high-ranking DNC official that called the police after I inquired about Rich s case was Donna Brazile, veteran homicide detective Rod Wheeler told WND. Why shouldn t I reveal who it was? Brazile, who was also a CNN contributor and a Hillary for America donor at the time, was caught providing Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton with questions that would later be asked of Clinton at a televised CNN town hall. In an interview with Fox News before the election, Brazile denied leaking the questions to Clinton. But in a March 17, 2017, column for Time magazine, she finally admitted doing so, saying it was a mistake I will forever regret. According to WND, their Twitter account was suspended because of this Seth Rich investigation bombshell. And now, Big League Politics is reporting associations the DC police chief who resigned only a month after Seth Rich was murdered ran in the same circles as many close to Hillary and top DNC officials. The police chief who oversaw Seth Rich s unsolved murder case has socialized and been honored alongside key Hillary Clinton advisers and even Rich s own boss at the Democratic National Committee. Rich is widely reported to be the source of Wikileaks damning 2016 email release that showed the DNC colluding to hand the nomination to Clinton at the expense of Bernie Sanders. He was gunned down in D.C. 12 days before Wikileaks release.On Sunday, July 10, 2016, at approximately 4:19 am, members of the Fifth District DC MPD were patrolling the area when they heard gunshots. Upon arrival on the scene, members located an adult male victim conscious and breathing, and suffering from gunshot wounds. The victim was transported to an area hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead.The decedent was identified as 27-year-old Seth Conrad Rich, of Northwest, DC.Controversy continues to swirl around the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich, that detectives working for the MPD under Chief Lanier called a botched robbery (even though nothing of any value appeared to have been stolen from Rich s body) after he was shot several times only blocks from his home.Former Metropolitan Police Department chief Cathy Lanier resigned from her post the month after Rich s murder to accept a position running security for the National Football League. She sits on the Washington Police Foundation board alongside Heather Podesta, the D.C. power broker who was married to Clinton campaign chief John Podesta s lobbyist brother Tony.In 2014, Lanier was honored on ELLE magazine s list of the ten most powerful women in Washington alongside top Hillary Clinton aide Cheryl Mills and longtime Clinton friend and informal adviser Neera Tanden. Other honorees included NARAL Pro-Choice America president Ilyse Hogue and Obama Cabinet official Penny Pritzker.Lanier did attend ELLE and Hugo Boss 2015 Women in Washington Power List dinner at the German ambassador s house. Here she is chatting with Clinton crony and Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe.Who else was at the dinner? None other than Amy Dacey, the CEO of the Democratic National Committee at the time of Seth Rich s murder, who resigned one month after the killing as the DNC was rocked with scandal.Who else was at the dinner? None other than then-DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. | 1real |
U.S. Senate confirms Iowa Governor Branstad as ambassador to China | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Monday to confirm Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, one of the U.S. politicians most closely acquainted with China, as President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Beijing. One of Branstad’s first challenges will be pushing China to take a harder line against North Korea, which said Monday it successfully tested what it called an intermediate-range ballistic missile, although U.S. officials and experts questioned the extent of the country’s progress. Branstad assured lawmakers during his confirmation hearing he would take a firm line with the Chinese government on issues from North Korea to trade disputes and human rights, despite years working closely with Chinese officials. Branstad said his long ties would help him push Beijing on difficult topics, including North Korea and thorny trade issues. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called Branstad, 70, an “old friend” after decades of dealings on agricultural trade during his long career in politics in Iowa, an important farming state. The vote was 82-13, with all 13 of the votes against the Republican president’s nominee coming from Democrats. Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Branstad had worked hard to push relations between Chinese and U.S. regions and China hoped he could play an even more positive role in increasing understanding and promoting relations once he takes office. The United States has been trying to persuade China to agree to new sanctions on North Korea, which has conducted dozens of missile firings and tested two nuclear bombs since the beginning of 2016. Trump has warned that a “major, major conflict” with North Korea is possible over its weapons programs, although U.S. officials say tougher sanctions, not military force, are the preferred option. Branstad’s move to Beijing will end his 22-year-long tenure as Iowa’s governor. The longest serving state governor in U.S. history, Branstad is currently serving his sixth nonconsecutive four-year term. He is due to be replaced in Des Moines by Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds, who would be the state’s first woman governor. | 0fake |
Kansas governor orders Planned Parenthood funding cut | (Reuters) - Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has ordered state officials to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood and its affiliates through the state Medicaid program, a move the organization said on Wednesday it would challenge in court. Brownback, a Republican, said in his state of the state address on Tuesday that he would direct the state health secretary to ensure that no taxpayer money go to Planned Parenthood, which he said trafficked in baby body parts. “No longer will we send the money of hard-working Kansans to fund an industry that disrespects life and violates the moral conscience of our people,” Brownback said in a statement. The governor’s statement was an apparent reference to videos secretly recorded by an anti-abortion group that activists said showed that Planned Parenthood officials in some states had discussed the sale of aborted fetal tissue. Planned Parenthood has denied any illegal payments, calling the videos distortions of the issue of fetal-tissue donations. The organization has said it has received only reimbursements for its costs, which are legal under U.S. law. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said it would issue a termination letter to Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. Laura McQuade, president and chief executive of the Kansas and Mid-Missouri Planned Parenthood, said the planned termination would result in a legal battle. “Kansans and their health care providers are not Mr. Brownback’s punching bag and we will fight back,” McQuade said. Federal funds cannot be used for abortions, but Planned Parenthood also provides Medicaid covered services such as contraception, cancer screening and other care. Several states have sought to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood following the release of the videos. Courts have blocked some of those attempts at least temporarily in Utah, Louisiana, Alabama and other states. | 0fake |
Chicago Cubs go 24 hours without winning a World Series | Thursday 3 November 2016 Chicago Cubs go 24 hours without winning a World Series
Fans are blaming ‘some kind of curse’ for the Cubs’ failure to win a single World Series since yesterday.
The team, which has now not won a Series in as long as many of their severely drunken, staggering fans can remember, is worried that their failure to buy some lucky white heather from a mysterious gypsy who called at Wrigley Field in the early hours of this morning has in some way jinxed their success.
Infielder Chris Bryant, who answered the door to the peculiar crone, reported that he told her he felt they’d got enough good luck already – and then the witch told him ‘A curse be on this place and all within!’ before vanishing in a cloud of stale, brimstone-scented smoke.
“And we’ve not won a World Series since,” he concluded in a worried tone. “What have I wrought upon the club?”
Board chairman Thomas Ricketts has apologised to the people of Chicago for the lack of trophies in the last day, but pledged he was doing his hardest to bring ‘some kind, any kind’ of award to the city to placate concerned supporters.
When told of the club’s failure to bring home any silverware in almost 24 hours, fan Simon Williams looked up groggily and replied “What? Uh, oh God, here we go again.
“Well, it was fun while it lasted.” Get the best NewsThump stories in your mailbox every Friday, for FREE! There are currently | 1real |
Henningsen: ‘Trump Challenging Sacred Cows of US Foreign Policy, But for How Long?’ | 21st Century Wire says Just days before the US inauguration, in his recent interview with the Times of London President-Elect Donald Trump continues to challenge a number of Washington foreign policy sacred cows, particularly neoconservative positions. He signalled a lifting of US sanctions against Russia in the spirit of cooperation in nuclear arms reductions and also to partner with Moscow in the fight radical Islamist Terror. Trump also laid into NATO calling it obsolete , while potentially driving a wedge between traditionally tight US-EU relations as he chastised Brussels, as well as US ally Germany and its leader Angela Merkel over her country s immigration policy. They have sanctions on Russia let s see if we can make some good deals with Russia. For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced very substantially, said Trump.Regarding a change in sanctions policy, Trump added, Something can happen that a lot of people are going to benefit. His off-handed comments on the EU will certainly upset career Mandarin europhiles in Brussels and Berlin too: You look at the European Union and it s Germany. Basically a vehicle for Germany. That s why I thought the UK was so smart in getting out. 21WIRE s Patrick Henningsen spoke to RT International about the policy signalling in Trump s interview and what it means going forward. How long will his rhetorical rebellion will last and will it translate into policy? Watch:. READ MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21WIRE Trump FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1real |
German voters punish FDP leader for coalition walkout: poll | BERLIN (Reuters) - German voters are punishing the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) for walking out of three-way coalition talks last month as a poll showed on Thursday support for the party falling and the popularity of its leader Christian Lindner tumbling. The FDP in mid-November quit exploratory talks to form a coalition government with Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives and the environmentalist Greens. Lindner said back then it was better not to govern than to govern the wrong way. Some observers speculated that the FDP had planned the move well in advance to boost its standing among voters from the center-right political spectrum and to show the party puts policy principles before power. But the monthly DeutschlandTrend survey, conducted by Infratest Dimap pollster for ARD public broadcaster, showed that support for the FDP fell 3 percentage points to 9 percent, making it the smallest party in parliament. Merkel s conservatives gained 2 percentage points to 32 percent, the Social Democrats (SPD) were unchanged at 21 percent. The far-right Alternative for Germany stood at 13 percent, followed by the Greens with 11 percent and the Left party with 10 percent. The popularity of FDP leader Lindner plunged 17 percentage points to only 28 percent. Merkel s popularity fell 3 percentage points to 54 percent, her lowest level in the survey since October 2016. The list of Germany s most popular politicians was topped by SPD Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel who shot up 8 percentage points to 65 percent. Greens co-leader Cem Ozdemir came in second with an approval rating of 57 percent. | 0fake |
Israeli Settlement Sees Friendly Faces in Trump Administration - The New York Times | BEIT EL, West Bank — There’s the Friedman Faculty House, the Rabbi Morris Friedman Center for Computer Sciences, a Friedman fitness room at a academy, a playground and a plaza. The plaques dedicating sites around Beit El, a religious Jewish settlement deep in the West Bank, attest to years of financial, emotional and family bonds nurtured by an American lawyer, David M. Friedman, and his wife, Tammy. Under previous administrations, American diplomats have been barred from setting foot in such settlements, viewed by most of the world as a violation of international law and branded by the Obama administration as “illegitimate. ” But Mr. Friedman, President Trump’s pick for ambassador to Israel, upends the conventional protocols and has espoused views to the right of Israel’s conservative prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Friedman, an Orthodox Jewish bankruptcy lawyer from Long Island, has rejected the internationally accepted solution for the conflict. And as president of the American arm of Beit El’s yeshiva complex, he has raised millions of dollars for its related institutions, including housing projects for teachers and students. He has made almost yearly visits there during the Jewish holiday Sukkot. In the days leading up to Mr. Netanyahu’s first meeting with Mr. Trump as president, and Mr. Friedman’s confirmation hearings, which are expected to start on Thursday, the mood in Beit El seemed to encapsulate all the uncertainty and contradictions manifested by the new administration. On the one hand, Mr. Trump publicly signaled last week that the administration had neared its limit with settlement expansion, saying in an interview that he did not believe it to be “a good thing for peace. ” But Mr. Trump’s foundation once made a $10, 000 donation to Beit El’s yeshiva institutions in honor of the Friedmans. And the parents of Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s and adviser, have donated generously, Yaakov Katz, a founder of Beit El and its enterprise, said in a radio interview in December. Swinging between hopes of almost unbridled settlement growth and skepticism, several residents said they were “cautiously optimistic. ” Located north of the Palestinian city of Ramallah, in the heartland of the territory of any future Palestinian state, Beit El is an ideological hotbed of the settler movement and has strong biblical associations. Its name is Hebrew for house of God, and some scholars have identified its location as the place where Jacob, the biblical patriarch, laid his head on a pillow of stones and dreamed of angels ascending and descending a ladder between heaven and earth. A large, upright stone on a terraced hillside on the edge of the settlement is revered as the one that Jacob slept on, then anointed with oil, after God appeared in the dream and promised all the land around to him and his progeny. Archaeological excavations in the area have found signs of ancient life. The Palestinian village of Beitin sits on a nearby hill. Mr. Netanyahu has said in the past that he would not evacuate Beit El under any agreement with the Palestinians, even though it lies outside the major settlement blocs that Israeli leaders have more generally insisted on keeping. Founded in 1977 on private Palestinian land originally seized by Israel for military purposes, the settlement was later approved by the Israeli courts under the rubric of general security. Now it is home to about 6, 500 people who mostly live in modest, or buildings. There are plans in the pipeline for at least 300 new apartments in buildings to be constructed on a rise by the entrance to the settlement. But the yeshiva complex has so far proven to be Beit El’s main engine of growth. Considered a prime institution of religious Zionism, the yeshiva is headed by Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed, a who has denounced homosexuality as a “perversion” and “a severe mental illness” and has ruled that it is forbidden for soldiers or police to participate in the evacuation of settlements. On a recent morning, dozens of yeshiva students in their late teens or early 20s were huddled over Talmudic texts, alone or in pairs, in the vast hall of a new building that was completed last year. “Beit El’s greatest ‘product’ is its educational institutions,” said Chaim Silberstein, a South resident and member of the local council who moved here as a yeshiva student in the 1980s. “It’s an industry. ” Mr. Katz, known as Ketzale, was the driving force behind the yeshiva, its religious high schools for boys and girls and the academy. A charismatic former member of the Israeli Parliament from a party, Mr. Katz, a staunch nationalist, is credited with building up the network in the United States and bringing in tens of millions of dollars. Mr. Friedman’s late father, Morris, commemorated on a plaque as a “founding member of Beit El,” was one of the first American Jews to meet Mr. Katz when he started going to the United States more than quarter of a century ago and could barely speak English, according to Mr. Silberstein. Another was Eugen Gluck, Beit El’s main American benefactor, whose name graces the settlement’s clinic. When Mr. Friedman’s nomination was announced, Mr. Katz praised him on his Facebook page as a pioneering philanthropist and settlement builder. Posting a photograph of the two of them on a boat, Mr. Katz described Mr. Friedman as “like a brother to me. ” Mr. Silberstein emphasized that the money was raised for the educational institutions, not the settlement itself — an important distinction for the contributions to qualify as donations to settlements under American tax laws. But the yeshiva complex is a multitentacled enterprise. Its institutions include the Arutz Sheva news site, for which Mr. Friedman has written a number of columns, and Besheva weekly. Arutz Sheva, which caters to Israel’s nationalist camp, started out as a pirate radio station broadcasting from a ship acquired by Mr. Katz. The yeshiva complex also runs a tour company and a rabbinical website. One of the stated goals of its online efforts, it says, is to “delegitimize the notion of the solution,” spreading its influence far beyond the geographical confines of Beit El. Then there is the real estate. Among the projects built to accommodate yeshiva staff members and students was the Ulpana neighborhood, which was partially evacuated in 2012 by court order because it was built illegally on private Palestinian land. According to the newspaper Haaretz, many fraudulent land deals in Beit El were subsequently found to have been covered up by forged documents. The government retroactively approved another project of 20 apartments in a building under construction when it announced thousands of new settlement housing units last month. Wedged between existing buildings, the project had to be redesigned because parts of it were also found to have encroached on land. Peace Now, an Israeli group, recently revealed that the latest plan was developed by the nonprofit Sukkat Ovadia Learning Center, another beneficiary of the Friends of the Beit El Yeshiva network, having received more than $600, 000 in 2015, according to its financial reports. Mr. Silberstein, the council member, said that old land records of the area were notoriously imprecise and that many, though not all, of the building irregularities were innocent mistakes. Mr. Friedman, he added, was a settlement builder in a “figurative” sense. “Any donor likes to think he’s a builder,” Mr. Silberstein said. “A donor doesn’t like to pay for salaries and food. ” Beit El’s other concerns are by comparison: a factory for tefillin, or phylacteries a bakeshop called Herby’s and some workshops for aluminum and carpentry. Local Palestinians are employed, mainly in construction. Even after 40 years, there is a constant tension between the temporary and the permanent. Mr. Silberstein said his “macro outlook” was to create a momentum in building throughout the West Bank that would lead to an “irreversible situation” and “solidify Israel’s presence in its historic homeland. ” At the micro level, he said, he hopes Beit El’s population will reach 10, 000 in the next five years and ensure that even in the event of any withdrawal from the territory, Beit El would end up within Israel’s borders. Elena Mordechai, a special education assistant and mother of nine, moved here from Jerusalem in the 1990s. She said her friends thought she was crazy to invest in Beit El then, when Israel and the Palestinians seemed poised to reach a territorial agreement. Now she puts her faith in God. “We trust that the one who is running things is the Holy One, blessed be he, up there,” she said. “Not Bibi,” she added, referring to Mr. Netanyahu by his nickname, “and not Trump. ” | 0fake |
Get Ready For Civil Unrest: Survey Finds That Most Americans Are Concerned About Election Violence | Get Ready For Civil Unrest: Survey Finds That Most Americans Are Concerned About Election Violence Time is rapidly slipping away and November 8th will be here before we know it Michael Snyder | Economic Collapse - October 27, 2016 Comments
Could we see violence no matter who wins on November 8th? Let’s hope that it doesn’t happen, but as you will see below, anti-Trump violence is already sweeping the nation.
If Trump were to actually win the election, that would likely send the radical left into a violent post-election temper tantrum unlike anything that we have ever seen before. Alternatively, there is a tremendous amount of concern on the right that this election could be stolen by Hillary Clinton. And as I showed yesterday, it appears that voting machines in Texas are already switching votes from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton . If Hillary Clinton wins this election under suspicious circumstances, that also may be enough to set off widespread civil unrest all across the country.
At this moment there is less than two weeks to go until November 8th, and a brand new survey has found that a majority of Americans are concerned “about the possibility of violence” on election day…
A 51% majority of likely voters express at least some concern about the possibility of violence on Election Day; one in five are “very concerned.” Three of four say they have confidence that the United States will have the peaceful transfer of power that has marked American democracy for more than 200 years, but just 40% say they are “very confident” about that.
More than four in 10 of Trump supporters say they won’t recognize the legitimacy of Clinton as president, if she prevails, because they say she wouldn’t have won fair and square.
But many on the left are not waiting until after the election to commit acts of violence. On Wednesday, Donald Trump’s star on the Walk of Fame was smashed into pieces by a man with a sledgehammer and a pick-ax…
Donald Trump took a lot of hits today, and not just in the Presidential race. With less than two weeks to go before America decides if the ex- Apprentice host will pull off a surprise victory over Hillary Clinton, Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was destroyed early Wednesday morning by a man dressed as a city construction worker and wielding a sledgehammer and pick-ax in what looks to be a Tinseltown first.
And there were two other instances earlier this year when Donald Trump’s star was also vandalized. One came in January, and the other happened in June …
This is of course not the first time the GOP candidate’s star has been attacked or defaced since Trump announced his White House bid in summer 2015. The most extreme measure was a reverse swastika being sprayed on the star at 6801 Hollywood Blvd in late January. In June this summer, a mute sign was painted on Trump’s star in a seemingly protest against the antagonistic language and policies some have accused Trump of promoting and reveling in during the campaign. In both cases, Trump’s star was quickly cleaned and back as new within a day.
We have seen anti-Trump violence on the east coast as well. Earlier this month, someone decided to firebomb the Republican Party headquarters in Orange County, North Carolina. On the building next to the headquarters, someone spray-painted “Nazi Republicans get out of town or else” along with a swastika.
There have also been other disturbing incidents of anti-Trump violence all over the nation in recent days. A recent Lifezette article put together quite a long list, and the following is just a short excerpt from that piece…
On Oct. 15 in Bangor, Maine, vandals spray-painted about 20 parked cars outside a Trump rally. Trump supporter Paul Foster, whose van was hit with white paint, told reporters, “Why can’t they do a peaceful protest instead of painting cars, all of this, to make their statement?”
Around Oct. 3, a couple of Trump supporters were assaulted in Zeitgeist, a San Francisco bar, after they were allegedly refused service for expressing support for Trump, GotNews reports. “The two Trump supporters were attacked, punched, and chased into the street by ‘some thugs’ that a barmaid called out from the back.” Lilian Kim of ABC 7 Bay Area tweeted a photo of the men, in which one was wearing a Trump T-shirt and the other was wearing a “Blue Lives Matter” shirt.
On Sept. 28 in El Cajon, California, an angry mob at a Black Lives Matter protest beat 21-year-old Trump supporter Feras Jabro for wearing a “Make America Great Again” baseball cap. The assault was broadcast live using the smartphone app Periscope.
There is a move to get Trump supporters to wear red on election day, but in many parts of America that might just turn his supporters into easy targets. Let’s certainly hope that we don’t see the kind of violent confrontations at voting locations that many experts are anticipating.
Of course there are also many on the right that are fighting mad, and a Hillary Clinton victory under suspicious circumstances may be enough to push them over the edge.
For example, this week former Congressman Joe Walsh said that he is “grabbing my musket” if Donald Trump loses the election…
Former Rep. Joe Walsh appeared to call for armed revolution Wednesday if Donald Trump is not elected president.
Walsh, a former tea party congressman from Illinois who is now a conservative talk radio host, tweeted, “On November 8th, I’m voting for Trump. On November 9th, if Trump loses, I’m grabbing my musket. You in?”
And without a doubt, many ordinary Americans are stocking up on guns and ammunition just in case Hillary Clinton is victorious. The following comes from USA Today …
“Since the polls are starting to shift quite a bit towards Hillary Clinton, I’ve been buying a lot more ammunition,” says Rick Darling, 69, an engineer from Harrison Township, in Michigan’s Detroit suburbs. In a follow-up phone interview after being surveyed, the Trump supporter said he fears progressives will want to “declare martial law and take our guns away” after the election.
Today America is more divided than I have ever seen it before, and the mainstream media is constantly fueling the hatred and the anger that various groups feel toward one another.
Ironically, Donald Trump has been working very hard to bring America together. In fact, he is solidly on track to win a higher percentage of the black vote than any Republican presidential candidate since 1960 .
If Hillary Clinton and the Democrats win on November 8th, things will not go well for Hillary Clinton’s political enemies. The Clintons used the power of the White House to go after their enemies the first time around, and Hillary is even more angry and more bitter now than she was back then.
And the radical left is very clear about who their enemies are. This is something that I discussed on national television earlier this month …
As I write this, it is difficult for me to even imagine how horrible a Hillary Clinton presidency would be.
But at this point that appears to be the most likely outcome .
Out of all the candidates that we could have chosen, the American people are about to put the most evil one by far into the White House.
Perhaps Donald Trump can still pull off a miracle and we can avoid that fate, but time is rapidly slipping away and November 8th will be here before we know it. NEWSLETTER SIGN UP | 1real |
The Mother Of All October Surprises—Why The House Of Cards Will Now Come Tumbling Down | The Mother Of All October Surprises---Why The House Of Cards Will Now Come Tumbling Down By David Stockman. FBI Director Comey's Friday afternoon letter to Congress about new email evidence was a lot more than a "bombshell". It was the equivalent of an election-cycle DEFCON 1. That's because Comey has to be a desperate man doing the very last thing imaginable. To wit, blowing up the establishment which he has obeisantly served for the last three decades. | 1real |
Croatia parliament debates government no-confidence motion over Agrokor | ZAGREB (Reuters) - The Croatian parliament began a debate on Friday on an opposition no-confidence motion against the government over its handling of a debt crisis that had hit Croatia s largest firm Agrokor. The opposition, led by the Social Democrats, says that the government, which took over administration of Agrokor last April, was not running the restructuring process transparently. It also says that the whole process has been politicized. The government has failed to provide credible answers on key questions in relation to the law on Agrokor, the opposition said in its motion. The no-confidence motion is unlikely to succeed as the center-right coalition comprising the conservatives and the liberals has a small but firm parliamentary majority. A vote is expected on Friday. The government introduced an emergency law to intervene because Agrokor, the largest employer in the Balkans, faced a debt and liquidity crisis. The opposition has criticized the government for a liquidity loan agreed in recent months with creditors, including foreign investment funds, to finance Agrokor s operations through a 15-month period of restructuring. It said that the loan deal was not transparent and appeared to favor some creditors. The government and Agrokor s crisis manager Ante Ramljak reject the accusations. | 0fake |
White Supremacist Chases Down Black Teen And Kills Him In Oregon | Just remember that white supremacists support Donald Trump and the Republican Party.Because if they take power in November, racists like this guy will think they have free license to kill black people at will.Earlier this month, Russell Courtier and his girlfriend Colleen Hunt stopped at a convenience store near Portland, Oregon and started a fight with 19-year-old Larnell Bruce, a young black man.Courtier has repeatedly run afoul of the law, but keeps being let out of his cage. While in prison, he became the leader of the European Kindred, a white supremacist group. Courtier had just been paroled for attacking a woman with a knife in 2013.Anyway, Courtier slammed Bruce s head into the glass window as Hunt cheered. To defend himself, Bruce pulled a knife and Courtier retreated to his Jeep. The fight should have ended there, but Courtier wanted blood, so he violated a series of traffic laws in an effort to run Bruce over.By the time police arrived it was too late. Bruce was severely injured and Courtier and his girlfriend had fled the scene. Bruce died days later at the hospital due to the severity of his injuries.Both Courtier and Hunt were later arrested and now they have been indicted for murder and will likely face charges for committing a hate crime.Frankly, this is one of those cases where law enforcement and our judicial system failed the public simply because Courtier is white. He has four felony convictions and seven misdemeanors on his record, yet he was still unleashed upon society. On the flip side, African-Americans are being shot by police in the streets for doing nothing criminal whatsoever. If Courtier were black, he d either be dead before he ever saw the inside of a courtroom or he would be imprisoned for life without the possibility of parole. He certainly would not have received as many chances for freedom as he has squandered.But Courtier is white, and now the Oregon judiciary has blood on their hands.What may be even scarier is the fact that white supremacists like Courtier are big fans of Donald Trump because they believe he ll make America white again and bring their racist cause into the mainstream.These are people who cheer for the killing of black people and are just waiting for the day when they can do so with impunity.If you want a glimpse of what Donald Trump s America would look like, the murder of Larnell Bruce by a white supremacist in the middle of an open street should tell you everything you need to know.Featured image via Multnomah County Sheriff s Office | 1real |
UK PM May tells business chiefs: two-year Brexit transition is assured - source | LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May told business leaders that they should treat a two-year transition period after Brexit as assured as she tries to ease company concerns that Britain could crash out of the EU without a deal, a source told Reuters. May met business chiefs from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L), Vodafone (VOD.L) and HSBC (HSBA.L) and other major companies on Monday to hear what they want from talks on Britain s relationship with the EU after Brexit. Businesses have become increasingly alarmed by the slow progress of negotiations and the prospect that the country could leave the trading bloc without a new trading arrangement in place in 2019. From her point of view, the transitional agreement is non-negotiable ... business should think of the two-year period as assured. It will happen, the source said when asked what May had said during discussions on Monday. A spokeswoman from May s office said she restated her position that the government s goal is for a smooth, orderly exit in which there is only one set of changes for businesses and people . Almost all business leaders expressed concern about access to talent after Brexit and several told May that the investment cycle means there are decisions coming at the end of 2017 and the start of 2018, the source said. Last week, two sources told Reuters that Japanese carmaker Toyota (7203.T) intended to build the next version of its Auris car at its British car plant on the assumption that the government secures a transitional Brexit deal in a decision due by the end of the year. Both May and her finance minister, Philip Hammond, acknowledged during Monday s meeting that businesses needed a better sense of Britain s post-Brexit relationship with the European Union. May said business needs clarity, the source said. The chancellor (finance minister) said clarity is more important than perfection. Business chiefs have previously complained that their voice has been drowned out by disagreement and division in the government, and they have not heard anything to give them the certainty they need to plan and invest in their businesses. May s office said she stressed the importance of engaging with the business community to design the proposed implementation arrangements, and promised to have continued meetings with a wide variety of business voices. May was joined by Hammond, business minister Greg Clark, minister for exiting the EU David Davis and trade minister Liam Fox at the council. Companies attending also included Balfour Beatty (BALF.L), WPP (WPP.L), Morgan Stanley (MS.N), Aston Martin and AB Foods (ABF.L), the government said. The meeting came after May s authority was further undermined last week. She had to fend off a challenge from up to 30 of her lawmakers who had been pushing for her to quit following a disastrous snap election in June which saw the ruling Conservatives lose their parliamentary majority. | 0fake |
Maduro declara en 'sesión permanente' al Consejo de Defensa de la Nación | Maduro declara en 'sesión permanente' al Consejo de Defensa de la Nación 23:15 GMT
Luego que el Gobierno venezolano acusara al Parlamento de promover un golpe de Estado, se activa este mecanismo constitucional para la defensa de la soberanía. Reuters
Nicolás Maduro Moros , presidente de Venezuela, valiéndose del artículo 232 de la Constitución de este país latinoamericano, declaró en "sesión permanente" al Consejo de Defensa de la Nación, según el diario ' Correo del Orinoco' .
El mandatario se dirigió a su país desde el Palacio de Miraflores, sede de la Presidencia, donde convocó "con la mayor fuerza de mi alma al diálogo", informa 'Panorama' .
Maduro "lamentó que el presidente a la Asamblea Nacional (AN), Henry Ramos Allup, no haya acudido a la primera reunión", ya que por ley, está "obligado" a presentarse junto con los representantes de los otros poderes públicos.
"Lamento mucho que el presidente de la Asamblea Nacional continúe en desacato con la Constitución y no quiera dialogar. Continúa empleando un verbo de intolerancia y odio", expresó Nicolás Maduro.
Refiriéndose al actual enfrentamiento que mantiene la Asamblea Nacional de Venezuela con el resto de los poderes públicos, explicó que la Constitución está "pensada para el equilibrio de los poderes públicos".
La primera vez que se activó este Consejo de Defensa de la Nación fue en el año 2015, cuando la administración de Barack Obama, declaró que Venezuela era "una amenaza inusual y extraordinaria para la seguridad de Estados Unidos".
Vale recordar que el gobierno bolivariano acusó al Parlamento de orquestar un golpe de Estado al estilo de Brasil.
El artículo 323 de la Constitución venezolana y que sirve de argumento a Maduro dice textualmente: "El Consejo de Defensa de la Nación es el máximo órgano de consulta para la planificación y asesoramiento del Poder Público en los asuntos relacionados con la defensa integral de la Nación, su soberanía y la integridad de su espacio geográfico. A tales efectos, le corresponde también establecer el concepto estratégico de la Nación. Presidido por el Presidente o Presidenta de la República, lo conforman, además, el Vicepresidente Ejecutivo o Vicepresidenta Ejecutiva, el Presidente o Presidenta de la Asamblea Nacional, el Presidente o Presidenta del Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, el Presidente o Presidenta del Consejo Moral Republicano y los Ministros o Ministras de los sectores de la Defensa, la Seguridad Interior, las Relaciones Exteriores y la Planificación, y otros cuya participación se considere pertinente. La ley orgánica respectiva fijará su organización y atribuciones". | 1real |
The FBI Can’t Actually Investigate a Candidate Such as Hillary Clinton. | Posted on November 4, 2016 by Eric Zuesse. Eric Zuesse, originally posted at strategic-culture.org The power above the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the U.S. Attorney General, and, above that person, the U.S. President. That’s whom the FBI actually serves — not the U.S. public. This is the reason why the FBI is having such internal tensions and dissensions over the investigation of Hillary Clinton: Not only is she the current President’s ardently preferred and designated successor — and overwhelmingly supported also by America’s artistocracy and endorsed by the aristocracy’s press — but the top leadership of the FBI have terms-in-office that (unlike, for example, the term of the U.S. Attorney General) do not end with the installation of the next President; and these people will therefore be serving, quite possibly, the very same person whom they are now ‘investigating’. This is the reason why James Comey, the FBI’s Director, let Clinton totally off the hook on July 5th, when he declined to present the case to a grand jury: he and the rest of the FBI’s top management violated three basic principles of trying white-collar-crime cases when a prosecutor is serious about wanting to prosecute and obtain a conviction against a person — he (and they) wanted to keep their jobs, not be fighting their boss and their likely future boss. If America were an authentic democracy, there would be a way for the FBI to serve the public even when the U.S. President doesn’t want it to. According to the only scientific study that has ever been done of the matter, the U.S. federal government is a dictatorship not a democracy. This was reluctantly reported by the researchers, whose own careers are dependent upon the aristocracy which they were finding actually controls that government. They found that the U.S., at the federal level, is not a democracy but an “oligarchy,” by which the researchers were referring to an “economic elite,” America’s billionaires and centi-millionaires who control America’s international corporations and the ‘charities’ (such as think tanks) that are dependent upon them — including many that directly affect U.S. politics, such as the think tanks or other way-stations for former U.S. government employees to become hired by private firms. The authors of the only empirical scientific research-study that has been done of whether the United States is a democracy , or instead a dictatorship, excluded the very term “aristocracy” (or “collective dictatorship” such as an “economic elite” is if that “elite” actually is in control of the given nation’s government) from their article. They did this so as for the meaning not to be clear to the U.S. public. In any country in the modern world where an aristocracy exists, aristocrats nowadays try to hide their power, not (like in former eras) display their power by crowns and other public symbols of ‘the nobility’. The closest the study’s authors came to using that term, “aristocracy,” was their only sentence that employed the pejoritave term for an aristocracy, “oligarchy.” That obscure lone sentence was: “Jeffrey Winters has posited a comparative theory of ‘Oligarchy,’ in which the wealthiest citizens — even in a ‘civil oligarchy’ like the United States — dominate policy concerning crucial issues of wealth and income protection.11″ Their 11th footnote made clear that they were referring here to the book Oligarchy , by Jeffrey A. Winters, which stated the ‘theory’ that this article had actually just confirmed in the American case. Their article mentioned the book — and the “oligarchy” — only in this one footnote, so that the authors of the article (whose own careers are dependent upon America’s ‘oligarchs’) won’t be able to be accused by oligarchs (or in any way thought by their own financial benefactors — America’s aristocrats) to have called the U.S. an “oligarchy” (a collective dictatorship by the few super-rich and their agents). To apply either term — “aristocracy” or “oligarchy” — to one’s own country, is now viewed as negative, an insult to the country’s controlling elite. Neither scholars nor scholarly publishers wish to insult the people who ultimately are their top funders. This article was written in the standard unnecessarily obscurantist style of social ‘scientists’ who want to be comprehensible only to their peers and not to the general public. Doing it this way is safer for them, because it makes extremely unlikely that their own benefactors would retaliate, against them or else against the institutions that hire them, by withdrawing their continued financial and promotional support (such as by no longer having them invited onto CNN as an “expert”). (This type of fear prevents theory in the social ‘sciences’ from being strictly based upon the given field’s empirical findings: it’s not authentically scientific. The physical sciences are far less corrupt, far more scientific. The biological sciences are in-between.) One particular reason why the authors never called the people who control the U.S. government an “aristocracy,” is that everyone knows that the Founders of the U.S. were opposed to , and were engaged in overthrowing, the existing aristocracy, which happened to be British, and that they even banned forever in the U.S. the use of aristocratic titles, such as “Lord” or “Sir.” Consequently, within the U.S., the only term that the aristocrats consider acceptable to refer to aristocrats, is “oligarchs,” which always refers only to aristocrats in foreign countries , and so is considered safe by the aristocrats’ writers (including scholars and political pundits) to use. Everyone knows: in accord with the clear intention of America’s Founders , the U.S. should eliminate from its citizenry any aristocrat (any self-enclosed and legally immune group that holds power over the government), but Americans naturally accept the existence of “oligarchs” in other countries (and “good-riddance to them there”), typically the ones in countries U.S. foreign policy opposes and often overthrows by means of coup or outright military invasion (any form of conquest, such as in 2003 Iraq, or 2011 Libya). It’s fine to refer to other countries’ aristocracies as ‘oligarchies’, because any such foreign aristocracy can therefore be declared to be bad and ‘deserving’ of overthrow. Thus, any aristocracy that is opposed to America’s aristocracy (especially one that’s opposed to being controlled by the U.S. aristocracy), and which wants to be controlling instead their own independent nation, can acceptably be overthrown by coup (such as Ukraine 2014 was) or invasion (such as Libya 2011 was). Thus, calling a foreign aristocracy an “oligarchy” is supportive of, not oppposed to, the U.S. aristocracy — and, so, “oligarchy” is the term the authors used (on that one occasion, and they never used the prohibited term “aristocracy”). Nonetheless, despite the cultural ban on describing the U.S. as an “aristocracy,” the authors were — as obscurely as they were able — proving that the U.S. is an aristocracy, no authentic democracy at all. Or, again, as they said it in their least-obscurantist phrasing of it: “Economic Elite Domination theories do rather well in our analysis, even though our findings probably understate the political influence of elites. Our measure of the preferences of wealthy or elite Americans — though useful, and the best we could generate for a large set of policy cases — is probably less consistent with the relevant preferences than are our measures of the views of ordinary citizens or the alignments of engaged interest groups. Yet we found substantial estimated effects even when using this imperfect measure. The real-world impact of elites upon public policy may be still greater.” ‘Greater’ than what? They didn’t say. That’s because what they were saying (as obscurely as possible) is that it’s probably ‘greater’ than is shown in the data that was publicly available to them, and upon which data their clear finding is that the U.S. is an aristocracy, no democracy at all. Or, as they also put it: “Economic Elite Domination theories do rather well in our analysis.” But, actually, “Economic Elite Domination theories” (virtually all of which come down to positing an aristocracy that consists of the billionaires — and centi-millionaires — and their corporations, and their think tanks, and their lobbyists, etc.) did phenomenally well, in their findings, not just ‘rather well’ — they simply can’t safely say this. Saying it is samizdat, in the U.S. dictatorship. They were allowed to prove it, but not to say it. So, that’s what they did. They didn’t want to “upset the applecart” from which they themselves are feeding. The simplest (but no less accurate) way of stating their finding is: the U.S., at least during the period the researchers probed, which was 1981-2002, was an aristocracy, no democracy at all. The U.S., in other words, was (even prior to the infamous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which is making the aristocracy even more concentrated among even fewer people) a country of men (and women — that’s to say, of individuals ) not of laws; it’s a dictatorship, in short; it is not a country “of laws, not of men” . America’s Founders have finally lost. The country has been taken over by an aristocracy. And one of those “men” now, is actually Hillary Clinton, even though she is no longer officially holding governmental power. They know she soon might be. That’s why, the FBI cannot really, and seriously , investigate her. It’s not for legal reasons at all. It’s because of whom she is. In fact, purely on the basis of U.S. laws, she clearly ought to be in prison . Any honest lawyer, inside or outside the FBI, has long known this, because the actual case against her is ‘slam-dunk’ , even though the FBI has refused to investigate it and has limited its ‘investigation’ only to peripheral ‘national security’ issues. (The #2 person at FBI, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, right below Director James Comey, specified this limitation to his ‘investigators’. They simply weren’t allowed to investigate her, except on the hardest-to-prove crimes that she probably but not definitely did also do. The slam-dunks were just off-limits to them. McCabe’s wife’s political campaign had received $675,000 from the PAC of Terry McAuliffe , a close friend of the Clintons, who chaired Hillary’s 2008 Presidential campaign. And, even on the harder-to-prove matters, which FBI Director Comey declined on July 5th to pursue, they stood a strong chance of winning, if only Comey hadn’t prevented their moving forward to try — but those issues are tangential to the basic case against her, anyway.) There are at least six federal criminal laws which accurately and unquestionably describe even what Ms. Clinton has now publicly admitted having done by her privatized email system, and intent isn’t even mentioned in most of them nor necessary in order for her to be convicted — the actions themselves convict her, and the only relevance that intent might have, regarding any of these laws, would be in determining how long her prison sentence would be. I have already presented the texts of these six laws (and you can see the sentences for each one, right there), and any reader can easily recognize that each one of them describes, unambiguously without any doubt, what she now admits having done. Most of these crimes don’t require any intent in order to convict (and the ones that do require intent are only “knowingly … conceals,” or else “with the intent to impair the object’s … use in an official proceeding,” both of which “intents” would be easy to prove on the basis of what has already been made public — but others of these laws don’t require even that); and none of them requires any classified information to have been involved, at all . It’s just not an issue in these laws. Thus, conviction under them is far easier. If a prosecutor is really seeking to convict someone, he’ll be aiming to get indictments on the easiest-to-prove charges, first. That also presents for the prosecutor the strongest position in the event of an eventual plea-bargain. As Alan Dershowitz said , commenting on one famous prosecution: “They also wanted a slam-dunk case. They wanted the strongest possible case.” Comey simply didn’t; he wanted the hardest -to-convict case. His presentation was a brazen hoax. That’s all. That’s the real scandal, and nobody (other than I) has been writing about it as what it is — a hoax. But what it shows is that maybe the only way that Clinton will be able to avoid going to prison is by her going to the White House. Either she gets a term in the White House, or else she gets a (much longer) term in prison — or else our government is so thoroughly corrupt that she remains free as a private citizen and still above the law, even though not serving as a federal official. Even if she is convicted only on these six slam-dunk statutes (and on none other, including not on the ones that Comey was referring to when he said on July 5th that, “Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case”), she could be sentenced to a maximum of 73 years in prison (73 = 5 + 5 + 20 + 20 + 3 + 10 + 10). Adding on others she might also have committed (such as the ones that Comey was referring to, all of which pertain only to the handling of classified information), would mean that her term in prison might be lengthier still, but what’s important in the email case isn’t that; it’s to convict her on, essentially, theft and/or destruction of U.S. government documents by means of transferring them into her private email and/or smashing hard drives. No one, not even a U.S. federal official, can legally do that, and those six laws are specifically against it. Motive is important in Ms. Clinton’s email case, because motive tells us why she was trying to hide from historians and from the public her operations as the U.S. Secretary of State: was it because she didn’t want them to know that she was selling to the Sauds and her other friends the U.S. State Department’s policies in return for their million-dollar-plus donations to the Clinton Foundation , and maybe even selling to them (and/or their cronies) U.S. government contracts, or why? However, those are questions regarding other crimes that she might have been perpetrating while in public office, not the crimes of her privatized email operation itself; and those other crimes (whatever they might have been) would have been explored only after an indictment on the slam-dunks, and for further possible prosecutions, if President Obama’s people were serious about investigating her. They weren’t. Clearly, this is selective ‘justice’. That’s the type of ‘justice’ an aristocracy imposes. Why, then, did Comey finally switch to re-open the Clinton case? It wasn’t merely the discovery of some of her previously unknown emails on the computer of Anthony Wiener, husband to Hillary’s closest aide Huma Abedin. As Politico on October 28th reported , “Another former Justice official said Comey’s letter [announcing the re-opening of Hillary’s case] could be part of an effort on his part to quiet internal FBI critics who viewed him as burying the Clinton probe for political reasons. ‘He’s come under a lot of criticism from his own people for how he’s handled this. He’s trying to gain back some of their respect,’ former Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Pierce said. ‘His ability to do what he does largely depends on the respect within his own ranks.’” Joachim Hagopian at Global Research headlined on October 30th, “The Real Reasons Why FBI Director James Comey Reopened the Hillary Email Investigation” , and reported: “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. … 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.” In other words: Comey was between a rock (the resignation-letters piling up on his desk from subordinates who felt that no person should be above the law) and a hard place (his ability to stay on at the FBI and not have a scandal against himself bleed out to the public from down below). The U.S. wasn’t yet that kind of dictatorship — one which could withstand such a public disclosure. In order for it to become one, the aristocracy’s control would have needed to be even stronger than it yet is. Also on the 30th, Ed Klein in Britain’s Dail Mail bannered : EXCLUSIVE: Resignation letters piling up from disaffected FBI agents, his wife urging him to admit he was wrong: Why Director Comey jumped at the chance to reopen Hillary investigation James Comey revived the investigation of Clinton’s email server as he could no longer resist mounting pressure by mutinous agents, sources say The atmosphere at the FBI has been toxic ever since Jim [Comey] announced last July that he wouldn’t recommend an indictment against Hillary He told his wife that he was depressed by the stack of resignation letters piling up on his desk from disaffected agents So, does this now mean that, finally, the FBI will bring before a grand jury the evidence that Hillary Clinton blatantly violated those six federal criminal laws against stealing and/or trying to destroy federal documents? There has never — at least since 1981 — been so severe a test of the extent to which this nation is (as those researchers found it to have unquestionably been between 1981 and 2002) an “oligarchy.” However, a serious criminal prosecution of Ms. Clinton would potentially start an unwinding of this dictatorship. The present writer will make no prediction. However, obviously, the results of the election on November 8th will certainly have an enormous impact upon the outcome. Since I think that anyone but a complete fool can recognize this much, I’m confident enough to assert it — a conditional about the future. | 1real |
Iran condemns U.S. decision to move embassy to Jerusalem | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran seriously condemns the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and its recognition of the city as Israel s capital, read a statement on Wednesday from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs carried by state media. The move violates international resolutions, the statement said. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said earlier that the United States was trying to destabilize the region and start a war to protect Israel s security. The U.S. action will incite Muslims and inflame a new intifada and encourage extremism and violent behavior for which the responsibility will lie with (the United States) and the Zionist regime (Israel), the foreign ministry statement said. The statement also called on the international community to pressure the United States not to go through with the embassy move or the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital. The Islamic Republic of Iran has reiterated that the most important reason for the falling apart of stability and security in the Middle East is the continued occupation and the biased and unequivocal support of the American government for the Zionist regime, the statement said. And the deprivation of the oppressed Palestinian people from their primary rights in forming an independent Palestinian government with the noble Quds as its capital, it said, using the Arabic name for Jerusalem. | 0fake |
The Ease of Doing Halloween à la Russe - Paul Goncharoff | People over profits The Ease of Doing Halloween à la Russe
The West's biggest monster this Halloween is Russia, but behind the mask the country is doing absolutely fine Print The author is Chairman, Disciplinary Committee, National Association of Corporate Directors, Russia
Over the past few years I have had various views levelled at me by my fellow citizens such as “You are an apologist for Russia!”, “Putin and his circle are mass murderers”, “you are now blind to the truth!” and so on. I get such statements mostly long distance through the internet from the States and some cases the EU. It is understandable given that bad news sells news, and objective deep investigative reporting by professionals appears relegated to selective interests mostly in the blogosphere. As I live and work in this “nasty, criminal Russia” and am concerned for my family’s welfare, I am more than interested to get the facts on what is happening around us and where we are heading. My sources of information like most people comes from friends, neighbors, work acquaintances, colleagues and of course the global media. A potpourri of opinions, much accusatory noise, so where in this hubbub lurk simple evidential truths? As it is now Halloween, I thought it only appropriate to wheel out the ever-popular ghoulish Russian monster and the attendant gaggle of batty tricky gremlin familiars from Siberian wastes. I do this to pay homage to one of my favorite holidays with the help of such “evildoers” as a backdrop. I invite you to have a look into this fiery pit of horrors, it may entice you re-examine your views, question, and set you on the course to establish your business in Russia! Hhmmmm… trick or treat? Although statistics and rankings tend to overlook fundamental differences in what drives economic progress, or from what starting point one or another nation had to contend with, nonetheless the wicked witch of the west and her legions of LaGardettes have researched some interesting views, namely: The World Bank, Ease of Doing Business Rankings ( http://www.doingbusiness.org/data ). To be fair, I thought a ten-year slice would be sufficient to compare and contrast Russia against the rest of BRICS and the USA, so 2006 through 2016 it is, otherwise Russia’s Government guided by “Count Vlad the Bad” would look even more horrifying. Ease of Doing Business Rankings (World Bank) Countries Rank 2006 Rank 2016 Brazil 119 123 United States 3 8 (Note: The higher the number, the more difficult to do business). What the above indicates to me is that there are general trends becoming apparent, in all cases except Russia and China the ease of conducting business is becoming comparatively harder. Each of the six countries listed above have an individually complex bouquet of internal and external specifics that make direct comparisons almost meaningless, however what is common are overall directions based on common metrics. I would recommend going to the world bank website mentioned earlier as it breaks down the components leading to these overall rankings, which if you are an aficionado of economics and history is an invaluable additional overlay to any reasoned geopolitical assessments of our world. Russia is paternalistic, steeped in a black miasmic lagoon of traditions long since abandoned by our innovative world, stifling development, basic freedoms, and even repressing women! Back home, the issue of women’s rights is vital, newsworthy, of vast political import – it can and does titillate the electorate in many ways both subjective and objective as witnessed in these 2016 elections. Russia on the other hand, popularly prejudged an outcast country, feels it has little to shout about or act on concerning women. This aside from the fact that they are in the main warm, intelligent, competent and stunningly beautiful – fodder for male sexist fantasies. I was horrified to learn that Russia (almost like Don Trump) perniciously tops the list of countries with the highest number of female board members, and that at least 45 percent of senior management positions across its nine time zones are held by women. This evolved without quotas, Hillary Clinton, or any extraordinary outside pressures, which really disappoints me. The pragmatic characteristics of Russians tend to value the actions a person chooses to make, rather than rhetoric and show. In this context, the traditionally developing values and roles between women and men seem naturally to be doing fine. Whistling in appreciation of a woman passing on the street is not insulting; it is what it is, a compliment, pleasure, a bravo between strangers, and a positive normal interaction. Cultural preferences can be hard mistresses to live and work with, no doubt. What Halloween would be complete without including the most odious, shuddersome monster of all? Who else but Vladimir Putin, or “Count Vlad the Bad” as Washington and Brussels like to paint him. His background is frighteningly direct given the infamy he gets. Serving as a KGB analyst for much of his career in East Germany when the wall came down. Moving back to St. Petersburg with his family he worked advising the then mayor on foreign affairs. He resigned from the KGB and progressed within the political administration of the mayor’s office coordinating relations with the military, police, district attorney, customs officials, and other city related diplomatic matters. Considered by those who knew him then as a progressive and talented manager who played a key role attracting a number of Western corporations to the city. He pushed for and directly assisted enabling a great many of joint ventures with foreign companies, establishing a large foreign banking presence, legalizing sale of land that allowed privatization of residential properties, opening the international trade center, strengthening municipal and regional banks. He earned a good reputation within the foreign business community of being an open, practical, ethical man who to the amazement of many, and contrary to the norms of those times did not ask for or accept bribes. Seen by colleagues in Moscow as objective, disciplined and capable was therefore invited into president Yeltsin’s administration where he advanced to the level of prime minister. On New Year’s Eve in 2000, he became acting president, a Yeltsin parting gift to Russia. Count Vlad it seems takes his task of representing Russia’s national interests seriously as evidenced everywhere one looks today inside this monstrous, politically incorrect federation. Russia to be seen as a successful country, particularly in spite of doing so in ways not answerable to the west, does not seem to play well with the leaders in the US and EU. The record of accomplishment of the Russian administration is chilling, the citizenry saw their incomes rise many fold, the poverty rate was halved, consistent economic growth, flat income tax, and a country safe to live in. Unlikely as it may sound coming from this authoritarian hellhole of a country, it has one of the highest rates of education in the world with 54% of Russians having college degrees. Legally mandated paid maternity leave for women, and a payment made directly to the mother on giving birth of a second child of 450,000 rubles (up from 250,000 due to effects of US/EU sanctions). Healthcare is improving steadily as is life expectancy, which has steadily risen to 71 (from a deep dark abyss) and is still rising. All this without Tories, Labor, GOP, Democratic Party, EU a la Brussels, or other “democratic brands” and popular models currently on sale – just the government of the Russian Federation. Frightening! Have a fun and reflectively chilling Halloween! | 1real |
Sandy Hook Promise Rakes In $6 Million (VIDEO) | in: False Flags , Gun Control , Multimedia , Propaganda , Sleuth Journal , Special Interests , US News Non-profit Headed Up By Career Marketers In the first two years of its existence the Sandy Hook massacre event’s premier fundraising organization has raised close to $6 million–an average of $3 million per year. In 2013 and 2014 alone the nonprofit pumped the American public and larger donors for $5,809,367, according to the most recent IRS filings of the organization. The lofty figure shouldn’t come as a surprise given the marketing talent heading up the organization and the fact that major news media have vigorously promoted the event without ever questioning its veracity. Tim Makris is Sandy Hook Promise’s full time Executive Director. Mr. Makris, who claims he had children attending Sandy Hook Elementary at the time of the December 14, 2012 incident, brings twenty years of marketing and public relations experience to the project. As Makris’ LinkedIn profile reveals, he developed his skills in the corporate sector at Thule Inc., Procter & Gamble, and Schering-Plough Health Care. Below is the performance of this savvy salesman at the inauguration of the Sandy Hook Promise money juggernaut. Here is another video pitch Makris made to the Brookings Institution, where he explains in no uncertain terms Sandy Hook Promise’s public relations strategy to reshape US gun laws. Sandy Hook Promise has close ties to the world of finance as well. The chairperson of its Board of Directors and another of its four corporate officers is Kristin Lemkau, Chief Marketing Officer of major global investment bank JPMorgan Chase. image credit: youtube And perhaps unsurprisingly Sandy Hook Promise is overseen by individuals representing the news media. The organization’s vice chair is Rob Cox , a founder and global editor of Reuters BreakingViews. News entrepreneur Rob Cox is a corporate officer of Sandy Hook Promise. Image Credit: University of Vermont According to a profile of Cox published by his alma mater, The University of Vermont,
Within twenty-four hours of the massacre of twenty-six children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Cox and a circle of friends were working to found what would become Sandy Hook Promise, an organization dedicated to healing their own community and doing all it can to make sure others do not suffer the same fate. The degree of such caring is frankly difficult to comprehend. In other words, hours before Connecticut Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver II stumbled through his press conference on December 15, 2012, explaining how parents were prohibited from viewing the bodies of their slain children, good-hearted souls like journalist Cox, professional marketer Makris, and banker Lemkau were scheming to cash in on the event. After all, this is what a community of like-minded souls is all about. James Belden the fourth and final Sandy Hook corporate officer. In addition to serving as a Newtown Commissioner, he also brings marketing experience to Sandy Hook Promise. Before funerals were even held for the deceased children or the results of a satisfactory crime scene investigation were close to completion Commissioner Belden was before television cameras promoting another non-profit, “Newtown United” and its promotion of “the underlying issues that caused this horrible incident–not just gun control but mental health and awareness.” Sandy Hook Promise is presently directing its marketing prowess toward leaning on US public schools to enforce certain mental health protocols on children; what it terms “mental health first aid” that will purportedly prevent “another Sandy Hook.” Sandy Hook Promise spokeswoman Nicole Hockley. Experienced marketers position the nonprofit to receive a large amount of “free publicity” via corporate news media. Sandy Hook Promise spokeswoman Nicole Hockley. Experienced marketers position the nonprofit to receive a large amount of “free publicity” via corporate news media. The millions solicited by Sandy Hook Promise thus far is merely a fraction of an estimated $130 million in federal funding and private donations brought in by Sandy Hook related charities. “The latest edition of the video We Need To Talk about Sandy Hook lists a total of $131,009,229 in grants and donations, including the $50 million for the new school,” academic researcher Vivian Lee notes , but this is only a partial accounting. Indeed, the total amount of money raised to date cannot easily be calculated. A 2014 Connecticut report on charitable donations lists organizations such as The Animal Center, Inc., Newtown Forest Association, Inc., Sandy Hook Arts Center for Kids, and Angels of Sandy Hook Bracelets, all raising funds in the name of Sandy Hook Elementary. John Rinaldi. Image Credit: New York Daily News Just how many individuals and organizations have sought to cash in on the Sandy Hook massacre and the broader public fear concerning child safety? Consider that even John Rinaldi, the convicted stalker of film actress Brooke Shields, oversees a Sandy Hook charity, “Sandy Hook Kids Center.” “We are actively/tirelessly/relentless fighting on behalf of our kids,” Rinaldi proclaims on the organization’s website . “We combat abuse/violence that in turns creates bully [sic].” Submit your review | 1real |
Panama Papers May Inspire More Big Leaks, if Not Reform - The New York Times | WASHINGTON — In recent days, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and South Africa joined the growing list of countries hunting down tax evaders among citizens who own offshore accounts. The French bank BNP Paribas said it would shut its Cayman Islands branch. In Pakistan, a cricketer turned politician who had attacked the prime minister over his family’s offshore accounts admitted that he, too, had used a shell company. And the Group of 7 nations, meeting in Japan, agreed to crack down on illicit finance. It was the latest fallout from the Panama Papers, the largest leak of secret documents to journalists in history. In the eight weeks since the publication of the first articles by some 370 reporters in 76 countries, an effort organized by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the impact of the revelations on the shadowy world of offshore finance has been striking — even as prospects for reform remain uncertain. Investigations are underway in dozens of countries, including the United States. Proposed laws requiring disclosure of the true owners of offshore companies to tax collectors or to the public have new momentum. Cartoonists have had a field day, reflecting the widespread anger and disgust pressuring governments to act. “The reaction around the world has been pretty spectacular,” said Gabriel Zucman, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, who has estimated that 8 percent of the world’s personal wealth is hidden in tax havens. “The demand for financial transparency and tax reform is really growing. It’s the first time there’s been public outrage at the global level on these issues. ” The disclosure by an anonymous leaker of 11. 5 million documents from a Panamanian law firm at the center of the offshore industry to a German newspaper was a landmark in another way as well. It was the latest and biggest in a series of recent megaleaks, establishing the unauthorized disclosure of government and corporate secrets as a contagious phenomenon that is unlikely to go away. Since 2010, when a intelligence analyst in Iraq copied thousands of classified files onto CDs labeled as Lady Gaga songs and gave them to the antisecrecy organization WikiLeaks, it has become clear that technology has revolutionized leaking. Pfc. Chelsea Manning, then known as Bradley, disclosed hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and military field reports. In 2013, Edward J. Snowden, citing Private Manning as an inspiration, gave a similar number of highly classified National Security Agency documents to a few journalists. About a year ago, a using the name John Doe contacted Bastian Obermayer, a reporter for the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung in Munich, and eventually passed to him a far greater volume of material from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca: The trove totaled 2. 6 terabytes, more than 1, 000 times the size of the Manning files. In a subsequent manifesto issued by way of the German newspaper, John Doe cited the precedent of Mr. Snowden, who he said deserved “a hero’s welcome. ” Trevor Timm, the executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which supports what it calls transparency journalism, said the impact of each leak had inspired the next leaker. “Especially with the Panama Papers, I think it’s now a trend,” Mr. Timm said. “When people inside organizations see the impact that on this scale can have, they follow that example. ” None of this would have been conceivable in the photocopier era, when the Panama Papers would have required a fleet of to deliver. “These are disclosures not of documents but of databases — entire libraries,” said Steven Aftergood, who tracks government secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists. John Doe’s manifesto was tellingly titled “The Revolution Will Be Digitized. ” Of course, what many advocates cheer, the organizations exposed by the leaks denounce. In a series of statements, Mossack Fonseca has criticized journalists’ use of “information stolen from our files,” asserted that news reports “misrepresented the nature of our work” and threatened legal action. It is not clear whether John Doe is a disgruntled insider or a hacker who broke into the law firm’s files, as the firm has suggested. The same tools that are being used by activists and journalists for what they consider to be purposes can be used by others. Hackers stole nude photographs from celebrities’ Apple accounts in 2014 and posted them on the web. A computer later that year, attributed to North Korea, obtained hundreds of Sony Corporation emails, many of which were made public. The hacker group known as Anonymous has released voluminous email files of two security firms, Stratfor and HBGary Federal. For Mr. Obermayer and a colleague at Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frederik Obermaier, the fact that anonymous companies created by Mossack Fonseca were being used to evade taxes and launder illicit money justified publication. They shared the Panama Papers with the international journalists’ group to bring strength and local expertise to the data. When the articles were published, their newspaper’s web servers crashed from the initial volume of readers. Mr. Obermayer said it was “a really strange feeling — that something that started with you has led to mass demonstrations in several countries. ” Within days, Iceland’s prime minister, whose offshore company was revealed by the papers, had stepped down. So had a Spanish government minister, an Armenian justice official and a member of the ethics committee of FIFA, the world soccer association. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, whose friends had moved $2 billion through offshore companies, denounced the disclosures as an American plot to smear his country. A Mexican cartel suspect was arrested in Uruguay at an address disclosed in the documents. Sierra Leone began to investigate mining contracts. The Swiss police raided the European soccer headquarters. The art market was rocked by revelations of subterfuge in the sale of valuable paintings. The list went on. In the United States, the revelations of hidden wealth have resonated amid growing public concern about economic inequality the word yacht appears in the documents 19, 380 times. President Obama has deplored how the rich and some companies are “gaming the system,” as he said the documents showed, and has proposed multiple reforms. In fact, some experts believe the “Panama” label is misleading, obscuring the central role of several states, including Delaware, Wyoming and Nevada, in registering companies with hidden ownership. Mossack Fonseca probably represents just 5 or 10 percent of the industry creating anonymous companies, Mr. Zucman of Berkeley said, so the disclosures have left the vast majority hidden. And no matter where shell companies may be registered, he said, much of the wealth they own is invested in the United States, in real estate, stocks and bonds. “The U. S. could find out who the true owners are,” Mr. Zucman said. But the United States may illustrate the difficulty of moving from splashy revelations to serious change. States with a stake in the lucrative corporate registration business are likely to resist serious changes, and Congress appears unlikely to act anytime soon on comprehensive reform bills. “The offshore system is incredibly resilient, with a ton of smart lawyers and accountants to find new ways to hide money,” said Marina Walker Guevara, the deputy director of the international journalists’ consortium. David Marchant, the editor of OffshoreAlert, a news site that covers offshore finance, called the Panama Papers “an extraordinary event” that dwarfs past exposés of the industry. A session on the leak at the annual OffshoreAlert conference in Miami this month grew heated, he said, as champions of transparency debated industry players who said privacy had been trampled. Mr. Marchant said he believed the reform push from the leak would fade. “The people using the offshore system to evade their financial responsibilities tend to be very wealthy and influential people,” he said. He predicted that any changes in laws and regulations after the disclosures would be “mostly window dressing. ” On the other hand, Mr. Marchant said, the example of John Doe will probably be followed by other leakers. “This is the age we live in,” he said. “This record will be broken before long. ” | 0fake |
Entrusted to Save Brazil: The Party That Ruined Rio - The New York Times | RIO DE JANEIRO — Students are taking over Rio de Janeiro schools to protest crippling education cuts, while the politician who helped bring the Summer Olympics to this city is battling allegations that he pocketed millions in bribes. Grenade blasts from battles echo through Leblon, the seaside bastion of the city’s elite. Even the governor’s daughter was recently mugged at gunpoint outside her home. When Brazil’s new leader, Michel Temer, took the reins of the nation this month — a milestone in the caustic fight to oust President Dilma Rousseff, who faces an impeachment trial — he promised a new day of “national salvation. ” But what Mr. Temer did not mention is that his political party and its allies have wielded immense power here in the state of Rio de Janeiro for most of the past decade — and this place needs a whole lot of saving, too. In other words, critics lament, the same party that created a mess in Rio is now running the country. “Rio is evolving into a as its leaders find new ways to squander Brazil’s greatest oil bonanza,” said Marcelo Portugal, a Brazilian economist. The state’s finances are a shambles. Some athletes are so disgusted with the City of Rio’s bay that they want the Olympic sailing races moved. Last month, a stretch of a new $12 million bike path flowing gracefully by the coast — one of Rio’s signature upgrades for the Games — collapsed after being hit by a wave, causing two men to plummet to their deaths. “This is everything that we did not want happening at this moment,” said Rio’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, a prominent member of Mr. Temer’s party. “It’s not easy to host the Olympics in the current Brazilian environment. ” Rio’s leaders had promised that the Olympics would showcase Brazil’s triumphs. Instead, as Mr. Temer scrambles to put Brazil’s economy on stronger footing, Rio is emerging as a cautionary tale of what a government led by his Brazilian Democratic Movement Party could mean for the rest of the nation. Some of the top leaders in Mr. Temer’s party — including the head of the Senate and the former speaker of the lower house of Congress, who was forced to step down this month to face graft charges — have been accused of accepting enormous bribes. But their party, known as the P. M. D. B. is also coming under fire over accusations of mismanagement and graft involving the Olympics. Engineering executives have testified that Sergio Cabral, the former governor from the party who helped land the Rio Olympics and still exerts considerable sway, demanded millions in bribes. They say the payments were the equivalent of 5 percent of the cost of the renovation of the landmark Maracanã soccer stadium and other public works projects. Mr. Cabral also came under scrutiny for using the state’s helicopters to transport his children, their two nannies and the family dog on weekend jaunts to a beach house. “Rio’s politicians are absolutely disgusting,” said Leonardo Siqueira, 37, a cosmetics distributor. He cited the collapse of the bike path, graft scandals involving public works projects and streets that flood with sewage during rains. “Rio is in this crisis because of the P. M. D. B.,” Mr. Siqueira said. “They are politicians who govern first and foremost for themselves, not for the citizens. ” In a statement, Mr. Cabral said that he never took bribes and that his security advisers suggested using public helicopters to avoid potential attacks from drug gangs. Under Mr. Cabral, Rio carried out a polarizing “pacification” campaign to police the city aggressively and alter its notorious reputation for crime. But that, too, is coming under strain, with a crime wave marked by muggings throughout the city, an increase in the homicide rate and a terrifying surge in killings of children by stray bullets. In one tragic episode, a boy in a suburb was fatally shot this month while in his car seat. Then there is Rio’s financial crisis, which is occurring despite the revenue from oil fields off its coast. The undersea wealth helped turbocharge the regional economy just a few years ago, thanks to legislation giving state and local governments access to a trove of royalties. Now Brazil’s oil industry is in turmoil as Petrobras, the national oil company, reels from bribery scandals and low energy prices. Petrobras, based in a huge Brutalist headquarters downtown, has fired tens of thousands of employees over the past two years, sending a chill across other industries. Rio’s share of oil royalties is plummeting to about $1 billion this year, from $3. 5 billion in 2014. Rio’s leaders say the fiscal crisis has forced them to delay pension payments to retired state employees. The education budget was slashed, prompting teachers to strike and high school students to occupy more than a dozen schools to protest deplorable conditions. Some factors in Rio’s crisis are beyond the state’s control, like global oil prices and the weak national economy. But wings of government have preserved their privileges while services suffer. Judges recently won a ruling requiring the state to pay them before honoring other obligations. At the other end of the social spectrum, leaders are cutting back. A program created five years ago to provide cash subsidies of about $22 a month to about 200, 000 of the state’s poorest residents ran out of money this month. “I feel deceived as a cabinet member and revolted as a citizen,” Paulo Melo, the state official in charge of antipoverty programs, told reporters. He condemned the state government’s “generalized callousness. ” Leaders from the P. M. D. B. a largely centrist but ideologically malleable party that provided a facade of democratic opposition during Brazil’s military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, had vowed to reverse the decline that characterized Rio after the national capital was moved to Brasília in 1960. In 2007, Mr. Cabral took the helm of the state government, which oversees major functions like the police. Altogether, the State of Rio has a population of 16. 5 million, almost the size of Chile. Mr. Cabral, 53, nurtured an alliance with the governing Workers’ Party of Ms. Rousseff, enabling Rio to land the Olympics and secure federal funds for projects like a subway expansion. In 2009, the P. M. D. B. also took control of the City of Rio, which has about 6. 3 million people. The mayor, Mr. Paes, 46, embarked on a frenetic urban overhaul to highlight Rio on the global stage, refurbishing parts of the old center and installing light rail. In the P. M. D. B.’s favor, most venues for the Olympics have been completed, easing concerns about Rio’s preparations for the Games, in August. On a national level, Mr. Temer has named respected economists from outside the party to important posts. And party leaders say they have provided a “moderating force” in Brazil’s tumultuous democracy. “The P. M. D. B. is a pillar of governability,” said Renan Calheiros, the head of the Senate. Here in Rio, Mr. Paes emphasizes that the city’s finances are in better shape than the state’s. Still, his administration faces accusations of ineptitude involving some Olympic projects, highlighted by the collapse in April of part of the new coastal bike path. Protesters in Rio, as elsewhere in Brazil, have long complained that their leaders have prioritized lavish like the Olympics and the World Cup while neglecting essentials like hospitals and schools. It was a central grievance in the protests that shook the nation three years ago. Now, people wonder about Rio’s capacity to solve its problems. Mr. Cabral’s successor, Luiz Fernando de Souza (known by his nickname, Pezão, or Bigfoot) who took office in 2014, also came from the P. M. D. B. As Rio’s problems intensified, Mr. de Souza seemed unusually focused on a painting that hung in his office, “Death of Estácio de Sá,” depicting the agony of the Portuguese military officer who founded Rio in 1565. Complaining about negative energy emanating from the painting, Mr. de Souza called it “really heavy” and had it removed. A few weeks later, Mr. de Souza, 61, revealed that he was battling lymphoma and went on medical leave. His absence left the lieutenant governor, Francisco Dornelles, in charge. A veteran from the Progressive Party — which hews to conservative ideas and is closely allied with the P. M. D. B. — Mr. Dornelles, 81, has suggested suspending interest payments on Rio’s debt to ease the state’s woes. “The P. M. D. B. and its allies have simply run Rio into the ground through their mixture of corruption and stunning incompetence,” said Marcelo Freixo, a prominent state legislator. The leaders of the P. M. D. B. in Rio are now embracing policies commonly found in leftist countries. To raise money, the state’s leaders approved taxes of nearly 20 percent on offshore oil production in Rio’s waters. At a time of low oil prices, opponents say, the measure could destroy Rio’s oil industry. “The tax makes most of the projects in Rio unviable,” said Antonio Guimarães, the director of the Brazilian Association of Oil Producers. Despite the grim assessments, some in Rio draw on the city’s history of resilience. Ruy Castro, 68, an author, told the magazine Veja that Rio had an “unrivaled capacity to frustrate those who root against the city. ” He then added a dash of skepticism. “We’re good at partying,” Mr. Castro said. “Not at legacies. ” | 0fake |
The 2016 election in 5 easy charts | The race for president, the battle for control of Congress, and hundreds of state and local races are all being decided Tuesday.
Here’s a guide to help you sort through what’s at stake and who might have the edge. | 0fake |
Truth in Media: Big Pharma, the FDA and Medical Propaganda | Editor Free e-Book!
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Ben And Jerry’s Co-Founder Reveals Bernie Sanders Inspired Ice Cream (IMAGE) | Supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders can now cool down with a pint of ice cream after they feel the Bern. Ben Cohen, cofounder of Ben & Jerry s ice cream, has created a special batch of the desert In order to show his support for Sanders presidential campaign: Bernie s Yearning.Ben Cohen, one of the co-founders of Ben & Jerry s ice cream, has for months talked about making a special flavor for his home-state senator. Earlier this month, Cohen told MSNBC that he would call the ice cream Bernie s Yearning, featuring a milk chocolate disk covering the top of plain mint ice cream. The disc is meant to represent the huge majority of economic gains that have gone to the top 1% since the end of the recession. Beneath it, the rest of us, reads the description on the back of the pint posted on the website.On the site promoting the ice cream, Cohen points out that this is his personal creation, and the ice cream does not have the official backing of the company (which has been a subsidiary of the conglomerate Unilever since 2000). Cohen writes, Jerry and I have been constituents of Bernie Sanders for the last 30 years. We ve seen him in action and we believe in him. When we re out speaking on his behalf people always ask if there s a Ben and Jerry s flavor. There s not. But if I were going to come up with one, this is what it would be. Cohen made 40 pints of Bernie s Yearning in his own kitchen, and said he would be donating 25 of those to the campaign. He has started a contest to donate the remaining 15 pints, numbered and signed by him.Cohen has been a long-time supporter of progressive causes, and has been a backer of presidential campaigns including Dennis Kucinich, Bernie Sanders, and Barack Obama. He also supports a campaign attempting to push a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court decision which has allowed a flood of corporate money in elections.Featured image via Bernie s Yearning | 1real |
وزارة الخارجية الأميركية تشبه مقاومة الإمبريالية بالإرهاب | وزارة الخارجية الأميركية تشبه مقاومة الإمبريالية بالإرهاب شبكة فولتير | 26 تشرين الأول (أكتوبر) 2016 français Español Türkçe Deutsch أعلنت وزارة الخارجية عن ادراج المواطن اللبناني هيثم علي الطباطبائي الملقب ب "أبو علي الطباطبائي" على قائمة "الإرهابيين الدوليين
هذا الادراج يكشف عن خصوصية : انتقدت وزارة الخارجية هذا الضابط الرفيع في حزب الله، لدعمه الجمهورية العربية السورية، وهي دولة عضو في الأمم المتحدة
ولتبدو بمظهر حسن، أشارت تعليمات وزارة الخارجية إلى رؤية هذا الضابط في اليمن. فقط على أساس هذه المعلومات، تم توجيه الاتهام له بأنه يقاتل إلى جانب قوات التحالف الحوثي، وأنصار الرئيس السابق صالح الذين يسيطرون على معظم أنحاء البلاد
في كل الأحوال، لم تنسب وزارة الخارجية إلى الضابط المذكور أي عمل إرهابي. واكتفت بتشبيه مقاومة الامبريالية الأميركية بالارهاب | 1real |
ITALIAN MAYOR blasted for scathing verbal attack on African Muslim savages who have been invading Southern Italy | ITALIAN MAYOR blasted for scathing verbal attack on African Muslim savages who have been invading Southern Italy Yes, his words may be racist and anti-Muslim, but look at the videos below to see what African Muslim illegal alien invaders are bringing to Italy and you won’t be so quick to condemn him. What would you say if they did the same thing in your cities? Thousands of Muslims lift their asses to Allah in front of the Coliseum in Rome to protest the government’s closing of hundreds of illegal mosques UK Express (h/t Brenda K) An Italian mayor has come under fire after saying he will shoot ’niggers and gypsies’ and build a pig farm next to mosques as tensions continue to rise over the illegal alien Muslim invasion of southern Italy. More than 160,000 economic freeloaders posing as asylum seekers have been housed in Italy since the start of 2014, according to date from the interior ministry. Italy has been one of the first destinations along migrants typical routes for months, receiving thousands of new arrivals who continue to risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean on rickety smuggler’s boats. But many have been critical of the welcoming of so many refugees – and now one Mayor from the town of Albettone in Vento has launched a scathing attack on the new arrivals. Speaking on La Zanzara on Radio 24, Joe Formaggio said: “Immigrants? If they send them to us, we will protect our houses. We are proud to be racists.” The mayor claims his city “exports brains and imports niggers” who “are less intelligent than us, they are inferior”. Amid possible plans to open a mosque in the city, he claimed he would open a “large farm of pigs if they open a mosque here”. Mr Formaggio added: ”If refugees are sent here to Albettone, the barricades in Gorino will be seen as nothing. “Here we do not want immigrants, niggers or gypsies. They have a lower IQ: history proves it. “We have a shooting range and the highest number of licenses to carry weapons in the whole Veneto region. “And we do not want anyone to come and bother us. They risk their lives around us.” The comments were deemed so strong that the Secretary General of the Vicenza Chamber has been forced to intervene. Calling the comments “irresponsible”, Giampaolo Zanni said: “The Chamber of Vicenza totally rejects the Mayor of Albetton’s statements about the black population. “None of us underestimates the problems arising from illegal alien Muslim invasion migration. “But responses like those of the Mayor of Albettone are not only xenophobic and racist, but are also dangerous as they encourage feelings of racial hatred, and therefore are in stark contrast to the values of our constitution.” Thousands of Italians have come out in large protests against the never-ending Muslim invasion of their country. | 1real |
Roma seek luck and love at Catholic shrine in Hungary | CSATKA, Hungary (Reuters) - Thousands of Roma from Hungary and beyond flock every year to a shrine to the Virgin Mary in a chapel among undulating hills, to pray for good health, happiness and luck in love. Some actually find love there, like Adam Vidak and his wife Nikoletta who met at the huge party after the holy mass last year and have now returned. They want their newborn to be christened at the shrine, where the main Roma mass this year took place on Saturday. We met each other on Facebook and arranged a date here, we came, we liked each other, then we got in the car and off we went, said Vidak, 22, as 20-year old Nikoletta cradled the baby boy in her arms. The next day we called her parents, told them we were together and shortly afterwards we had our wedding. Hungary has an estimated 700,000 Roma, one of the largest Roma minorities in Central Europe. Most of them live in poverty. The Roman Catholic chapel in Csatka, around 120 km (75 miles) west of Budapest, is their main place of pilgrimage, but many non-Roma Hungarians also come to pray. Roma families come carrying big candles and statues of the Virgin Mary, and draw water from the sacred spring next to the chapel which is believed to have magic healing powers. Some arrive in traditional outfits, like Zoltan Sztojka, 42, who wears a yellow silk shirt and a black vest embroidered richly in gold. He came with more than 40 family members from Soltvadkert, eastern Hungary. Roma have been coming here for 150-200 years, so we have to be here. Everybody comes to lay down our sins, pray for luck, strength and health, he says, showing an enormous silver ring with a finely engraved horse, the coat of arms of his family. The chapel was built in 1862, and at that time a hermit lived at the site. Even under Hungary s four decades of communist rule from 1949, Roma came here in horse-drawn carts. Now there is a huge parking lot for cars and caravans, as some people camp out over the weekend. On the hill, a large family have set up camp, and are cooking tripe stew over a campfire. As a child, Sandor Jakab, 60, used to come here by cart with his parents. Now he brings his family for three days each year from the village of Erd. We have our fridge and freezer here, full of meat and drinks, he says. Is it true that many Roma families seek wives and husbands for their children during the pilgrimage? Jakab replies with his brother-in-law standing next to him. Now let s say, for example, suppose the two of us know each other, then we would have a few drinks, and he has a daughter and I have a son....then we would chat and I would ask whether I can go to you to see your daughter (as a potential bride). He says promises made at Csatka are carved in stone. But he does not agree with the huge party, loud music and dance that follows the prayers on the hillside. My family does not go there... We pray and spend time together. This music is not for this place, he says. | 0fake |
Miles of Algae and a Multitude of Hazards - The New York Times | The stench of decaying algae began rising from coastal waterways in southeastern Florida early this month, shutting down businesses and beaches during a critical tourism season. Officials arrived, surveyed the toxic muck and declared states of emergency in four counties. Residents shook their heads, then their fists, organizing rallies and haranguing local officials. In truth, there was little they could do: The disaster that engulfed the St. Lucie River and its estuary had been building for weeks. In May, a algal bloom crept over Lake Okeechobee, the vast headwaters of the Everglades. After an unseasonably wet winter, the Army Corps of Engineers was forced to discharge water from the lake to lower water levels, flushing the ooze along channels to the east and west until it coagulated along the shores of the famed Treasure Coast. The mess in Florida is only the latest in a string of algal blooms that some experts believe are increasing in frequency and in severity. An immense plume of algae last September covered a stretch of the Ohio River. A month earlier, the city of Toledo, Ohio, warned more than 400, 000 residents to avoid drinking tap water after toxic algae spread over an intake in Lake Erie. (Indeed, the Lake Erie bloom is now an annual event.) Almost exactly a year before the Florida bloom, another stretching 7, 500 square miles washed ashore in Qingdao, China, a popular beach destination. Government officials called in hundreds of boats and bulldozers to remove it. The green blob appeared again earlier this month. The largest and most dangerous algal bloom ever recorded, which ranged from Central California to British Columbia, produced high levels of a toxin that last year closed crab and clam fisheries along the West Coast. “The season didn’t open for four and a half months, which meant slip rents went unpaid, house payments went unpaid, guys were having trouble getting groceries to feed their families,” said Tim Sloane, the executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. Algae is a catchall term referring to a wide variety of aquatic organisms that generally rely on photosynthesis for energy and reproduction. algae are cyanobacteria, for instance, while red tide is composed of tiny dinoflagellates. Seaweed is a sophisticated alga, as is kelp. Blooms are a natural occurrence. According to Dr. William Cochlan, a senior research scientist at San Francisco State University, Native Americans for centuries knew to avoid bioluminescent water. Scientists would later discover that the glow was caused by dinoflagellates that also produce a hazardous neurotoxin. Many algal species produce similar toxins. When vast blooms occur, these poisons may spread through the environment and up the food chain to fish and animals that feed on them. Cyanobacteria produce microcystins, for example, which can affect the liver and can be deadly to humans — one reason Toledo banned the drinking water. Although they occur naturally, algal blooms are being intensified by human activity in ways that scientists are still trying to quantify. Chief among the culprits: runoff from farms, feedlots and municipal sewer systems. “The bloom itself is the visual manifestation of nutrient overenrichment in lakes,” said Tim Davis, an ecologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich. “In freshwater systems, both nitrogen and phosphorus are the main nutrients. ” In Florida and the Great Lakes, nitrogen and phosphorus come mainly from fertilizers used in large farming operations, along with septic tanks, manure and storm water. Scientists have been aware of the nutrient problem for decades: It’s partly why phosphorus was removed from laundry detergents. The vast algal bloom in the Pacific last year was also fed in part by El Niño, the mass of warm water that forms periodically off the West Coast. But climate change may also be playing a role, some experts say. Warming atmospheric temperatures and wetter weather in some parts of the country increase the runoff into streams, lakes and the ocean. And as ice melts in the Arctic, sea temperatures are rising and more sunlight is filtering into the ocean. “Some of the features of climate change, such as warmer ocean temperatures and increased light availability through the loss of sea ice in the Arctic, are making conditions more favorable for phytoplankton growth — both toxic and nontoxic algae — in more regions and farther north,” Kathi Lefebvre, a biologist at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, wrote in an email. “It is likely that toxic blooms will continue to increase and expand as these features of climate change continue,” she added. Dr. Davis said he also believed that climate change was working against efforts to prevent algal blooms. “I certainly believe as a scientist that climate change will influence the size and intensity of these blooms,” he said. “If nothing changes — the increase of rainfall, the increase nutrient loads, warmer water — all of this could lead to larger blooms that last longer and are more toxic. ” Florida’s crisis is only the most recent example, Dr. Cochlan of San Francisco State University said — yet no new funds have been appropriated at the federal or state levels to study the growth and toxicity in these blooms, despite their increasing impact throughout the country. In a letter to President Obama on July 12, Florida legislators asked for federal funding to avert further disaster. Back in 2014, Florida voters approved Amendment 1, setting aside an estimated $650 million in the program’s first year for the state to buy agricultural land south of Lake Okeechobee as a new pathway for discharge into the Everglades. The hope was that the ecosystem would provide a natural filter for algae and other contaminants, as it once did. But in the end, the state decided not to buy the land, instead sparring with Environmental Protection Agency over its efforts to enforce the federal Clean Water Act. “A lot of this has to do with legislation, all the way from the watershed down into the lake,” Dr. Davis said. “It needs to be a mutual effort on all sides. The more we understand about the blooms, the more we can do to reduce their impact. ” | 0fake |
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